>From man (8) atactl:
apmset power-management-level
Enables and sets the advanced power management level to the re-
quested level on the specified device (if supported). Device
performance may increase with increasing power management levels
at the cost of potentially requiring more power. Values up to
and including 126 allow the device to go into standby mode and
spin-down the disk. This may cause disk time-outs and is there-
fore not recommended. These values are more suitable optimiza-
tion for low power usage on infrequently used devices. Values
127 up to and including 253 do not allow the device to go to
standby mode and are more suitable for optimization for perfor-
mance. Support for advanced power management is indicated by
the device with `Advanced Power Management feature set' in the
output of the identify command.
So it would appear that it just reduces wd0's need for electricity.
Have you tried something else, like "atactl /dev/wd0c setstandby ###"?
I just put an old dell latitude D600 hard drive into standby by using
"atactl /dev/wd0c apmset 200"
It appears to come back on when I use the command-line, and I get a
device timeout error when it spins back up... funny enough, it also
appears to come out of standby mode when I run "atactl /dev/wd0c
checkpower"... I get one "current power status: Standby mode", it
pauses a second, I get the soft error message in the console window,
then it comes back to "active mode"...
On Wed, Feb 27, 2008 at 9:50 AM, Pau Amaro-Seoane
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I am having a small trouble... I attached an external monitor to my
> thinkpad T41; when I do this, I switch off the laptop lid by pressing
> fn+f3, in the hope that its life will be longer (and to spare a bit of
> energy) and there's a clear correlation between doing it and hearing
> the hard drive parking and spinning again in intervals of some
> seconds... I tried to set it to atactl wd0 apmset 253 but this didn't
> help.
>
> atactl wd0 checkpower yields Standby mode / Active mode alternatively
> every some seconds or so.
>
> Some output
>
> spree(pb)| sudo atactl /dev/wd0c identify
> Model: SAMSUNG HM121HC, Rev: LS100-10, Serial #: S12SJD0P910425
> Device type: ATA, fixed
> Cylinders: 16383, heads: 16, sec/track: 63, total sectors: 234441648
> Device capabilities:
> ATA standby timer values
> IORDY operation
> IORDY disabling
> Device supports the following standards:
> ATA-1 ATA-2 ATA-3 ATA-4 ATA-5 ATA-6 ATA-7 ATA-8
> Master password revision code 0xfffe
> Device supports the following command sets:
> NOP command
> READ BUFFER command
> WRITE BUFFER command
> Host Protected Area feature set
> Read look-ahead
> Write cache
> Power Management feature set
> Security Mode feature set
> SMART feature set
> Flush Cache Ext command
> Flush Cache command
> Device Configuration Overlay feature set
> 48bit address feature set
> Automatic Acoustic Management feature set
> Set Max security extension commands
> Advanced Power Management feature set
> DOWNLOAD MICROCODE command
> IDLE IMMEDIATE with UNLOAD FEATURE
> SMART self-test
> SMART error logging
> Device has enabled the following command sets/features:
> NOP command
> READ BUFFER command
> WRITE BUFFER command
> Host Protected Area feature set
> Read look-ahead
> Write cache
> Power Management feature set
> SMART feature set
> Flush Cache Ext command
> Flush Cache command
> Device Configuration Overlay feature set
> 48bit address feature set
> Automatic Acoustic Management feature set
> Advanced Power Management feature set
> DOWNLOAD MICROCODE command
>
> -------------
>
> With lid SWITCHED OFF:
> ======================
>
> spree(pb)| while true; do ; sudo atactl wd0 checkpower ; date
> '+%Hh%mmin%Ssec'
> ; sleep 5 ; done
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min53sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min58sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min03sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min08sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min13sec
> Current power status: Standby mode
> 18h02min18sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min23sec
> Current power status: Standby mode
> 18h02min28sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min34sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min39sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min44sec
> Current power status: Standby mode
> 18h02min49sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min54sec
> Current power status: Standby mode
> 18h02min59sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min04sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min09sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min14sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min19sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min24sec
> Current power status: Standby mode
> 18h02min31sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min36sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min41sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min46sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min51sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min56sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min01sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min06sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min11sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min16sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min21sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min26sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min31sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min36sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min41sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min46sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min51sec
> Current power status: Standby mode
>
> With lid SWITCHED ON:
> ======================
>
> spree(pb)| while true; do ; sudo atactl wd0 checkpower ; date
> '+%Hh%mmin%Ssec' ; sleep 5 ; done
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min11sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min16sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min21sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min26sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min31sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min36sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min41sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min46sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min51sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min56sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min01sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min06sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min11sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min16sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min21sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min26sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min31sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min36sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min41sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min46sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min51sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min56sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min01sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min06sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min11sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min16sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min21sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min26sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min31sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min36sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min41sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min46sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min51sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min56sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min01sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min06sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min11sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min16sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min21sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min26sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min31sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min36sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min41sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min46sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min52sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min57sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min02sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min07sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min12sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min17sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min22sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min27sec
> Current power status: Active mode
> 18h02min32sec
> Current power status: Active mode
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Any hint? Is this normal?
>
>
> Why don't you write X from scratch? "ObsdX" (just talking in jest, of
> course, but it'd be great)
>
>
> Cheers,
>
> Pau
