From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Mark Lord Subject: Re: WDC WD15EARS-00Z5B1: harddrive which does crazy unloading Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2010 11:57:38 -0400 Message-ID: <4B9D0772.4080306@teksavvy.com> References: <201002081933.10144.suse-linux@ml082.pinguin.uni.cc> <4B96013F.1050904@kernel.org> <4B965DE7.7000109@teksavvy.com> <4B9881C8.10506@kernel.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Return-path: Received: from ironport2-out.teksavvy.com ([206.248.154.183]:26038 "EHLO ironport2-out.pppoe.ca" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-FAIL) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751834Ab0CNP5p (ORCPT ); Sun, 14 Mar 2010 11:57:45 -0400 In-Reply-To: <4B9881C8.10506@kernel.org> Sender: linux-ide-owner@vger.kernel.org List-Id: linux-ide@vger.kernel.org To: Tejun Heo Cc: Al Bogner , linux-ide@vger.kernel.org On 03/11/10 00:38, Tejun Heo wrote: > >> The wdidle3-1.03 DOS tool can fix that. Google it. >> >> I have disassembled that tool here, and found a few >> vendor-unique commands inside it. But thus far have >> not managed to get them working natively in Linux. >> >> I really need a SATA tracer/analyser.. > > Hmmm... so they don't respond to ATA APM command? .. No. The vendor-unique commands appear to download a small firmware packet to the drive, which reprograms it for a longer "IDLE-3" timeout. "IDLE-3" is what WD call this vendor-specific "powersaving" mode, and it is not intended to be adjustable. Except via that little DOS utility hack, and even WD no longer make that available. But I found it by googling for it, and it can change the timeout up to 30 seconds from the default of 8. So I set my WD 1.5TB drive to use 30, and things are now acceptable. Ugh (again)!