| 2006-09-09 20:38:25 |
Gilles Schintgen |
bug |
|
|
added bug |
| 2006-09-10 08:02:04 |
Loic Pefferkorn |
acpi-support: status |
Unconfirmed |
Needs Info |
|
| 2006-09-10 08:02:04 |
Loic Pefferkorn |
acpi-support: importance |
Untriaged |
Wishlist |
|
| 2006-09-10 08:02:04 |
Loic Pefferkorn |
acpi-support: statusexplanation |
|
I can confirm this behavior with my T43 |
|
| 2006-09-10 08:02:04 |
Loic Pefferkorn |
acpi-support: assignee |
|
ubuntu-laptop |
|
| 2007-08-27 21:45:34 |
William |
acpi-support: status |
Incomplete |
Confirmed |
|
| 2007-10-25 00:21:53 |
Daniel Hahler |
bug |
|
|
added attachment 'hdparm_7.5-1ubuntu2.dsc.diff' (debdiff for hdparm in hardy) |
| 2007-10-27 09:34:39 |
ubuntu_demon |
bug |
|
|
added attachment 'laptop_mode_status.txt' ($sudo laptop_mode status) |
| 2007-10-27 15:31:41 |
Ryan Thompson |
bug |
|
|
added attachment 'xscripts-that-do-stuff.txt' (List of files with various key words in them.) |
| 2007-10-27 19:16:45 |
Martin Emrich |
bug |
|
|
added attachment 'disk-stats' (Little disk stats script.) |
| 2007-10-28 12:27:48 |
Pavel Šefránek |
bug |
|
|
added attachment 'laptop-tools' (laptop-tools) |
| 2007-10-30 23:27:18 |
Matt Zimmerman |
description |
When switching to battery power, /etc/acpi/power.sh issues the command hdparm -B 1 to all block devices. This leads to extremely frequent load cycles. For example, my new thinkpad has already done well over 7000 load cycles -- in only 100 hours. That's at least one unloading per minute. Googling for "load unload cycles notebook OR laptop" shows that most laptop drives handle up to 600,000 such cycles. As these values clearly show, this issue is of high importance and should be fixed sooner rather than later.
Please see for yourself how often your drive is load cycling:
smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda
(This command is for an SATA drive; you'll need to install the smartmontools package first.)
See also http://paul.luon.net/journal/hacking/BrokenHDDs.html for a rather dramatic account of the effects the current default values may have.
Just in case the load/unload timeout depends on the specific laptop or disk model, here are my system specifications:
ThinkPad Z60m & Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00 disk (80GB)
|
It is claimed that some systems are seeing an unusually high number of load/unload cycles on their hard disks, as evidenced by smartctl.
If laptop mode is enabled (which is NOT the default), then when switching to battery power, /etc/acpi/power.sh issues the command hdparm -B 1 to set IDE and SCSI disks to power saving mode, so enabling laptop mode may be related to this observation.
For example, my new thinkpad has already done well over 7000 load cycles -- in only 100 hours. That's at least one unloading per minute. Googling for "load unload cycles notebook OR laptop" shows that most laptop drives handle up to 600,000 such cycles.
Please see for yourself how often your drive is load cycling:
smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda
(This command is for an SATA drive; you'll need to install the smartmontools package first.)
See also http://paul.luon.net/journal/hacking/BrokenHDDs.html for a rather dramatic account of the effects the current default values may have.
Just in case the load/unload timeout depends on the specific laptop or disk model, here are my system specifications:
ThinkPad Z60m & Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00 disk (80GB)
|
|
| 2007-10-31 12:28:58 |
Neil Wilson |
marked as duplicate |
|
17216 |
|
| 2007-10-31 14:05:13 |
Matt Zimmerman |
title |
default value in power.sh potentially kills laptop disks |
High frequency of load/unload cycles on some hard disks may shorten lifetime |
|
| 2007-11-08 22:12:15 |
Matthew Garrett |
removed duplicate marker |
17216 |
|
|
| 2007-11-11 16:27:25 |
ubuntu_demon |
bug |
|
|
assigned to mandriva |
| 2007-11-12 15:20:51 |
Brian Ealdwine |
description |
It is claimed that some systems are seeing an unusually high number of load/unload cycles on their hard disks, as evidenced by smartctl.
If laptop mode is enabled (which is NOT the default), then when switching to battery power, /etc/acpi/power.sh issues the command hdparm -B 1 to set IDE and SCSI disks to power saving mode, so enabling laptop mode may be related to this observation.
For example, my new thinkpad has already done well over 7000 load cycles -- in only 100 hours. That's at least one unloading per minute. Googling for "load unload cycles notebook OR laptop" shows that most laptop drives handle up to 600,000 such cycles.
Please see for yourself how often your drive is load cycling:
smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda
(This command is for an SATA drive; you'll need to install the smartmontools package first.)
See also http://paul.luon.net/journal/hacking/BrokenHDDs.html for a rather dramatic account of the effects the current default values may have.
Just in case the load/unload timeout depends on the specific laptop or disk model, here are my system specifications:
ThinkPad Z60m & Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00 disk (80GB)
|
It is confirmed that some systems are seeing an unusually high number of load/unload cycles on their hard disks, as evidenced by smartctl. It was originally surmised that this was related to laptop-mode being enabled, but this affects systems *regardless* of whether or not laptop-mode has been enabled. In fact, aggressive APM is not a bad idea while a system is not on AC, as that system is much more likely to encounter a physical impact. But unfortunately, the heads never stay parked, due to very frequent disk activity.
This problem has been confirmed in Ubuntu as well as in other distributions.
Symptoms of this bug are:
* frequent HD clicks -- more than one per 3 minutes while idle, louder than the typical access sounds. Often more than twice per minute.
* Rapidly Increasing Load_Cycle_Count as displayed in the final number in "sudo smartctl -a /dev/hda | grep Load_Cycle_Count" (where /dev/hda is replaced with your own hard disk device)
* Early hard disk failure -- some disks are cut down to less than a year of actual uptime.
The problem seems to be caused by:
* Hardware defaults to aggressive power management, causing heads to park.
* Disk is touched often, causing heads to unpark.
* Most laptop drives handle up to 600,000 such cycles.
Reasonable Limits / Criteria for a fix:
* There should be fewer than ~15 load cycles per hour, except during heavy usage while on battery.
* This provides a life expectancy of over four years, which is reasonable for a hard disk.
Temporary Workaround:
* Search for "hdparm -B 254" below.
Some hardware with this issue:
WD1200VE -- http://www.wdc.com/en/library/portable/2879-001121.pdf -- This aggressive parking is a feature of this disk, but that feature relies on behaviour that allows for significant amounts of (truly) idle time without the disk being touched. Notice the "Load/unload cycles" of 600,000.
Example Load_Cycle_Counts:
* Thinkpad Z60m/Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00 with well over 7000 load cycles in only 100 hours. That's >70 per hour.
* Gateway MT6451/Western Digital WD1200VE with 164762 load cycles in 3747 hours (156 days) of uptime. That's ~43 per hour -- except that the system was patched during the initial third of its life, which puts it at ~63/hour since Gutsy was installed (and wasn't patched, as I had done with feisty).
Please see for yourself how often your drive is load cycling:
smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda
(This command is for an SATA drive; you'll need to install the smartmontools package first.)
You can get the average per minute by the following division:
Load_Cycle_Count / Power_On_Hours
See also http://paul.luon.net/journal/hacking/BrokenHDDs.html for a rather dramatic account of the effects the current default values may have.
|
|
| 2007-11-12 15:31:13 |
Brian Ealdwine |
description |
It is confirmed that some systems are seeing an unusually high number of load/unload cycles on their hard disks, as evidenced by smartctl. It was originally surmised that this was related to laptop-mode being enabled, but this affects systems *regardless* of whether or not laptop-mode has been enabled. In fact, aggressive APM is not a bad idea while a system is not on AC, as that system is much more likely to encounter a physical impact. But unfortunately, the heads never stay parked, due to very frequent disk activity.
