[SOLVED] Seagate GoFlex external hdd - idle time

[amidamaru]

Hi,

I have an external drive  Seagate GoFlex connected to my laptop over a eSATA cable.

I run from it a virtual machine VmWARE.

After an inactivity time period I found the virtual machine stacked and act like the external hdd just entered in the sleeping mode.

The only solution for is to perform a cold reset to the whole system which is not the happiest moment

There is a possibility to debug this aspect or to modify the external hdd idle time parameters and deactivate this feature?  

I've founded this utility but is for parking the hdd feature not for reverse situation. Maybe it helps other people

http://hd-idle.sourceforge.net/

Thanks!

[menotu]

ataidle is also in the repos - description:

A utility to manage ATA drives

ATAidle is a utility to set the power management features of ATA hard drives in FreeBSD and Linux, including idle and standby timeouts, APM, and acoustic level settings.

[amidamaru]

ataidle is also in the repos - description:

A utility to manage ATA drives

ATAidle is a utility to set the power management features of ATA hard drives in FreeBSD and Linux, including idle and standby timeouts, APM, and acoustic level settings.

Thanks but still don't understand how should I use it. The help output for is:

"
ataidle
ataidle version 2.5

usage:
ataidle [-h] [-i] [-s] [-o] [-I standby_mins] [-S standby_mins]
        [-A aam] [-P apm] device

Options:
-h              display this help
-I              enter idle mode and set the standby timer (minutes)
-i              enter idle mode
-S              enter standby mode and set the standby timer (minutes)
-s              enter standby mode
-o              enter sleep mode
-A              set the AAM (acoustic) level (1-127)
-P              set the APM (power) level, (1-254)
device          the device node e.g. /dev/ada0

standby_mins is in minutes and has a range of 1-21, then 30-330 in 30
minute steps.

If no options are specified, information about the device will be displayed.
"
 

Otherwise  I founded this one: hdparm but despite that I have Seagate according with the following coomand :

"hdparm -i /dev/sdb

/dev/sdb:

 Model=Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex, FwRev=0110, SerialNo=NA0B776K
 Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec Fixed DTR>10Mbs RotSpdTol>.5% }
 RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=4
 BuffType=unknown, BuffSize=16384kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=off
 CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=1953525168
 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
 PIO modes:  pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
 DMA modes:  mdma0 mdma1 mdma2
 UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5 *udma6
 AdvancedPM=no WriteCache=enabled
 Drive conforms to: unknown:  ATA/ATAPI-4,5,6,7
* signifies the current active mode
"

The following option  hdparm -Z /dev/sdb doesn't work and the output of was:

"
disabling Seagate auto powersaving mode
 HDIO_DRIVE_CMD(seagatepwrsave) failed: Input/output error
"

Bottom line I believe this hdd is already setup for non usage of Advanced Power Management so actually my problem is solved without doing anything

But for others who need some hdd CLI configuration / interrogation tools those ones may be useful.  

[pags]

Have you tried running

Code:

ataidle /dev/sdb

This may give you better information.

hdparm is and older program that was common when PATA drives were referenced as hdx.  Now, the kernel flags all drives as sdx...

[amidamaru]

Have you tried running

Code:

ataidle /dev/sdb

This may give you better information.

hdparm is and older program that was common when PATA drives were referenced as hdx.  Now, the kernel flags all drives as sdx...

Hi,

Thanks for the tip Actually I have tried and the output was:

"
ataidle /dev/sdb
Model:                  Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex
Serial:                 NA0B776K
Firmware Rev:           0110
ATA revision:           ATA-8
LBA 48:                 yes
Geometry:               16383 cyls, 16 heads, 63 spt
Capacity:               931GB
SMART Supported:        yes
SMART Enabled:          yes
APM Supported:          no
AAM Supported:          yes
AAM Enabled:            yes
AAM Value:              81
Vendor Recommended AAM: 81
"

In the end I have founded a very good official vmware workstation tweak doc which helps me a lot and somehow solved my problem.

[pags]

That's good.

You should mark your original post as [SOLVED].

Also, a link to your solution might help anyone searching in the future with similar issue(s).
 

[amidamaru]

Ahh...sure 

The related doc can be found here and can be applied in any circumstances.

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/WS6_Performance_Tuning_and_Benchmarking.pdf