Re: hdparm

[Will Trillich <will@serensoft.com>]

On Sun, Sep 10, 2000 at 07:18:31PM -0700, Krzys Majewski wrote:
> How do I know if I need any of these options for my hard
> drive? Are the kernel/ide driver defaults reasonable? Do these flags improve  
> performance? (Right now I'm just using hdparm -y to spin down the 
> disk)  -chris

i've tried using hdparm to STOP my disk from spinning down,
to no avail. after a bit of inactivity (it's a secondary/clone
backup drive, for now) any accesses to it freeze just about
everything for a good five seconds while the drive spins up.
then i get a log message, and all is well for a while...

	kern.log:
	Sep 11 07:38:54 server kernel: hdd: irq timeout: status=0xd0 { Busy }
	Sep 11 07:38:54 server kernel: ide1: reset: success

# hdparm -S 244 /dev/hda

/dev/hda:
 setting standby to 244 (2 hours)
# hdparm -i /dev/hdd

/dev/hdd:

 Model=ST32531A, FwRev=0.75, SerialNo=VE799551
 Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec Fixed DTR>10Mbs RotSpdTol>.5% }
 RawCHS=4956/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=4
 BuffType=0(?), BuffSize=0kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=off
 DblWordIO=no, OldPIO=1, DMA=yes, OldDMA=2
 CurCHS=4956/16/63, CurSects=4996476, LBA=yes, LBAsects=4996476
 tDMA={min:120,rec:120}, DMA modes: mword0 mword1 *mword2
 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:383,w/IORDY:120}, PIO modes: mode3 mode4