This problem has been confirmed in Ubuntu as well as in other distributions.
Symptoms of this bug are:
* frequent HD clicks -- more than one per 3 minutes while idle, louder than the typical access sounds. Often more than twice per minute.
* Rapidly Increasing Load_Cycle_Count as displayed in the final number in "sudo smartctl -a /dev/hda | grep Load_Cycle_Count" (where /dev/hda is replaced with your own hard disk device)
* Early hard disk failure -- some disks are cut down to less than a year of actual uptime.
The problem seems to be caused by:
* Hardware defaults to aggressive power management, causing heads to park.
* Disk is touched often, causing heads to unpark.
* Most laptop drives handle up to 600,000 such cycles.
Reasonable Limits / Criteria for a fix:
* There should be fewer than ~15 load cycles per hour, except during heavy usage while on battery.
* This provides a life expectancy of over four years, which is reasonable for a hard disk.
Temporary Workaround:
* Search for "hdparm -B 254" below.
Some hardware with this issue:
WD1200VE -- http://www.wdc.com/en/library/portable/2879-001121.pdf -- This aggressive parking is a feature of this disk, but that feature relies on behaviour that allows for significant amounts of (truly) idle time without the disk being touched. Notice the "Load/unload cycles" of 600,000.
Example Load_Cycle_Counts:
* Thinkpad Z60m/Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00 with well over 7000 load cycles in only 100 hours. That's >70 per hour.
* Gateway MT6451/Western Digital WD1200VE with 164762 load cycles in 3747 hours (156 days) of uptime. That's ~43 per hour -- except that the system was patched during the initial third of its life, which puts it at ~63/hour since Gutsy was installed (and wasn't patched, as I had done with feisty).
Please see for yourself how often your drive is load cycling:
smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda
(This command is for an SATA drive; you'll need to install the smartmontools package first.)
You can get the average per minute by the following division:
Load_Cycle_Count / Power_On_Hours
See also http://paul.luon.net/journal/hacking/BrokenHDDs.html for a rather dramatic account of the effects the current default values may have.
|
It is confirmed that some systems are seeing an unusually high number of load/unload cycles on their hard disks, as evidenced by smartctl. It was originally surmised that this was related to laptop-mode being enabled, but this affects systems *regardless* of whether or not laptop-mode has been enabled. In fact, aggressive APM is not a bad idea while a system is not on AC, as that system is much more likely to encounter a physical impact. But unfortunately, the heads never stay parked, due to very frequent disk activity.
This problem has been confirmed in Ubuntu as well as in other distributions.
Symptoms of this bug are:
* frequent HD clicks -- more than one per 3 minutes while idle, louder than the typical access sounds. Often more than twice per minute.
* Rapidly Increasing Load_Cycle_Count as displayed in the final number in "sudo smartctl -a /dev/hda | grep Load_Cycle_Count" (where /dev/hda is replaced with your own hard disk device)
* Early hard disk failure -- some disks are cut down to less than a year of actual uptime.
The problem seems to be caused by:
* Hardware defaults to aggressive power management, causing heads to park.
* Disk is touched often, causing heads to unpark.
* Most laptop drives handle up to 600,000 such cycles.
Reasonable Limits / Criteria for a fix:
* There should be fewer than ~15 load cycles per hour, except during heavy usage while on battery.
* This provides a life expectancy of over four years, which is reasonable for a hard disk.
Temporary Workaround:
* Search for "hdparm -B 254" below.
Some hardware with this issue:
WD1200VE -- http://www.wdc.com/en/library/portable/2879-001121.pdf -- This aggressive parking is a feature of this disk, but that feature relies on behaviour that allows for significant amounts of (truly) idle time without the disk being touched. Notice the "Load/unload cycles" of 600,000.
Example Load_Cycle_Counts:
* Thinkpad Z60m/Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00 with well over 7000 load cycles in only 100 hours. That's >70 per hour.
* Gateway MT6451/Western Digital WD1200VE with 164762 load cycles in 3747 hours (156 days) of uptime. That's ~43 per hour -- except that the system was patched during the initial third of its life, which puts it at ~63/hour since Gutsy was installed (and wasn't patched, as I had done with feisty).
Please see for yourself how often your drive is load cycling:
smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda
(This command is for an SATA drive; you'll need to install the smartmontools package first.)
You can get the average per hour by the following division:
Load_Cycle_Count / Power_On_Hours
See also http://paul.luon.net/journal/hacking/BrokenHDDs.html for a rather dramatic account of the effects the current default values may have.
|
|
| 2007-11-21 08:30:53 |
Przemek K. |
bug |
|
|
assigned to acpi-support (Debian) |
| 2007-11-21 08:56:43 |
Przemek K. |
bug |
|
|
assigned to suse |
| 2007-11-26 10:27:30 |
MASTER AZIM |
bug |
|
|
assigned to acpi-support (Fedora) |
| 2007-11-27 19:46:48 |
Andrea Corbellini |
acpi-support: importance |
Wishlist |
Critical |
|
| 2007-11-28 12:16:22 |
Andrea Corbellini |
acpi-support: assignee |
ubuntu-laptop |
|
|
| 2007-11-28 13:13:08 |
Przemek K. |
acpi-support: status |
New |
Incomplete |
|
| 2007-12-03 23:15:21 |
Joel Wirāmu Pauling (aenertia) |
acpi-support: status |
Incomplete |
Confirmed |
|
| 2007-12-04 07:41:40 |
Bug Watch Updater |
acpi-support: status |
Unknown |
Fix Released |
|
| 2007-12-04 08:05:30 |
Bug Watch Updater |
laptop-mode-tools: status |
Unknown |
In Progress |
|
| 2007-12-04 08:05:45 |
Bug Watch Updater |
None: status |
Unknown |
Confirmed |
|
| 2007-12-04 14:00:27 |
Przemek K. |
pm-utils: status |
Confirmed |
Unknown |
|
| 2007-12-05 10:14:53 |
Bug Watch Updater |
pm-utils: status |
Unknown |
Invalid |
|
| 2007-12-14 07:29:50 |
donzilluh |
bug |
|
|
added attachment 'not-coolbuttfixed.png' (not-coolbuttfixed.png) |
| 2007-12-14 22:18:46 |
Brian Ealdwine |
description |
It is confirmed that some systems are seeing an unusually high number of load/unload cycles on their hard disks, as evidenced by smartctl. It was originally surmised that this was related to laptop-mode being enabled, but this affects systems *regardless* of whether or not laptop-mode has been enabled. In fact, aggressive APM is not a bad idea while a system is not on AC, as that system is much more likely to encounter a physical impact. But unfortunately, the heads never stay parked, due to very frequent disk activity.
This problem has been confirmed in Ubuntu as well as in other distributions.
Symptoms of this bug are:
* frequent HD clicks -- more than one per 3 minutes while idle, louder than the typical access sounds. Often more than twice per minute.
* Rapidly Increasing Load_Cycle_Count as displayed in the final number in "sudo smartctl -a /dev/hda | grep Load_Cycle_Count" (where /dev/hda is replaced with your own hard disk device)
* Early hard disk failure -- some disks are cut down to less than a year of actual uptime.
The problem seems to be caused by:
* Hardware defaults to aggressive power management, causing heads to park.
* Disk is touched often, causing heads to unpark.
* Most laptop drives handle up to 600,000 such cycles.
Reasonable Limits / Criteria for a fix:
* There should be fewer than ~15 load cycles per hour, except during heavy usage while on battery.
* This provides a life expectancy of over four years, which is reasonable for a hard disk.
Temporary Workaround:
* Search for "hdparm -B 254" below.
Some hardware with this issue:
WD1200VE -- http://www.wdc.com/en/library/portable/2879-001121.pdf -- This aggressive parking is a feature of this disk, but that feature relies on behaviour that allows for significant amounts of (truly) idle time without the disk being touched. Notice the "Load/unload cycles" of 600,000.
