From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1761918AbYEMVUy (ORCPT ); Tue, 13 May 2008 17:20:54 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1759781AbYEMVUq (ORCPT ); Tue, 13 May 2008 17:20:46 -0400 Received: from mta-1.ms.rz.RWTH-Aachen.DE ([134.130.7.72]:42434 "EHLO mta-1.ms.rz.rwth-aachen.de" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1759518AbYEMVUp (ORCPT ); Tue, 13 May 2008 17:20:45 -0400 Date: Tue, 13 May 2008 23:20:43 +0200 From: Arnd Hannemann Subject: Re: WD doesn`t use disks with Linux - was Re: Re:Western Digital GreenPower drives and Linux In-reply-to: <003201c8b53c$67ff02d0$6400a8c0@bui.materna.com> To: Roland Cc: tvrtko@ursulin.net, pernegger@gmail.com, snitzer@gmail.com, jengelh@computergmbh.de, zorglub_olsen@hotmail.com, renatoyamane@mandic.com.br, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Message-id: <482A062B.3010308@arndnet.de> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-transfer-encoding: 8BIT X-IronPort-AV: E=Sophos;i="4.27,481,1204498800"; d="scan'208";a="66135790" References: <003201c8b53c$67ff02d0$6400a8c0@bui.materna.com> User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.14 (X11/20080505) Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Roland wrote: >> BTW, WD's tech support has gone silent so chances for an easier >> solution are not so great. >> >> Tvrtko > > I`ve got a real funky response from WD support today, i`d like to > share here. > This is just too weird.... > > After asking if they could give a comment if the problem with the high > Load_Cycle_Count may be an issue of their drives or an issue of Linux > i got: > > ------ > Dear...... > The problem is, that we actually don`t use the disks with Linux. I´m > sorry that i cannot send further information to you. > > Sincery yours > > Western Digital Service and Support > ------ > (translated from german) Well the answer was probably just from a first level support person so nothing one should get excited about. Anyway to the high Load_Cycle_Count; if I understood the technology correctly the WD GreenPower drives are exactly "Green" because they unload the heads on a plastic ramp (no landing zone!) quite often during longer idle periods. Thus they can power off the positioning logic and actuator of the heads. -> safe Power This also explains why the power usage under seek is comparable with other "non-green" drives... > 193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 197 197 000 Old_age Always - 10233 my 1 TB drive has also a relative high value: 193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 2786 Just my 2 cents, Arnd ||