I remember HGST drives. Hitachi used to be good, or at least they were supposed to be, in electronics. At The Wiz, we had an escalator that was made by Hitachi that was always broken. If it went 2 weeks without breaking it was a lot. They always had a guy there "fixing" it. I don't know if there were just worn out parts or what the deal was but they never worked right. The "safety button" on the system is known as a case intrusion detector. It's kind of a leftover from the old days of computing. In 1984, starting with the IBM PC/AT, a keylock was included. Not only did it disable the keyboard, but it also locked the case on the machine. This was a big deal back then when a hard drive could cost hundreds upon hundreds of dollars, not to mention the rest of the hardware. It kept the honest criminals out. Of course if you lost the key you'd have to contact IBM. This continued on with computers for some time through the 90s. In the very late 90s, some of the Compaq Deskpro units had an electric solenoid that would lock the case, which was turned on and off in the BIOS, and obviously you'd set a BIOS password so people couldn't go in there and just turn it off. When toggled, upon reboot, you'd hear the solenoid engage or disengage. Nice idea but if it failed, there was no key. The case intrusion detection switch would give a message on power on that the case had been opened. Usually, you'd know right away if someone had been inside. I had an IBM PS/ValuePoint machine back in the day, I think it's still here actually. By that point, IBM had switched from a cylindrical keylock to a standard lock. Some guy gave me the machine, it was locked and there was no key. Took a big flatblade screwdriver and was able to jam it in and turn it to unlock. So like I said, it only kept the honest criminals out. I guess that temperature sensor on the drive doesn't do much since it never alerted you (or that feature is turned off). The drive should never be that hot after 15 minutes, so obviously there is a problem. Either which way, yes, you can try keeping the drive in the fridge, that was a common trick we used. Freezer too, but you have to watch for condensation forming. Glad that new drive worked out for you and the machine is operating well once again. My guess is that particular machine was one of the last ones with Windows 7 and Windows 8 or 10 upgrade rights, where the key is stored in the machine electronically. Though typically if it had Windows 7, there would be a product key sticker on it, which may have been lost to the sands of time. So it's possible it came with 8 and the key is good for 10 as well. It's nice when stuff just works the way it's supposed to.