Example Load_Cycle_Counts:
* Thinkpad Z60m/Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00 with well over 7000 load cycles in only 100 hours. That's >70 per hour.
* Gateway MT6451/Western Digital WD1200VE with 164762 load cycles in 3747 hours (156 days) of uptime. That's ~43 per hour -- except that the system was patched during the initial third of its life, which puts it at ~63/hour since Gutsy was installed (and wasn't patched, as I had done with feisty).
Please see for yourself how often your drive is load cycling:
smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda
(This command is for an SATA drive; you'll need to install the smartmontools package first.)
You can get the average per hour by the following division:
Load_Cycle_Count / Power_On_Hours
See also http://paul.luon.net/journal/hacking/BrokenHDDs.html for a rather dramatic account of the effects the current default values may have.
|
This is not a support forum. Please do not use it as such (even though it has been used as such already).
You can scan through the bug for links to the Ubuntu forums where many, many different questions have been asked, answered, and re-answered. The temporary workaround is just below, but you may need to use '254', or a bit lower, as opposed to '255'. If HD temperature gets high, you may want to set it all the way "down" to 200 or so. ~1 click every 2.5-3 minutes is fine.
Temporary workaround: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695/comments/14
Following is a summary of the issue:
It is confirmed that some systems are seeing an unusually high number of load/unload cycles on their hard disks, as evidenced by smartctl. It was originally surmised that this was related to laptop-mode being enabled, but this affects systems *regardless* of whether or not laptop-mode has been enabled. In fact, aggressive APM is not a bad idea while a system is not on AC, as that system is much more likely to encounter a physical impact. But unfortunately, the heads never stay parked, due to very frequent disk activity.
This problem has been confirmed in Ubuntu as well as in other distributions.
Symptoms of this bug are:
* frequent HD clicks -- more than one per 3 minutes while idle, louder than the typical access sounds. Often more than twice per minute.
* Rapidly Increasing Load_Cycle_Count as displayed in the final number in "sudo smartctl -a /dev/hda | grep Load_Cycle_Count" (where /dev/hda is replaced with your own hard disk device)
* Early hard disk failure -- some disks are cut down to less than a year of actual uptime.
The problem seems to be caused by:
* Hardware defaults to aggressive power management, causing heads to park.
* Disk is touched often, causing heads to unpark.
* Most laptop drives handle up to 600,000 such cycles.
Reasonable Limits / Criteria for a fix:
* There should be fewer than ~15 load cycles per hour, except during heavy usage while on battery.
* This provides a life expectancy of over four years, which is reasonable for a hard disk.
Temporary Workaround:
* Search for "hdparm -B 254" below.
Some hardware with this issue:
WD1200VE -- http://www.wdc.com/en/library/portable/2879-001121.pdf -- This aggressive parking is a feature of this disk, but that feature relies on behaviour that allows for significant amounts of (truly) idle time without the disk being touched. Notice the "Load/unload cycles" of 600,000.
Example Load_Cycle_Counts:
* Thinkpad Z60m/Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00 with well over 7000 load cycles in only 100 hours. That's >70 per hour.
* Gateway MT6451/Western Digital WD1200VE with 164762 load cycles in 3747 hours (156 days) of uptime. That's ~43 per hour -- except that the system was patched during the initial third of its life, which puts it at ~63/hour since Gutsy was installed (and wasn't patched, as I had done with feisty).
Please see for yourself how often your drive is load cycling:
smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda
(This command is for an SATA drive; you'll need to install the smartmontools package first.)
You can get the average per hour by the following division:
Load_Cycle_Count / Power_On_Hours
See also http://paul.luon.net/journal/hacking/BrokenHDDs.html for a rather dramatic account of the effects the current default values may have.
|
|
| 2007-12-14 22:29:37 |
Brian Ealdwine |
description |
This is not a support forum. Please do not use it as such (even though it has been used as such already).
You can scan through the bug for links to the Ubuntu forums where many, many different questions have been asked, answered, and re-answered. The temporary workaround is just below, but you may need to use '254', or a bit lower, as opposed to '255'. If HD temperature gets high, you may want to set it all the way "down" to 200 or so. ~1 click every 2.5-3 minutes is fine.
Temporary workaround: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695/comments/14
Following is a summary of the issue:
It is confirmed that some systems are seeing an unusually high number of load/unload cycles on their hard disks, as evidenced by smartctl. It was originally surmised that this was related to laptop-mode being enabled, but this affects systems *regardless* of whether or not laptop-mode has been enabled. In fact, aggressive APM is not a bad idea while a system is not on AC, as that system is much more likely to encounter a physical impact. But unfortunately, the heads never stay parked, due to very frequent disk activity.
This problem has been confirmed in Ubuntu as well as in other distributions.
Symptoms of this bug are:
* frequent HD clicks -- more than one per 3 minutes while idle, louder than the typical access sounds. Often more than twice per minute.
* Rapidly Increasing Load_Cycle_Count as displayed in the final number in "sudo smartctl -a /dev/hda | grep Load_Cycle_Count" (where /dev/hda is replaced with your own hard disk device)
* Early hard disk failure -- some disks are cut down to less than a year of actual uptime.
The problem seems to be caused by:
* Hardware defaults to aggressive power management, causing heads to park.
* Disk is touched often, causing heads to unpark.
* Most laptop drives handle up to 600,000 such cycles.
Reasonable Limits / Criteria for a fix:
* There should be fewer than ~15 load cycles per hour, except during heavy usage while on battery.
* This provides a life expectancy of over four years, which is reasonable for a hard disk.
Temporary Workaround:
* Search for "hdparm -B 254" below.
Some hardware with this issue:
WD1200VE -- http://www.wdc.com/en/library/portable/2879-001121.pdf -- This aggressive parking is a feature of this disk, but that feature relies on behaviour that allows for significant amounts of (truly) idle time without the disk being touched. Notice the "Load/unload cycles" of 600,000.
Example Load_Cycle_Counts:
* Thinkpad Z60m/Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00 with well over 7000 load cycles in only 100 hours. That's >70 per hour.
* Gateway MT6451/Western Digital WD1200VE with 164762 load cycles in 3747 hours (156 days) of uptime. That's ~43 per hour -- except that the system was patched during the initial third of its life, which puts it at ~63/hour since Gutsy was installed (and wasn't patched, as I had done with feisty).
Please see for yourself how often your drive is load cycling:
smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda
(This command is for an SATA drive; you'll need to install the smartmontools package first.)
You can get the average per hour by the following division:
Load_Cycle_Count / Power_On_Hours
See also http://paul.luon.net/journal/hacking/BrokenHDDs.html for a rather dramatic account of the effects the current default values may have.
|
This is not a support forum. Please do not use it as such (even though it has been used as such already).
You can scan through the bug for links to the Ubuntu forums where many, many different questions have been asked, answered, and re-answered. The temporary workaround is just below, but you may need to use '254', or a bit lower, as opposed to '255'. If HD temperature gets high, you may want to set it all the way "down" to 200 or so. ~1 click every 2.5-3 minutes is fine.
Temporary workaround: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695/comments/14
Following is a summary of the issue:
It is confirmed that some systems are seeing an unusually high number of load/unload cycles on their hard disks, as evidenced by smartctl. It was originally surmised that this was related to laptop-mode being enabled, but this affects systems *regardless* of whether or not laptop-mode has been enabled. In fact, aggressive APM is not a bad idea while a system is not on AC, as that system is much more likely to encounter a physical impact. But unfortunately, the heads never stay parked, due to very frequent disk activity.
This problem has been confirmed in Ubuntu as well as in other distributions.
Symptoms of this bug are:
* frequent HD clicks -- more than one per 3 minutes while idle, louder than the typical access sounds. Often more than twice per minute.
* Rapidly Increasing Load_Cycle_Count as displayed in the final number in "sudo smartctl -a /dev/hda | grep Load_Cycle_Count" (where /dev/hda is replaced with your own hard disk device)
* Early hard disk failure -- some disks are cut down to less than a year of actual uptime.
