udev 60-persistent-storage.rules vol_id cancels hdd spin-down

[phoenix]

Binary package hint: udev

My secondary hdd (not mounted) did not go into standby and spun up again right after a "hdparm -y /dev/sdb" command.

the cause is /lib/udev/vol_id beeing executed on a change action caused by this rule in /lib/udev/rules.d/60-persistent-storage.rules:

# probe filesystem metadata of disks
KERNEL!="sr*", IMPORT{program}="vol_id --export $tempnode"

which causes an access to the hdd _after_ a spin-down event -> hdd spins up again
(My hdd model: SAMSUNG HD103UJ (Spinpoint F1, 1TB))

quick fix for me:
KERNEL!="sr*", ACTION=="add", IMPORT{program}="vol_id --export $tempnode"

[Scott James Remnant (Canonical) (canonical-scott)]

This is not a duplicate, but is a known bug caused by hdparm opening the block device for writing; it is not clear that it needs to do so.

[jpkotta (jpkotta)]

Indeed, hdparm does not need to open the file RW. I have only tested RO hdparm with -t, -T, -y, -Y, -i, -I, and -C, and not very thoroughly.

[jpkotta (jpkotta)]

hdparm-9.15 fixes this issue (it opens the file RO).

[Scott James Remnant (Canonical) (canonical-scott)]

Great, looks like 9.15 is in karmic already