From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Apr 8 23:11:55 2007 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9221316A401 for ; Sun, 8 Apr 2007 23:11:55 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from youshi10@u.washington.edu) Received: from mxout4.cac.washington.edu (mxout4.cac.washington.edu [140.142.33.19]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6F6A213C480 for ; Sun, 8 Apr 2007 23:11:55 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from youshi10@u.washington.edu) Received: from smtp.washington.edu (smtp.washington.edu [140.142.33.7] (may be forged)) by mxout4.cac.washington.edu (8.13.7+UW06.06/8.13.7+UW07.03) with ESMTP id l38NBsBu013004 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=OK) for ; Sun, 8 Apr 2007 16:11:55 -0700 X-Auth-Received: from [192.168.10.45] (c-24-7-142-221.hsd1.ca.comcast.net [24.7.142.221]) (authenticated authid=youshi10) by smtp.washington.edu (8.13.7+UW06.06/8.13.7+UW07.03) with ESMTP id l38NBsjS028625 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NOT) for ; Sun, 8 Apr 2007 16:11:54 -0700 Message-ID: <461976B7.2060808@u.washington.edu> Date: Sun, 08 Apr 2007 16:11:51 -0700 From: Garrett Cooper User-Agent: Thunderbird 1.5.0.10 (Windows/20070221) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: <46192C1B.4060706@u.washington.edu> <20070408221017.23f060ea.breath@unix.net> <20070408230454.GB17305@thought.org> In-Reply-To: <20070408230454.GB17305@thought.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-PMX-Version: 5.3.0.289146, Antispam-Engine: 2.5.0.283055, Antispam-Data: 2007.4.8.155533 X-Uwash-Spam: Gauge=IIIIIII, Probability=7%, Report='__CT 0, __CTE 0, __CT_TEXT_PLAIN 0, __HAS_MSGID 0, __MIME_TEXT_ONLY 0, __MIME_VERSION 0, __SANE_MSGID 0, __USER_AGENT 0' Subject: Re: Automatic means for spinning down disks available? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 08 Apr 2007 23:11:55 -0000 Gary Kline wrote: > On Sun, Apr 08, 2007 at 10:10:17PM +0400, Yuri Grebenkin wrote: > >> Just wonder if it's better for an HDD not to spindown at all. >> Maybe it's safer to spin in peace than to park/launch? >> What do you think? >> > > > My guess (really a SWAG) is that it's bettter to leave things > just happily spinning, 24*7. In Nov, '99 a power off//on > destryed my new (105-day-old) 9G SCSI drive. Off ffor fewer > than five seconds, then a spike or two, and the drive went > deadder than a decade-old corpse. Lost 10 months of files. > ((Well, my tape backup had flubbed up.)) > > Who would know??? I've heard both sides, and so far, just > leaving drive spin seems slightly better. > > {Futureistic[?] idea: maybe a new drive can have a mode of > Full-Operation and (slower) Spin. It wouldn't take more than > a second to transition from the slow-spin to full-op mode. > Open files, OS states, and whatever could be stored to RAM... . > > Any little old winemakers, er, diskmakers out there? > } > Good point. The worst stress points during a disks life are at spin-up from what I've read. Also, about the disk spinning at different speeds: many contemporary disks have "acoustics" levels where you can adjust the speed on demand (assuming you knew the hardware level instructions to send to the controllers). Unfortunately I don't know those settings, so I can't say what is and isn't possible. The only upside is at least all disk makers seem to be amalgamating into either: Fujitsu, Hitachi, Quantum, Seagate, and WD, so figuring out the standards shouldn't be *too* hard =). -Garrett > gary-the-thrifty > > >>> Hello again all, >>> I was wondering if there was an automatic, and possibly timed means to >>> spin down disks available in either ports or the base system, by chance. >>> Just trying to cut down on energy use, and increase my disks' lives :). >>> TIA, >>> -Garrett