The problem is only present due to the existence of *all three* of the following factors:
* Hardware is set (default or otherwise) to aggressive power management, causing heads to park. (default behaviour of many drives)
* Disk is touched often, causing heads to unpark. (default behaviour of many distributions)
* Drives are spec'd to a limited number of these cycles. (600,000 is the most common, although some may be spec'd higher or lower).
Reasonable Limits / Criteria for a fix:
* There should be fewer than ~15 load cycles per hour, except during heavy usage while on battery.
* This provides a life expectancy of over four years, which is reasonable for a hard disk.
Temporary Workaround:
* Follow the above link.
Some hardware with this issue:
WD1200VE -- http://www.wdc.com/en/library/portable/2879-001121.pdf -- This aggressive parking is a feature of this disk, but that feature relies on behaviour that allows for significant amounts of (truly) idle time without the disk being touched. Notice the "Load/unload cycles" of 600,000.
Example Load_Cycle_Counts:
* Thinkpad Z60m/Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00 with well over 7000 load cycles in only 100 hours. That's >70 per hour.
* Gateway MT6451/Western Digital WD1200VE with 164762 load cycles in 3747 hours (156 days) of uptime. That's ~43 per hour -- except that the system was patched during the initial third of its life, which puts it at ~63/hour since Gutsy was installed (and wasn't patched, as I had done with feisty).
Please see for yourself how often your drive is load cycling:
smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda
(This command is for an SATA drive; you'll need to install the smartmontools package first.)
You can get the average per hour by the following division:
Load_Cycle_Count / Power_On_Hours
See also http://paul.luon.net/journal/hacking/BrokenHDDs.html for a rather dramatic account of the effects the current default values may have.
|
|
| 2007-12-16 09:53:19 |
maor |
description |
This is not a support forum. Please do not use it as such (even though it has been used as such already).
You can scan through the bug for links to the Ubuntu forums where many, many different questions have been asked, answered, and re-answered. The temporary workaround is just below, but you may need to use '254', or a bit lower, as opposed to '255'. If HD temperature gets high, you may want to set it all the way "down" to 200 or so. ~1 click every 2.5-3 minutes is fine.
Temporary workaround: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695/comments/14
Following is a summary of the issue:
It is confirmed that some systems are seeing an unusually high number of load/unload cycles on their hard disks, as evidenced by smartctl. It was originally surmised that this was related to laptop-mode being enabled, but this affects systems *regardless* of whether or not laptop-mode has been enabled. In fact, aggressive APM is not a bad idea while a system is not on AC, as that system is much more likely to encounter a physical impact. But unfortunately, the heads never stay parked, due to very frequent disk activity.
This problem has been confirmed in Ubuntu as well as in other distributions.
Symptoms of this bug are:
* frequent HD clicks -- more than one per 3 minutes while idle, louder than the typical access sounds. Often more than twice per minute.
* Rapidly Increasing Load_Cycle_Count as displayed in the final number in "sudo smartctl -a /dev/hda | grep Load_Cycle_Count" (where /dev/hda is replaced with your own hard disk device)
* Early hard disk failure -- some disks are cut down to less than a year of actual uptime.
The problem is only present due to the existence of *all three* of the following factors:
* Hardware is set (default or otherwise) to aggressive power management, causing heads to park. (default behaviour of many drives)
* Disk is touched often, causing heads to unpark. (default behaviour of many distributions)
* Drives are spec'd to a limited number of these cycles. (600,000 is the most common, although some may be spec'd higher or lower).
Reasonable Limits / Criteria for a fix:
* There should be fewer than ~15 load cycles per hour, except during heavy usage while on battery.
* This provides a life expectancy of over four years, which is reasonable for a hard disk.
Temporary Workaround:
* Follow the above link.
Some hardware with this issue:
WD1200VE -- http://www.wdc.com/en/library/portable/2879-001121.pdf -- This aggressive parking is a feature of this disk, but that feature relies on behaviour that allows for significant amounts of (truly) idle time without the disk being touched. Notice the "Load/unload cycles" of 600,000.
Example Load_Cycle_Counts:
* Thinkpad Z60m/Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00 with well over 7000 load cycles in only 100 hours. That's >70 per hour.
* Gateway MT6451/Western Digital WD1200VE with 164762 load cycles in 3747 hours (156 days) of uptime. That's ~43 per hour -- except that the system was patched during the initial third of its life, which puts it at ~63/hour since Gutsy was installed (and wasn't patched, as I had done with feisty).
Please see for yourself how often your drive is load cycling:
smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda
(This command is for an SATA drive; you'll need to install the smartmontools package first.)
You can get the average per hour by the following division:
Load_Cycle_Count / Power_On_Hours
See also http://paul.luon.net/journal/hacking/BrokenHDDs.html for a rather dramatic account of the effects the current default values may have.
|
This is not a support forum. Please do not use it as such (even though it has been used as such already).
You can scan through the bug for links to the Ubuntu forums where many, many different questions have been asked, answered, and re-answered. The temporary workaround is just below, but you may need to use '254', or a bit lower, as opposed to '255'. If HD temperature gets high, you may want to set it all the way "down" to 200 or so. ~1 click every 2.5-3 minutes is fine.
Temporary workaround: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695/comments/14
[edit] perhaps a more extensive one: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=591503
Following is a summary of the issue:
It is confirmed that some systems are seeing an unusually high number of load/unload cycles on their hard disks, as evidenced by smartctl. It was originally surmised that this was related to laptop-mode being enabled, but this affects systems *regardless* of whether or not laptop-mode has been enabled. In fact, aggressive APM is not a bad idea while a system is not on AC, as that system is much more likely to encounter a physical impact. But unfortunately, the heads never stay parked, due to very frequent disk activity.
This problem has been confirmed in Ubuntu as well as in other distributions.
Symptoms of this bug are:
* frequent HD clicks -- more than one per 3 minutes while idle, louder than the typical access sounds. Often more than twice per minute.
* Rapidly Increasing Load_Cycle_Count as displayed in the final number in "sudo smartctl -a /dev/hda | grep Load_Cycle_Count" (where /dev/hda is replaced with your own hard disk device)
* Early hard disk failure -- some disks are cut down to less than a year of actual uptime.
The problem is only present due to the existence of *all three* of the following factors:
* Hardware is set (default or otherwise) to aggressive power management, causing heads to park. (default behaviour of many drives)
* Disk is touched often, causing heads to unpark. (default behaviour of many distributions)
* Drives are spec'd to a limited number of these cycles. (600,000 is the most common, although some may be spec'd higher or lower).
Reasonable Limits / Criteria for a fix:
* There should be fewer than ~15 load cycles per hour, except during heavy usage while on battery.
* This provides a life expectancy of over four years, which is reasonable for a hard disk.
Temporary Workaround:
* Follow the above link.
Some hardware with this issue:
WD1200VE -- http://www.wdc.com/en/library/portable/2879-001121.pdf -- This aggressive parking is a feature of this disk, but that feature relies on behaviour that allows for significant amounts of (truly) idle time without the disk being touched. Notice the "Load/unload cycles" of 600,000.
Example Load_Cycle_Counts:
* Thinkpad Z60m/Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00 with well over 7000 load cycles in only 100 hours. That's >70 per hour.
* Gateway MT6451/Western Digital WD1200VE with 164762 load cycles in 3747 hours (156 days) of uptime. That's ~43 per hour -- except that the system was patched during the initial third of its life, which puts it at ~63/hour since Gutsy was installed (and wasn't patched, as I had done with feisty).
Please see for yourself how often your drive is load cycling:
smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda
(This command is for an SATA drive; you'll need to install the smartmontools package first.)
You can get the average per hour by the following division:
Load_Cycle_Count / Power_On_Hours
See also http://paul.luon.net/journal/hacking/BrokenHDDs.html for a rather dramatic account of the effects the current default values may have.
|
|
| 2007-12-17 02:59:04 |
Mantas Kriaučiūnas |
bug |
|
|
assigned to acpi-support (Baltix) |
| 2007-12-27 02:32:44 |
Brian Ealdwine |
description |
This is not a support forum. Please do not use it as such (even though it has been used as such already).
