Ubuntu
acpi-support package

  1. Bug #59695
  2. Comment #272

Comment 272 for bug 59695

Revision history for this message
Chris Jones (cmsj) wrote : Re: [Bug 59695] Re: High frequency of load/unload cycles on some hard disks may shorten lifetime

Hi

ubuntu_demon wrote:
> * while disk temperature of 59 and 60 degrees don't change the apm.

60 seems to be a fairly common *maximum* operating temperature for
disks. Allowing it to rest at 59/60 seems like a bad idea.

Hitachi quote that (with their drives) for every degree you go above the
maximum temperature the failure rate rises 2-3%.
If your drive gets to 60 and stays there, you are leaving basically no
headroom and it may well rise above the maximum rating until your "fix"
notices and enables a power saving mode, which may well take some time
to bring the temperature down.
If your drive were rated for a maximum of 55 degrees and we allow it to
run at 60, the failure rate could potentially be 15% higher than normal,
all in the name of fixing something (head unparks) that probably wasn't
a problem in the first place.

FWIW, I forgot to mention in my previous post that the temperature
information is often also present in SMART output.

--
Chris Jones