[mythtv-users] Spin down drives

[Josu Lazkano]

2011/5/12 Mark Lord <mythtv at rtr.ca>:
>
> Yes, that is a WD "Green" drive.
>
> The regular "hdparm -S" timed-spindown will not normally work
> with that drive --> the drive accepts but ignores the command.
>
> WD invented their own flavour of power management for their "Green" series.
> In order for the ATA standard stuff to work, one must first disable the
> WD version, by using the WDIDLE3.EXE program to completely turn "WDIDLE3" off.
>
> Once that is done, the drive begins to pay more attention to the regular
> and advanced power management commands from the (S)ATA standards.
>
> Cheers
>

Thanks Mark, I need to install it on a Windows machine? It is possible
to connect with a SATA-USB converter?

I read about this problem and I serach the smartctl tool, this is my output:

# smartctl -a /dev/sdb
smartctl 5.40 2010-07-12 r3124 [i686-pc-linux-gnu] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-10 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     Western Digital Caviar Green (Adv. Format) family
Device Model:     WDC WD20EARS-00MVWB0
Serial Number:    WD-WMAZA2489779
Firmware Version: 51.0AB51
User Capacity:    2,000,398,934,016 bytes
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is:   8
ATA Standard is:  Exact ATA specification draft version not indicated
Local Time is:    Thu May 12 15:42:06 2011 CEST
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status:  (0x82)	Offline data collection activity
					was completed without error.
					Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled.
Self-test execution status:      (   0)	The previous self-test routine completed
					without error or no self-test has ever
					been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection: 		 (37680) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: 			 (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
					Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
					Suspend Offline collection upon new
					command.
					Offline surface scan supported.
					Self-test supported.
					Conveyance Self-test supported.
					Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities:            (0x0003)	Saves SMART data before entering
					power-saving mode.
					Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability:        (0x01)	Error logging supported.
					General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time: 	 (   2) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: 	 ( 255) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time: 	 (   5) minutes.
SCT capabilities: 	       (0x3035)	SCT Status supported.
					SCT Feature Control supported.
					SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE
UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x002f   200   200   051    Pre-fail
Always       -       0
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0027   221   163   021    Pre-fail
Always       -       3950
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age
Always       -       232
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   200   200   140    Pre-fail
Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x002e   200   200   000    Old_age
Always       -       0
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   097   097   000    Old_age
Always       -       2707
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age
Always       -       0
 11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age
Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age
Always       -       222
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age
Always       -       102
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   194   194   000    Old_age
Always       -       18737
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   111   108   000    Old_age
Always       -       39
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age
Always       -       0
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age
Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0030   200   200   000    Old_age
Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age
Always       -       0
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate   0x0008   200   200   000    Old_age
Offline      -       0

SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
No self-tests have been logged.  [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t]


SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
 SPAN  MIN_LBA  MAX_LBA  CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
    1        0        0  Not_testing
    2        0        0  Not_testing
    3        0        0  Not_testing
    4        0        0  Not_testing
    5        0        0  Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
  After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

Are the parameters normal? Sorry for all newby questions, I will try
to install Windows to run the app.

Best regards.

-- 
Josu Lazkano