You can scan through the bug for links to the Ubuntu forums where many, many different questions have been asked, answered, and re-answered. The temporary workaround is just below, but you may need to use '254', or a bit lower, as opposed to '255'. If HD temperature gets high, you may want to set it all the way "down" to 200 or so. ~1 click every 2.5-3 minutes is fine.
Temporary workaround: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695/comments/14
[edit] perhaps a more extensive one: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=591503
Following is a summary of the issue:
It is confirmed that some systems are seeing an unusually high number of load/unload cycles on their hard disks, as evidenced by smartctl. It was originally surmised that this was related to laptop-mode being enabled, but this affects systems *regardless* of whether or not laptop-mode has been enabled. In fact, aggressive APM is not a bad idea while a system is not on AC, as that system is much more likely to encounter a physical impact. But unfortunately, the heads never stay parked, due to very frequent disk activity.
This problem has been confirmed in Ubuntu as well as in other distributions.
Symptoms of this bug are:
* frequent HD clicks -- more than one per 3 minutes while idle, louder than the typical access sounds. Often more than twice per minute.
* Rapidly Increasing Load_Cycle_Count as displayed in the final number in "sudo smartctl -a /dev/hda | grep Load_Cycle_Count" (where /dev/hda is replaced with your own hard disk device)
* Early hard disk failure -- some disks are cut down to less than a year of actual uptime.
The problem is only present due to the existence of *all three* of the following factors:
* Hardware is set (default or otherwise) to aggressive power management, causing heads to park. (default behaviour of many drives)
* Disk is touched often, causing heads to unpark. (default behaviour of many distributions)
* Drives are spec'd to a limited number of these cycles. (600,000 is the most common, although some may be spec'd higher or lower).
Reasonable Limits / Criteria for a fix:
* There should be fewer than ~15 load cycles per hour, except during heavy usage while on battery.
* This provides a life expectancy of over four years, which is reasonable for a hard disk.
Temporary Workaround:
* Follow the above link.
Some hardware with this issue:
WD1200VE -- http://www.wdc.com/en/library/portable/2879-001121.pdf -- This aggressive parking is a feature of this disk, but that feature relies on behaviour that allows for significant amounts of (truly) idle time without the disk being touched. Notice the "Load/unload cycles" of 600,000.
Example Load_Cycle_Counts:
* Thinkpad Z60m/Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00 with well over 7000 load cycles in only 100 hours. That's >70 per hour.
* Gateway MT6451/Western Digital WD1200VE with 164762 load cycles in 3747 hours (156 days) of uptime. That's ~43 per hour -- except that the system was patched during the initial third of its life, which puts it at ~63/hour since Gutsy was installed (and wasn't patched, as I had done with feisty).
Please see for yourself how often your drive is load cycling:
smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda
(This command is for an SATA drive; you'll need to install the smartmontools package first.)
You can get the average per hour by the following division:
Load_Cycle_Count / Power_On_Hours
See also http://paul.luon.net/journal/hacking/BrokenHDDs.html for a rather dramatic account of the effects the current default values may have.
|
This is not a support forum. Please do not use it as such (even though it has been used as such already).
You can scan through the bug for links to the Ubuntu forums where many, many different questions have been asked, answered, and re-answered. The temporary workaround is just below, but you may need to use '254', or a bit lower, as opposed to '255'. If HD temperature gets high, you may want to set it all the way "down" to 200 or so. ~1 click every 2.5-3 minutes is fine.
Temporary workaround: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695/comments/14
A more extensive description of the workaround: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=591503
Note: Some disks are unresponsive to having their APM changed by hdparm, and therefore the workaround doesn't work. It would be a good idea, in such cases, to disable APM in the BIOS if possible.
Following is a summary of the issue:
It is confirmed that some systems are seeing an unusually high number of load/unload cycles on their hard disks, as evidenced by smartctl. It was originally surmised that this was related to laptop-mode being enabled, but this affects systems *regardless* of whether or not laptop-mode has been enabled. In fact, aggressive APM is not a bad idea while a system is not on AC, as that system is much more likely to encounter a physical impact. But unfortunately, the heads are only parked for a very short period of time, making impact protection much less effective (and wearing out the drive as well).
This problem has been confirmed in Ubuntu as well as in other distributions.
Symptoms of this bug are:
* Frequent HD clicks -- more than one per 3 minutes while idle, louder than the typical access sounds. Often more than twice per minute. On some disks, the click is very quiet
* Rapidly Increasing Load_Cycle_Count as displayed in the final number in "sudo smartctl -a /dev/hda | grep Load_Cycle_Count" (where /dev/hda is replaced with your own hard disk device)
* Early hard disk failure never stay parked, due to very frequent disk activity. Thus this cycle occurs often, thus wearing out the drive, and any comparative benefit is negligible (whereas, if the-- some disks are cut down to less than a year of actual uptime.
The problem is only present due to the existence of *all three* of the following factors:
* Hardware is set (default or otherwise) to aggressive power management, causing heads to park. (default behaviour of many drives)
* Disk is touched often, causing heads to unpark. (default behaviour of many distributions)
* Drives are spec'd to a limited number of these cycles. (600,000 is the most common, although some may be spec'd higher or lower).
Reasonable Limits / Criteria for a fix:
* There should be fewer than ~15 load cycles per hour, except during heavy usage while on battery.
* This provides a life expectancy of over four years, which is reasonable for a hard disk.
Temporary Workaround:
* Follow the above link.
Some hardware with this issue:
WD1200VE -- http://www.wdc.com/en/library/portable/2879-001121.pdf -- This aggressive parking is a feature of this disk, but that feature relies on behaviour that allows for significant amounts of (truly) idle time without the disk being touched. Notice the "Load/unload cycles" of 600,000.
Example Load_Cycle_Counts:
* Thinkpad Z60m/Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00 with well over 7000 load cycles in only 100 hours. That's >70 per hour.
* Gateway MT6451/Western Digital WD1200VE with 164762 load cycles in 3747 hours (156 days) of uptime. That's ~43 per hour -- except that the system was patched during the initial third of its life, which puts it at ~63/hour since Gutsy was installed (and wasn't patched, as I had done with feisty).
Please see for yourself how often your drive is load cycling:
smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda
(This command is for an SATA drive; you'll need to install the smartmontools package first.)
You can get the average per hour by the following division:
Load_Cycle_Count / Power_On_Hours
See also http://paul.luon.net/journal/hacking/BrokenHDDs.html for a rather dramatic account of the effects the current default values may have.
|
|
| 2008-02-16 00:42:12 |
Jakob Unterwurzacher |
bug |
|
|
added attachment '90-hdparm.sh' (90-hdparm.sh) |
| 2008-02-16 01:29:16 |
Jakob Unterwurzacher |
bug |
|
|
added attachment 'debian-hdparm-fix.debdiff' (debdiff of Debian's 90-hdparm.sh fix) |
| 2008-02-17 18:06:05 |
Jakob Unterwurzacher |
bug |
|
|
added subscriber Ubuntu Stable Release Updates Team |
| 2008-02-26 19:05:01 |
Andrea Corbellini |
acpi-support: status |
Confirmed |
Triaged |
|
| 2008-02-26 19:05:58 |
Andrea Corbellini |
acpi-support: assignee |
|
ubuntu-kernel-acpi |
|
| 2008-02-26 21:54:02 |
Christian Schürer-Waldheim |
bug |
|
|
assigned to linux-meta (Ubuntu) |
| 2008-03-12 10:07:06 |
Bug Watch Updater |
laptop-mode-tools: status |
In Progress |
Invalid |
|
| 2008-03-13 09:33:16 |
Bug Watch Updater |
laptop-mode-tools: status |
Unknown |
Confirmed |
|
| 2008-03-18 21:31:54 |
Mark Baas |
bug |
|
|
added attachment 'disk' (Put this in /etc/pm/config.d) |
| 2008-03-18 21:33:19 |
Mark Baas |
bug |
|
|
added attachment 'disk' (Put this in /etc/pm/power.d) |
| 2008-03-19 09:52:07 |
Bug Watch Updater |
None: status |
Confirmed |
In Progress |
|
| 2008-03-21 13:32:34 |
Bug Watch Updater |
laptop-mode-tools: status |
Confirmed |
In Progress |
|
| 2008-04-08 16:52:17 |
desasta |
bug |
|
|
added attachment 'hdparm-I.txt' (hdparm-I.txt) |
| 2008-04-09 03:04:48 |
Brian Ealdwine |
bug |
|
|
assigned to pm-utils (Ubuntu) |
| 2008-04-25 13:35:34 |
Bug Watch Updater |
laptop-mode-tools: status |
In Progress |
Confirmed |
|
| 2008-04-29 13:17:00 |
Bug Watch Updater |
laptop-mode-tools: status |
Confirmed |
Fix Released |
|
| 2008-04-29 20:54:14 |
thebrotherofasis |
bug |
|
|
added attachment 'unnamed' (unnamed) |
| 2008-04-30 12:27:55 |
Bug Watch Updater |
laptop-mode-tools: status |
Fix Released |
Confirmed |
|
| 2008-05-01 09:33:06 |
Chris Cheney |
description |
This is not a support forum. Please do not use it as such (even though it has been used as such already).
