[mythtv-users] warning for anyone with western digital green drives

Simon Hobson linux at thehobsons.co.uk
Fri Jan 6 11:15:29 UTC 2012


Tim Draper wrote:

>with that said, where does the HDD cache stand in all of this? some of
>the newer drives are coming with 32 and 64mb cache now - would this
>overcome the 3sec drive spinup period upon access, when using
>aggressive power saving features?

It probably doesn't have a huge effect.

On reads, it won't help if the data isn't in the cache.

On writes it might not help if the OS issues a write and then waits 
for the drive to confirm that the data has been written - that 
question needs input from someone who knows how Linux (and in this 
context, Myth) operate. When data is written to the drives, does the 
OS just wait for the drive to acknowledge the transfer (into buffer), 
or for the drive to confirm that it's been written.

-- 
Simon Hobson

Visit http://www.magpiesnestpublishing.co.uk/ for books by acclaimed
author Gladys Hobson. Novels - poetry - short stories - ideal as
Christmas stocking fillers. Some available as e-books.


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