WD 20 ears and sleeping

[skank]

i've read that WD 20ears harddisks have problems with going to sleep many times. This causes a lot head parks, which results in dying.

Someone gave me a tip to put this commando somewhere:

/sbin/hdparm -S 0 /dev/sdd (th s 0 makes them not going into sleep every couple of minutes)

 

is this the case with unraid too?

[cwr]

http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=5357

 

Disable Advanced power management using standard ATA command (Uses more power as turns off all low power modes but results in no load/unload cycles)

 

Linux users add following (hdparm -B 255 /dev/sdX where X is your hard drive device). ATA users can disable APM usually controlled via BIOS and/or OS.

 

[skank]

http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=5357

 

Disable Advanced power management using standard ATA command (Uses more power as turns off all low power modes but results in no load/unload cycles)

 

Linux users add following (hdparm -B 255 /dev/sdX where X is your hard drive device). ATA users can disable APM usually controlled via BIOS and/or OS.

 

 

this is a bit  of chinese for me, so what should i do?

[cwr]

-S doesnt exactly stop it, however it slows it to about 8/hour from what my drives are showing

 

other people seem to be running -B 255 which disables APM for the drive

[skank]

so all people here using wd20ears, know of this? and actually set the APM to off? by adding hdparm -B 255 /dev/sdX where X is your hard drive device?

Doesnt this also mean eleminating the power savings?

[cwr]

-B doesnt work with the WD EARS drives, -S0 doesn't disable it totally, but seems like the best way to slow it down

[skank]

-B doesnt work with the WD EARS drives, -S0 doesn't disable it totally, but seems like the best way to slow it down

 

so all people do it here?

i'm beginning to doubt buying these drives

first the jumper thing

now this

 

[dgaschk]

I don't. Mine looks fine:

4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   099   099   000    Old_age   Always       -       1094
  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   096   096   000    Old_age   Always       -       2963
10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032   100   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       43
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       27
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   199   199   000    Old_age   Always       -       3031

 

[BRiT]

I don't have any EARS but my EADS are perfectly fine without any additional tweaking.

 

  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   099   099   000    Old_age   Always       -       1186
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   200   200   140    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x002e   100   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   084   084   000    Old_age   Always       -       12312
10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032   100   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       65
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       10
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       1165

 

  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       920
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   200   200   140    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x002e   100   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   084   084   000    Old_age   Always       -       12213
10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032   100   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       44
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       7
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       895

 

  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       936
  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   084   084   000    Old_age   Always       -       12297
10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032   100   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       51
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       6
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       918

 

[wsume99]

You can disable head parking on the EARS drive.  I have three of them and I've disabled it on all of them.  Google WDIDLE3.exe and you should find lots of info.  I used the wdidle3 /s0 command to disable the timer on my drives.  Other users have reported success using wdidle3 /d.  On my drives the /d command just set the timer to a really large value but /s0 actually disabled it.  You can check the timer value by using wdidle3 /r.

[cwr]

do not use wdidle3. people on other forums have contacted WD about this utility and been told using it would void the warranty on their drives

[dgaschk]

I would not recommend this until after you observe the problem with a particular disk.

[kaiguy]

do not use wdidle3. people on other forums have contacted WD about this utility and been told using it would void the warranty on their drives

No offense, but the voiding of the warranty statement is inaccurate.  Take a look here at solution #3:

 

http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=5357

 

In addition, there are posts on the official WDC forum by a moderator stating clearly that he spoke with WDC techs and confirmed it can be run on an EARS drive and it will not void the warranty (don't have a link for that, but I'm sure a search can find it).

 

I RMA'd two of my WD20EARS drives because of super high load/unload counts.  Could it have been mechanically fine?  According to WDC, it can reach into the millions without issue.  Personally, I think that's adding a lot of mechanical wear on the drives.  I ran wdidle on all my EARS drives, changing the setting from 8 seconds to 5 minutes.  Everything working just fine here, and though I may sacrifice a bit of power savings, I think the longevity of the drives are worth it.