You can scan through the bug for links to the Ubuntu forums where many, many different questions have been asked, answered, and re-answered. The temporary workaround is just below, but you may need to use '254', or a bit lower, as opposed to '255'. If HD temperature gets high, you may want to set it all the way "down" to 200 or so. ~1 click every 2.5-3 minutes is fine.
Temporary workaround: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695/comments/14
A more extensive description of the workaround: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=591503
Note: Some disks are unresponsive to having their APM changed by hdparm, and therefore the workaround doesn't work. It would be a good idea, in such cases, to disable APM in the BIOS if possible.
Following is a summary of the issue:
It is confirmed that some systems are seeing an unusually high number of load/unload cycles on their hard disks, as evidenced by smartctl. It was originally surmised that this was related to laptop-mode being enabled, but this affects systems *regardless* of whether or not laptop-mode has been enabled. In fact, aggressive APM is not a bad idea while a system is not on AC, as that system is much more likely to encounter a physical impact. But unfortunately, the heads are only parked for a very short period of time, making impact protection much less effective (and wearing out the drive as well).
This problem has been confirmed in Ubuntu as well as in other distributions.
Symptoms of this bug are:
* Frequent HD clicks -- more than one per 3 minutes while idle, louder than the typical access sounds. Often more than twice per minute. On some disks, the click is very quiet
* Rapidly Increasing Load_Cycle_Count as displayed in the final number in "sudo smartctl -a /dev/hda | grep Load_Cycle_Count" (where /dev/hda is replaced with your own hard disk device)
* Early hard disk failure never stay parked, due to very frequent disk activity. Thus this cycle occurs often, thus wearing out the drive, and any comparative benefit is negligible (whereas, if the-- some disks are cut down to less than a year of actual uptime.
The problem is only present due to the existence of *all three* of the following factors:
* Hardware is set (default or otherwise) to aggressive power management, causing heads to park. (default behaviour of many drives)
* Disk is touched often, causing heads to unpark. (default behaviour of many distributions)
* Drives are spec'd to a limited number of these cycles. (600,000 is the most common, although some may be spec'd higher or lower).
Reasonable Limits / Criteria for a fix:
* There should be fewer than ~15 load cycles per hour, except during heavy usage while on battery.
* This provides a life expectancy of over four years, which is reasonable for a hard disk.
Temporary Workaround:
* Follow the above link.
Some hardware with this issue:
WD1200VE -- http://www.wdc.com/en/library/portable/2879-001121.pdf -- This aggressive parking is a feature of this disk, but that feature relies on behaviour that allows for significant amounts of (truly) idle time without the disk being touched. Notice the "Load/unload cycles" of 600,000.
Example Load_Cycle_Counts:
* Thinkpad Z60m/Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00 with well over 7000 load cycles in only 100 hours. That's >70 per hour.
* Gateway MT6451/Western Digital WD1200VE with 164762 load cycles in 3747 hours (156 days) of uptime. That's ~43 per hour -- except that the system was patched during the initial third of its life, which puts it at ~63/hour since Gutsy was installed (and wasn't patched, as I had done with feisty).
Please see for yourself how often your drive is load cycling:
smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda
(This command is for an SATA drive; you'll need to install the smartmontools package first.)
You can get the average per hour by the following division:
Load_Cycle_Count / Power_On_Hours
See also http://paul.luon.net/journal/hacking/BrokenHDDs.html for a rather dramatic account of the effects the current default values may have.
|
This is not a support forum. Please do not use it as such (even though it has been used as such already).
You can scan through the bug for links to the Ubuntu forums where many, many different questions have been asked, answered, and re-answered. The temporary workaround is just below, but you may need to use '254', or a bit lower, as opposed to '255'. If HD temperature gets high, you may want to set it all the way "down" to 200 or so. ~1 click every 2.5-3 minutes is fine.
Temporary workaround: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695/comments/14
A more extensive description of the workaround: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=591503
Note: Some disks are unresponsive to having their APM changed by hdparm, and therefore the workaround doesn't work. It would be a good idea, in such cases, to disable APM in the BIOS if possible.
Following is a summary of the issue:
It is confirmed that some systems are seeing an unusually high number of load/unload cycles on their hard disks, as evidenced by smartctl. It was originally surmised that this was related to laptop-mode being enabled, but this affects systems *regardless* of whether or not laptop-mode has been enabled. In fact, aggressive APM is not a bad idea while a system is not on AC, as that system is much more likely to encounter a physical impact. But unfortunately, the heads are only parked for a very short period of time, making impact protection much less effective (and wearing out the drive as well).
This problem has been confirmed in Ubuntu as well as in other distributions and on MacOS X and Windows.
Symptoms of this bug are:
* Frequent HD clicks -- more than one per 3 minutes while idle, louder than the typical access sounds. Often more than twice per minute. On some disks, the click is very quiet
* Rapidly Increasing Load_Cycle_Count as displayed in the final number in "sudo smartctl -a /dev/hda | grep Load_Cycle_Count" (where /dev/hda is replaced with your own hard disk device)
* Early hard disk failure never stay parked, due to very frequent disk activity. Thus this cycle occurs often, thus wearing out the drive, and any comparative benefit is negligible (whereas, if the-- some disks are cut down to less than a year of actual uptime.
The problem is only present due to the existence of *all three* of the following factors:
* Hardware is set (default or otherwise) to aggressive power management, causing heads to park. (default behaviour of many drives)
* Disk is touched often, causing heads to unpark. (default behaviour of many distributions)
* Drives are spec'd to a limited number of these cycles. (600,000 is the most common, although some may be spec'd higher or lower).
Reasonable Limits / Criteria for a fix:
* There should be fewer than ~15 load cycles per hour, except during heavy usage while on battery.
* This provides a life expectancy of over four years, which is reasonable for a hard disk.
Temporary Workaround:
* Follow the above link.
Some hardware with this issue:
WD1200VE -- http://www.wdc.com/en/library/portable/2879-001121.pdf -- This aggressive parking is a feature of this disk, but that feature relies on behaviour that allows for significant amounts of (truly) idle time without the disk being touched. Notice the "Load/unload cycles" of 600,000.
Example Load_Cycle_Counts:
* Thinkpad Z60m/Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00 with well over 7000 load cycles in only 100 hours. That's >70 per hour.
* Gateway MT6451/Western Digital WD1200VE with 164762 load cycles in 3747 hours (156 days) of uptime. That's ~43 per hour -- except that the system was patched during the initial third of its life, which puts it at ~63/hour since Gutsy was installed (and wasn't patched, as I had done with feisty).
Please see for yourself how often your drive is load cycling:
smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda
(This command is for an SATA drive; you'll need to install the smartmontools package first.)
