Ubuntu
acpi-support package

  1. Bug #59695
  2. Comment #265

Comment 265 for bug 59695

Revision history for this message
Mark Thomas (mark-ubuntu-efaref) wrote : Re: [Bug 59695] Re: High frequency of load/unload cycles on some hard disks may shorten lifetime

We are talking about wear and tear, not drives catching fire. It's
expected that a drive will break eventually, and load cycling is just a
(relatively new) way that drives can reach end of life.

However, the crux of this bug is that Ubuntu is, by default, causing
_excessive_ wear and tear on drives. We can fix that by not causing that
wear and tear.

You can't stop a user from using their hardware, even if using it will
wear it out eventually.

Disabling APM disables a whole slew of features, not just head parking.
Features I paid for, and that hard disk engineers spend their time
developing. It's the proverbial hammer to this problem's loose screw, and
will probably only succeed in reducing the disk's lifespan.

You can't know what disabling APM disables for every drive ever made and
ever to be made will do. Who knows (other than the manufacturer, whom we
are overriding)? -B 254 might very well disable wear-levelling on next
year's flash drives. Messing around with APM settings is not something an
OS should be doing by default.