uk.comp.os.linux
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: External USB with Linux-friendly spin down

Subject: Re: External USB with Linux-friendly spin down
From: The Lost Packet
Date: Fri, 06 Feb 2009 19:00:56 +0000
Newsgroups: uk.comp.os.linux


bob.smithson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
On 3 Feb, 18:29, Martin Gregorie <mar...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
1) a WD containing a 120GB 3.5" drive. It has no model name on it. I
bought it late 2004/early 2005 silver frame/light grey sides, annular
green power light round the ON/OFF switch and a power brick. It needs to
be turned on if its been unplugged, but thats it. It lives on my desktop,
always with USB plugged in and powered up. Its normally idle. It spins up
when mounted and doesn't seem to spin down again until it times out a few
minutes after being unmounted.

Actually, I think mine *does* spin down if unmounted but as far as I
know (and this is where I admit I'm only a dabbler when it comes to
Linux) I need to keep it mounted because it's shared via Samba and
needs to be accessed at unpredictable times.  I am running a headless
server so it would be inconvenient to have to mount/unmount every time
I needed to access it.  Maybe there's some funky way to achieve this
automatically that I don't know about?

to GP: WD* desktop drives from around that era used Seagate Barracuda drives - you'll know 'em by the noise they make - sounds like an aircraft spinning up. Later in 2005 they switched to Samsung Spinpoint drives for desktop external, around the same time they went from Fujitsu or Hitachi to Spinpoint drives for the pocket gear. Only reason I can think of for the switch to Samsung all round was the insanely low noise levels from these drives - they are whisper-quiet, even under intense seek-load. Or there again, it may just have been a political/financial decision. Either way, it's good for people like me who want to listen to their music, not a drive going "CLUNK! CLUNK! GRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIND!"

*Ever wonder why so few WD external caddies actually contain WD drives? Check the case temperature of a WD drive after a couple hours in a plastic box with no airflow. Wear asbestos mitts while you're doing it. The noise levels from them don't endear them to audiophiles either...

--
Disclaimer: No fluffy warm creatures were maimed, dismembered, tortured, deplumed, discarded, deflowered, dropped, twisted, wrungOut, extended, respliced, broken, humiliated, irradiated, browbeaten, pickled, deluded, duped, detained, mishandled, desiccated, bronzed, belittled, coddled, expelled, deported, imbibed, elected, marginalized, placated, misrepresented, overworked, underpaid, underappreciated, prepackaged, overly petted, genetically altered or cloned during the making of this product, except of course for Bunny and Bear

 - IE4 Easter Egg

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>