You can get the average per hour by the following division:
Load_Cycle_Count / Power_On_Hours
See also http://paul.luon.net/journal/hacking/BrokenHDDs.html for a rather dramatic account of the effects the current default values may have.
|
|
| 2008-05-01 09:35:11 |
Chris Cheney |
description |
This is not a support forum. Please do not use it as such (even though it has been used as such already).
You can scan through the bug for links to the Ubuntu forums where many, many different questions have been asked, answered, and re-answered. The temporary workaround is just below, but you may need to use '254', or a bit lower, as opposed to '255'. If HD temperature gets high, you may want to set it all the way "down" to 200 or so. ~1 click every 2.5-3 minutes is fine.
Temporary workaround: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695/comments/14
A more extensive description of the workaround: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=591503
Note: Some disks are unresponsive to having their APM changed by hdparm, and therefore the workaround doesn't work. It would be a good idea, in such cases, to disable APM in the BIOS if possible.
Following is a summary of the issue:
It is confirmed that some systems are seeing an unusually high number of load/unload cycles on their hard disks, as evidenced by smartctl. It was originally surmised that this was related to laptop-mode being enabled, but this affects systems *regardless* of whether or not laptop-mode has been enabled. In fact, aggressive APM is not a bad idea while a system is not on AC, as that system is much more likely to encounter a physical impact. But unfortunately, the heads are only parked for a very short period of time, making impact protection much less effective (and wearing out the drive as well).
This problem has been confirmed in Ubuntu as well as in other distributions and on MacOS X and Windows.
Symptoms of this bug are:
* Frequent HD clicks -- more than one per 3 minutes while idle, louder than the typical access sounds. Often more than twice per minute. On some disks, the click is very quiet
* Rapidly Increasing Load_Cycle_Count as displayed in the final number in "sudo smartctl -a /dev/hda | grep Load_Cycle_Count" (where /dev/hda is replaced with your own hard disk device)
* Early hard disk failure never stay parked, due to very frequent disk activity. Thus this cycle occurs often, thus wearing out the drive, and any comparative benefit is negligible (whereas, if the-- some disks are cut down to less than a year of actual uptime.
The problem is only present due to the existence of *all three* of the following factors:
* Hardware is set (default or otherwise) to aggressive power management, causing heads to park. (default behaviour of many drives)
* Disk is touched often, causing heads to unpark. (default behaviour of many distributions)
* Drives are spec'd to a limited number of these cycles. (600,000 is the most common, although some may be spec'd higher or lower).
Reasonable Limits / Criteria for a fix:
* There should be fewer than ~15 load cycles per hour, except during heavy usage while on battery.
* This provides a life expectancy of over four years, which is reasonable for a hard disk.
Temporary Workaround:
* Follow the above link.
Some hardware with this issue:
WD1200VE -- http://www.wdc.com/en/library/portable/2879-001121.pdf -- This aggressive parking is a feature of this disk, but that feature relies on behaviour that allows for significant amounts of (truly) idle time without the disk being touched. Notice the "Load/unload cycles" of 600,000.
Example Load_Cycle_Counts:
* Thinkpad Z60m/Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00 with well over 7000 load cycles in only 100 hours. That's >70 per hour.
* Gateway MT6451/Western Digital WD1200VE with 164762 load cycles in 3747 hours (156 days) of uptime. That's ~43 per hour -- except that the system was patched during the initial third of its life, which puts it at ~63/hour since Gutsy was installed (and wasn't patched, as I had done with feisty).
Please see for yourself how often your drive is load cycling:
smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda
(This command is for an SATA drive; you'll need to install the smartmontools package first.)
You can get the average per hour by the following division:
Load_Cycle_Count / Power_On_Hours
See also http://paul.luon.net/journal/hacking/BrokenHDDs.html for a rather dramatic account of the effects the current default values may have.
|
This is not a support forum. Please do not use it as such (even though it has been used as such already).
You can scan through the bug for links to the Ubuntu forums where many, many different questions have been asked, answered, and re-answered. The temporary workaround is just below, but you may need to use '254', or a bit lower, as opposed to '255'. If HD temperature gets high, you may want to set it all the way "down" to 200 or so. ~1 click every 2.5-3 minutes is fine.
Temporary workaround: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695/comments/14
A more extensive description of the workaround: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=591503
Note: Some disks are unresponsive to having their APM changed by hdparm, and therefore the workaround doesn't work. It would be a good idea, in such cases, to disable APM in the BIOS if possible.
Following is a summary of the issue:
It is confirmed that some systems are seeing an unusually high number of load/unload cycles on their hard disks, as evidenced by smartctl. It was originally surmised that this was related to laptop-mode being enabled, but this affects systems *regardless* of whether or not laptop-mode has been enabled. In fact, aggressive APM is not a bad idea while a system is not on AC, as that system is much more likely to encounter a physical impact. But unfortunately, the heads are only parked for a very short period of time, making impact protection much less effective (and wearing out the drive as well).
This problem has been confirmed in Ubuntu as well as in other distributions and on MacOS X and Windows.
Symptoms of this bug are:
* Frequent HD clicks -- more than one per 3 minutes while idle, louder than the typical access sounds. Often more than twice per minute. On some disks, the click is very quiet
* Rapidly Increasing Load_Cycle_Count as displayed in the final number in "sudo smartctl -a /dev/hda | grep Load_Cycle_Count" (where /dev/hda is replaced with your own hard disk device)
* Early hard disk failure never stay parked, due to very frequent disk activity. Thus this cycle occurs often, thus wearing out the drive, and any comparative benefit is negligible (whereas, if the-- some disks are cut down to less than a year of actual uptime.
The problem is only present due to the existence of *all three* of the following factors:
* Hardware is set (default or otherwise) to aggressive power management, causing heads to park. (default behaviour of many drives and often the only user available type of power management)
* Disk is touched often, causing heads to unpark. (default behaviour of many distributions)
* Drives are spec'd to a limited number of these cycles. (600,000 is the most common, although some may be spec'd higher or lower).
Reasonable Limits / Criteria for a fix:
* There should be fewer than ~15 load cycles per hour, except during heavy usage while on battery.
* This provides a life expectancy of over four years, which is reasonable for a hard disk.
Temporary Workaround:
* Follow the above link.
Some hardware with this issue:
WD1200VE -- http://www.wdc.com/en/library/portable/2879-001121.pdf -- This aggressive parking is a feature of this disk, but that feature relies on behaviour that allows for significant amounts of (truly) idle time without the disk being touched. Notice the "Load/unload cycles" of 600,000.
Example Load_Cycle_Counts:
* Thinkpad Z60m/Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00 with well over 7000 load cycles in only 100 hours. That's >70 per hour.
* Gateway MT6451/Western Digital WD1200VE with 164762 load cycles in 3747 hours (156 days) of uptime. That's ~43 per hour -- except that the system was patched during the initial third of its life, which puts it at ~63/hour since Gutsy was installed (and wasn't patched, as I had done with feisty).
Please see for yourself how often your drive is load cycling:
smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda
(This command is for an SATA drive; you'll need to install the smartmontools package first.)
You can get the average per hour by the following division:
Load_Cycle_Count / Power_On_Hours
See also http://paul.luon.net/journal/hacking/BrokenHDDs.html for a rather dramatic account of the effects the current default values may have.
|
|
| 2008-05-01 09:39:31 |
Chris Cheney |
description |
This is not a support forum. Please do not use it as such (even though it has been used as such already).
You can scan through the bug for links to the Ubuntu forums where many, many different questions have been asked, answered, and re-answered. The temporary workaround is just below, but you may need to use '254', or a bit lower, as opposed to '255'. If HD temperature gets high, you may want to set it all the way "down" to 200 or so. ~1 click every 2.5-3 minutes is fine.
Temporary workaround: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695/comments/14
A more extensive description of the workaround: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=591503
Note: Some disks are unresponsive to having their APM changed by hdparm, and therefore the workaround doesn't work. It would be a good idea, in such cases, to disable APM in the BIOS if possible.
