[xubuntu-users] Hard drives and backup - Was: Am I the only one who still uses floppies?

[Ralf Mardorf]

More information about hdparm and idle3ctl:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Hdparm#KDE_.3D.3E_4.4.4_and_hdparm

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Advanced_Format#Special_Consideration_for_WD_Green_HDDs

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Advanced_Format#Disable_via_changing_firmware_value_.28persistent.29

Note, my WD green drives by default spins down after 30 minutes and I
don't want to disable it. I removed GVFS and most other software that
conflicts with environmental protection. As far as I know the only
software that wakes up green drives I still have installed is K3b.
Once I used it, I need to reboot to get rid of the green drive killer,
since I don't know what process to kill.

A note regarding smartctl:

Important is #4 Start_Stop_Count and most important is
#193 Load_Cycle_Count and their relation to #9 Power_On_Hours.

I usually run it in combination with the date command, so when running it
again after a few hours only the spin down and spin up should be counted,
not several spin downs and spin ups.

$ date;sudo smartctl -a /dev/sdc
Thu Jul 30 09:49:26 CEST 2015
[snip]
=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     Western Digital Green
Device Model:     WDC WD20EZRX-00DC0B0
[snip]
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   098   098   000    Old_age   Always       -       2821
[snip]
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   094   094   000    Old_age   Always       -       4644
[snip]
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   196   196   000    Old_age   Always       -       14906
[snip]