From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: "Ivan N. Zlatev" Subject: Re: Seagate HDD Frequent Head Unload - hdparm/dmidecode/smartctl output Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:04:23 +0300 Message-ID: <488D8B97.1040805@i-nz.net> References: <488B27CE.5060106@i-nz.net> <488D751C.5080302@suse.de> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Return-path: Received: from fg-out-1718.google.com ([72.14.220.154]:42417 "EHLO fg-out-1718.google.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1752449AbYG1JEn (ORCPT ); Mon, 28 Jul 2008 05:04:43 -0400 Received: by fg-out-1718.google.com with SMTP id 19so2021507fgg.17 for ; Mon, 28 Jul 2008 02:04:41 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <488D751C.5080302@suse.de> Sender: linux-ide-owner@vger.kernel.org List-Id: linux-ide@vger.kernel.org To: Tejun Heo Cc: linux-ide@vger.kernel.org Tejun Heo wrote: > Ivan N. Zlatev wrote: >> I am having frequent head unloads on a Dell Vostro 1400 laptop with a >> Seagate HDD. As explained on the Wiki[1] I am attaching for you the >> output of: >> >> * hdparm -I >> * dmidecode >> * smartctl --all (in addition) >> >> I hope this information is useful for you. >> >> I am currently using a workaround to prevent the unloads as described >> here - http://en.opensuse.org/Disk_Power_Management . >> >> [1] >> http://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Known_issues#Drives_which_perform_frequent_head_unloads_under_Linux > > Can you please test the attached storage-fixup.conf? If you're on suse, > just do "zypper install storage-fixup" and replace > /etc/storage-fixup.conf with the attached file, remove the manual > workaround and see whether the problem is gone. > I tested and it seems that the right value for my configuration is 254 instead of 255. With 255 I still get spin downs. BTW I noticed that on http://en.opensuse.org/Disk_Power_Management the script sets a combination of APM and spin-down time, e.g: [1] hdparm -q -B 200 -q -S 252 /dev/sda With that I also don't get spin downs. So compared to: [2] hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda will [1] or [2] be better for the HDD in terms of power consumption and overheating? Would *not* disabling the APM for the HDD (is what 254/255 do?), but setting the spin down timeout to something more sensible be better for the HDD? I have no idea if spinning down the head is the only thing HDDs do for power saving. I suppose you would know best? Also on another note I accidentally saw two more potential entries for your storage-fixup on the linux-ide list (I do not know if you monitor it): * http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-ide/msg24667.html * http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-ide/msg24460.html Kind Regards, -- Ivan N. Zlatev Web: http://www.i-nZ.net "It's all some kind of whacked out conspiracy."