2.5" HDD Temps
The issue is that the 2.5" HDD manufacturers (actually all HDD manufacturers) are very coy about their specifications and MTBF. If you dig into the specs, you'll find that they arrive at their seemingly impressive MTBF's based on a 5 day, 8 hours per day and 50% duty cycle at 40C (normally). Leave the machine one 24/7 at max temps (and 63C is over max) and the expected lifetime will be very much less, typically 10-20% of that quoted. One solution if you don't need very large HDD's is to check out Seagate's EE25 HDD's. These are very rugged HDD's that will run at 75C 24/7. They were designed for automotive and industrial applications, and they are very reliable. Only issue is that they are only available to OEM's, cost a lot of money (read over 120GPB for 30G) and are PATA only. SATA will be here later this year.
The simpler solution may be to run the machine in an environment that doesn't overtemp the HDD, or invest in a notebook cooler.
The final solution is to make sure you have a good warranty, and plan for HDD failure. BTW the HDD's record their max temps and manufacturers can (and I have asked them to do this) read the max temp the HDD got to, and the duration....
- Tim