SMART Data & Self-Tests Re-Enabled After Reboot

[Peter Goulden]

The SMART Data & Self-Tests On/Off toggle control can be used to disable SMART data collection for the disk. It works for the duration of the session but it is always re-enabled after a reboot.

I don't know whether the problem affects all disk types but it has certainly been an issue for my Hitachi HDS722020ALA330 for the last few versions of Linux Mint, at least as far back as Mint 16 and up to the present. I presume it must exist in standard Ubuntu versions too.

Background, possibly irrelevant, justification information:

The disk in question is relatively noisy and produces heat. It is only used for occasional backups. I would like it spun down most of the time. For my disk the APM spin down is prevented from working by the SMART data collection. This is why I want to disable SMART.

I believe the problem of SMART data collection preventing spin-down is an issue that only affects certain models of drive. It's something I looked at over a year ago and my memory is a bit rusty. I do remember coming to the conclusion that disabling SMART was the only viable work-around for my system.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: gnome-disk-utility 3.10.0-1ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.16.0-38.52~14.04.1-generic 3.16.7-ckt10
Uname: Linux 3.16.0-38-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.18
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: X-Cinnamon
Date: Sat Nov 7 11:28:56 2015
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/gnome-disks
InstallationDate: Installed on 2015-10-31 (6 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Linux Mint 17.2 "Rafaela" - Release amd64 20150627
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: gnome-disk-utility
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)