From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Tue Mar 6 07:37:04 2018 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2610:1c1:1:606c::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1A002F3A8E6 for ; Tue, 6 Mar 2018 07:37:04 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from ralf.mardorf@rocketmail.com) Received: from sonic303-19.consmr.mail.ir2.yahoo.com (sonic303-19.consmr.mail.ir2.yahoo.com [77.238.178.200]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 (128/128 bits)) (Client did not present a certificate) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 95F1287B8D for ; Tue, 6 Mar 2018 07:37:03 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from ralf.mardorf@rocketmail.com) X-YMail-OSG: vf.1MccVM1khsrovQ7Edwf2EI6wFfZr6ZugfXnf.8UWoepOeplLCO3H5vMZ7HCf rlf3_FN1UwoQq00j1nGReEnUslGls4YJ8yeQidA0KEe1q9_h4dxGoDKytQeXy3mh5Q.LE_F5Uoy. 85DckZ1K_w9GMXy_9jzqulJUmeBQgLfcoJSoTMqCORA4yovtnw4K4FjCJFIxQ6g0h20Kd4pJ1MWa c8I5QgIduElTlCBkNqJwswLvpF3PsXl.20vGNw0KANweKixUoKNEXLcfeBozHVY1HmSgtzL.d2qV e7H8xKTaUbVTEisHpIBOfIDtZHKJ7DihpVWMqdWPeJSHLWvFKB7Gdz6A96UQhIsPddnY1ETPWFwJ zqfHVz8wPxtCqO154xoMEoOgXCaCW.7YGBlAizAMGqYGkFosDRImW.f1hidjrnxoVa2CCm9hfnhb 1cTsIhwVgY2Ki4v.yKx4c2PDFOufuh_Pm55b5bM7_TYHxbVvukYtKELPFJdeKOH_6GOF7QSU_sNa OwPWKe_poZDtLFj5qNEMTVgwtMWkejg27P68JQDoMR5B.izwB5vM- Received: from sonic.gate.mail.ne1.yahoo.com by sonic303.consmr.mail.ir2.yahoo.com with HTTP; Tue, 6 Mar 2018 07:36:55 +0000 Received: from smtp171.mail.ir2.yahoo.com (EHLO archlinux.localdomain) ([46.228.39.38]) by smtp416.mail.ir2.yahoo.com (JAMES SMTP Server ) with ESMTPA ID 784805d2cb802ec0d41f2b37f8758596 for ; Tue, 06 Mar 2018 07:36:53 +0000 (UTC) Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2018 08:36:52 +0100 From: Ralf Mardorf To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: How to prevent HDD spin-down. Message-ID: <20180306083652.4444971b@archlinux.localdomain> In-Reply-To: <4a967d5f-0f83-e23e-ded3-1c89d2469c0d@gmail.com> References: <99f2e64c-577c-20e1-b595-9b8391efaf8e@gmail.com> <4a967d5f-0f83-e23e-ded3-1c89d2469c0d@gmail.com> X-Mailer: Claws Mail 3.16.0git24 (GTK+ 2.24.32; x86_64-arch-linux-gnu) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.25 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 06 Mar 2018 07:37:04 -0000 On Tue, 6 Mar 2018 07:30:59 +0100, Johan Hendriks wrote: >Op 06/03/2018 om 03:37 schreef J.B.: >> Hey. I purchased a new WD laptop hard disk drive, but it keeps >> spinning down and parking its heads after 25 seconds of inactivity. >> How can I disable that feature or extend the timeout to something >> less idiotic? I checked the BIOS, but there's no setting for it. I >> booted into a Linux (Debian-based) OS duel-booting on the same disk, >> and the disk doesn't spin down, so either Linux is doing something >> to override that feature, or FreeBSD is doing something to enable it >> (possibly a package I installed). Thanks. >> >I do not think linux is doing something special. I think the disk on >Linux do not spin down because the OS is touching the disk every so >second for log or other things. Just install a fresh Ubuntu with no >special options and boot it. You will see disk activity every x seconds >even when the box is idle. >On FreeBSD however there is almost no disk activity if a box is idle. >So the disks is not touched for 25 seconds and the disk will spindown. > >If you are using Western Digital disks, there is a utility you can run >to disable this feature or give it a timeout large enough so the os has >touched the disk. It has been a long time since i used it and if i >remember it worked only in DOS or windows. Just use google and search >for your disk and disable headparking. GVFS and other software much used by default Linux installs wake up sleeping drives immediately, IOW the spin down and up again and again. I replace GVFS by an empty dummy packge to fullfill dependencies. But I'm using e.g. libfm, which suffered from the same issue. Fortunately a developer fixed it, after I reported this bug, somethging those from bloated DEs such as GNOME or KDE never ever would do. See https://github.com/lxde/libfm/commit/994a1e25ba0c3da80575fc002af17ab02ed5998b A workaround would be to write a script, that would touch the drive, before it could spin down. Again, don't confuse a drivre that never spins down, with a drive that spins down and up again and again.