this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2024
32 points (92.1% liked)

Linux

48165 readers
1478 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
AgreeableLandscape@lemmy.ml
nooter692@lemmy.ml
MarcellusDrum@lemmy.ml
cypherpunks@lemmy.ml
cyclohexane@lemmy.ml
d3Xt3r@lemmy.nz
32
[SOLVED] Cronjob with hdparm -y to spin down hard disks? (lemmy.ml)
submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by gomp@lemmy.ml to c/linux@lemmy.ml
11 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Solution:
hd-idle is the way to go (if you read their README, they explain that most drives don't support idle timers)

I've been looking into spinning down the drives of my NAS, as I use it infrequently and that brings power drain down from ~30W to ~17W.

Problem is, hdparm -S doesn't seem to do anything for these particular drives: if I set it and wait for the appropriate amount of time (eg. 5 seconds if set to 1) the drives are still reported as "active/idle" and power drain doesn't go down.

Both hdparm -y and hdparm -Y work fine, but I don't seem to be able to find settings for them in tlp (probably because they are commands rather than settings?).

Besides the caveats about disks living longer if they are kept spinning, are there reasons why I shouldn't setup a cron job (well, a systemd timer) that runs hdparm -Y every 10 minutes? (for example, could hdparm -y cause errors if run while the drive is being backed up?)

PS: According to hdparm's manpage, -y puts the drive standby mode while -Y puts it into sleep mode. Considering that in my case power drain seems the same either way, should I prefer one or the other?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The motors are brushless, so no wear happens during spin-up from the extra current other than a little more heat for a few seconds.

[–] nanook@friendica.eskimo.com 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

@MangoPenguin Same thing that happens to your car motor when you slam the accelerator from a dead stop rather than gradually accelerating and maintaining a steady speed. Everyone knows stop-and-go traffic is hard on cars, disk drives too.

[–] MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Car engines have connecting rods and all kinds of extreme side forces on bearings that get stressed under high load. Brushless motors do not have any of those things, just a rotational bearing that doesn't experience any more load on startup vs constant speed.

[–] amju_wolf@pawb.social 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The startup is absolutely more stressful for the motor. It's a period of high current that also creates hotspots in the windings and such. It's certainly not great for the motor.

[–] MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 month ago

Hotspots won't hurt anything unless they get too hot and damage the coating on the windings, I would assume the manufacturer is aware of that and designed the startup current so it's safe.