[dgaschk]

There is no evidence that parking an EARS drive causes anymore wear than reading or writing to the drive. Millions, billions or even trillions is not out of reason.

[skank]

I don't. Mine looks fine:

4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   099   099   000    Old_age   Always       -       1094
  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   096   096   000    Old_age   Always       -       2963
10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032   100   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       43
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       27
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   199   199   000    Old_age   Always       -       3031

 

 

3031 counts? how long since its been running

[skank]

So in short, is this a concern or not?

should i do something or not?

 

[Joe L.]

I don't. Mine looks fine:

4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   099   099   000    Old_age   Always       -       1094
  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   096   096   000    Old_age   Always       -       2963
10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032   100   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       43
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       27
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   199   199   000    Old_age   Always       -       3031

 

 

3031 counts? how long since its been running

9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032  096  096  000    Old_age  Always      -      2963

[skank]

I don't. Mine looks fine:

4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   099   099   000    Old_age   Always       -       1094
  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   096   096   000    Old_age   Always       -       2963
10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032   100   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       43
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       27
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   199   199   000    Old_age   Always       -       3031

 

 

3031 counts? how long since its been running

9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   096   096   000    Old_age   Always       -       2963

 

thats a lot in 9 hours no?

[Joe L.]

3031 counts? how long since its been running

9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   096   096   000    Old_age   Always       -       2963

 

thats a lot in 9 hours no?

That is attribute number 9. The disk has been spinning for 2963 hours.

[skank]

ok

but can someone answer to my question on top of this page (2)?

[Joe L.]

ok

but can someone answer to my question on top of this page (2)?

Spinning down once an hour is probably not the worst thing in the world.

 

The drives are probably rated for 1,000,000 parks of the heads before SMART considers mechanical wear to be over the norm for that parameter.  At one per hour that might get you into the next century.

 

At one point, WD had the heads parking every 8 seconds.  They called it "Intellipark" (or something like that)  Basically it was an attempt to be more "green" than their competition.  At one park cycle per 8 seconds I think it hits over a million park cycles in less than 100 days.

 

[dyrewolfe]

I'm seeing this issue on my Caviar Black (Parity drive):

 

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   051   046   021    Pre-fail  Always       -       14475
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       661
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   200   200   140    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x002e   100   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   097   097   000    Old_age   Always       -       2271
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       -       102
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       68
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   189   189   000    Old_age   Always       -       33092
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   121   106   000    Old_age   Always       -       31
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       -       12
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate   0x0008   200   200   000    Old_age   Offline      -       1	

 

hdparm -B 255 /dev/sdf

That seems to have stopped the constant head parking.

 

No issues on my EARS drive, but then I just put it in a few days ago.

[skank]

I'm seeing this issue on my Caviar Black (Parity drive):

 

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   051   046   021    Pre-fail  Always       -       14475
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       661
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   200   200   140    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x002e   100   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   097   097   000    Old_age   Always       -       2271
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       -       102
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       68
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   189   189   000    Old_age   Always       -       33092
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   121   106   000    Old_age   Always       -       31
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       -       12
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate   0x0008   200   200   000    Old_age   Offline      -       1	

 

hdparm -B 255 /dev/sdf

That seems to have stopped the constant head parking.

 

No issues on my EARS drive, but then I just put it in a few days ago.

 

it says 2271 hours running

and 33092 load cycle count

thats a lot no?

 

so you used hdparm -B 255 /dev/sdf?

 

[dyrewolfe]

 

it says 2271 hours running

and 33092 load cycle count

thats a lot no?

 

so you used hdparm -B 255 /dev/sdf?

 

 

To me it seems to be excessive. 10x more by comparison of other values I've seen in this thread. After using hdparm (and placed in my go script) as above, it's at 33095. So not moving by much now.

[wsume99]

do not use wdidle3. people on other forums have contacted WD about this utility and been told using it would void the warranty on their drives

There is nothing like some good hearsay to spice up the post.