Following is a summary of the issue:
It is confirmed that some systems are seeing an unusually high number of load/unload cycles on their hard disks, as evidenced by smartctl. It was originally surmised that this was related to laptop-mode being enabled, but this affects systems *regardless* of whether or not laptop-mode has been enabled. In fact, aggressive APM is not a bad idea while a system is not on AC, as that system is much more likely to encounter a physical impact. But unfortunately, the heads are only parked for a very short period of time, making impact protection much less effective (and wearing out the drive as well).
This problem has been confirmed in Ubuntu as well as in other distributions and on MacOS X and Windows.
Symptoms of this bug are:
* Frequent HD clicks -- more than one per 3 minutes while idle, louder than the typical access sounds. Often more than twice per minute. On some disks, the click is very quiet
* Rapidly Increasing Load_Cycle_Count as displayed in the final number in "sudo smartctl -a /dev/hda | grep Load_Cycle_Count" (where /dev/hda is replaced with your own hard disk device)
* Early hard disk failure never stay parked, due to very frequent disk activity. Thus this cycle occurs often, thus wearing out the drive, and any comparative benefit is negligible (whereas, if the-- some disks are cut down to less than a year of actual uptime.
The problem is only present due to the existence of *all three* of the following factors:
* Hardware is set (default or otherwise) to aggressive power management, causing heads to park. (default behaviour of many drives and often the only user available type of power management)
* Disk is touched often, causing heads to unpark. (default behaviour of many distributions)
* Drives are spec'd to a limited number of these cycles. (600,000 is the most common, although some may be spec'd higher or lower).
Reasonable Limits / Criteria for a fix:
* There should be fewer than ~15 load cycles per hour, except during heavy usage while on battery.
* This provides a life expectancy of over four years, which is reasonable for a hard disk.
Temporary Workaround:
* Follow the above link.
Some hardware with this issue:
WD1200VE -- http://www.wdc.com/en/library/portable/2879-001121.pdf -- This aggressive parking is a feature of this disk, but that feature relies on behaviour that allows for significant amounts of (truly) idle time without the disk being touched. Notice the "Load/unload cycles" of 600,000.
Example Load_Cycle_Counts:
* Thinkpad Z60m/Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00 with well over 7000 load cycles in only 100 hours. That's >70 per hour.
* Gateway MT6451/Western Digital WD1200VE with 164762 load cycles in 3747 hours (156 days) of uptime. That's ~43 per hour -- except that the system was patched during the initial third of its life, which puts it at ~63/hour since Gutsy was installed (and wasn't patched, as I had done with feisty).
Please see for yourself how often your drive is load cycling:
smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda
(This command is for an SATA drive; you'll need to install the smartmontools package first.)
You can get the average per hour by the following division:
Load_Cycle_Count / Power_On_Hours
See also http://paul.luon.net/journal/hacking/BrokenHDDs.html for a rather dramatic account of the effects the current default values may have.
|
This is not a support forum. Please do not use it as such (even though it has been used as such already).
You can scan through the bug for links to the Ubuntu forums where many, many different questions have been asked, answered, and re-answered. The temporary workaround is just below, but you may need to use '254', or a bit lower, as opposed to '255'. If HD temperature gets high, you may want to set it all the way "down" to 200 or so. ~1 click every 2.5-3 minutes is fine.
Temporary workaround: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695/comments/14
A more extensive description of the workaround: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=591503
Note: Some disks are unresponsive to having their APM changed by hdparm, and therefore the workaround doesn't work. It would be a good idea, in such cases, to disable APM in the BIOS if possible.
Following is a summary of the issue:
It is confirmed that some systems are seeing an unusually high number of load/unload cycles on their hard disks, as evidenced by smartctl. It was originally surmised that this was related to laptop-mode being enabled, but this affects systems *regardless* of whether or not laptop-mode has been enabled. In fact, aggressive APM is not a bad idea while a system is not on AC, as that system is much more likely to encounter a physical impact. But unfortunately, the heads are only parked for a very short period of time, making impact protection much less effective (and wearing out the drive as well).
This problem has been confirmed in Ubuntu as well as in other distributions and on MacOS X and Windows.
Symptoms of this bug are:
* Frequent HD clicks -- more than one per 3 minutes while idle, louder than the typical access sounds. Often more than twice per minute. On some disks, the click is very quiet
* Rapidly Increasing Load_Cycle_Count as displayed in the final number in "sudo smartctl -a /dev/hda | grep Load_Cycle_Count" (where /dev/hda is replaced with your own hard disk device)
* Early hard disk failure never stay parked, due to very frequent disk activity. Thus this cycle occurs often, thus wearing out the drive, and any comparative benefit is negligible (whereas, if the-- some disks are cut down to less than a year of actual uptime.
The problem is only present due to the existence of *all three* of the following factors:
* Hardware is set (default or otherwise) to aggressive power management, causing heads to park. (default behaviour of many drives and often the only user available type of power management)
* Disk is touched often, causing heads to unpark. (default behaviour of many distributions)
* Drives are spec'd to a limited number of these cycles. (600,000 is the most common, although some may be spec'd higher or lower).
Reasonable Limits / Criteria for a fix:
* There should be fewer than ~15 load cycles per hour, except during heavy usage while on battery.
* This provides a life expectancy of over four years, which is reasonable for a hard disk.
Temporary Workaround:
* Follow the above link.
Permanent Fix:
* Obtain utility from your hard drive manufacturer to change the head parking time if available.
Some hardware with this issue:
WD1200VE -- http://www.wdc.com/en/library/portable/2879-001121.pdf -- This aggressive parking is a feature of this disk, but that feature relies on behaviour that allows for significant amounts of (truly) idle time without the disk being touched. Notice the "Load/unload cycles" of 600,000.
Example Load_Cycle_Counts:
* Thinkpad Z60m/Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00 with well over 7000 load cycles in only 100 hours. That's >70 per hour.
* Gateway MT6451/Western Digital WD1200VE with 164762 load cycles in 3747 hours (156 days) of uptime. That's ~43 per hour -- except that the system was patched during the initial third of its life, which puts it at ~63/hour since Gutsy was installed (and wasn't patched, as I had done with feisty).
Please see for yourself how often your drive is load cycling:
smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda
(This command is for an SATA drive; you'll need to install the smartmontools package first.)
You can get the average per hour by the following division:
Load_Cycle_Count / Power_On_Hours
See also http://paul.luon.net/journal/hacking/BrokenHDDs.html for a rather dramatic account of the effects the current default values may have.
|
|
| 2008-05-01 16:33:12 |
Brian Ealdwine |
bug |
|
|
added attachment 'config.d.disk.sh' (config.d.disk.sh) |
| 2008-05-01 16:33:12 |
Brian Ealdwine |
bug |
|
|
added attachment 'power.d.disk.sh' (power.d.disk.sh) |
| 2008-05-02 10:00:31 |
Akshay Srinivasan |
bug |
|
|
added attachment 'i.sh' (i.sh) |
| 2008-05-04 08:54:32 |
Julien Dubois |
bug |
|
|
assigned to dell |
| 2008-05-05 15:25:05 |
Zaar Hai |
dell: status |
New |
Confirmed |
|
| 2008-05-09 11:42:10 |
Bug Watch Updater |
None: status |
Unknown |
Incomplete |
|
| 2008-05-22 23:32:20 |
Bug Watch Updater |
None: status |
Incomplete |
In Progress |
|
| 2008-06-21 16:00:05 |
Bug Watch Updater |
None: status |
In Progress |
Incomplete |
|
| 2008-06-24 14:44:16 |
Bug Watch Updater |
None: status |
Incomplete |
Fix Released |
|
| 2008-07-06 18:06:40 |
ceg |
description |
This is not a support forum. Please do not use it as such (even though it has been used as such already).
You can scan through the bug for links to the Ubuntu forums where many, many different questions have been asked, answered, and re-answered. The temporary workaround is just below, but you may need to use '254', or a bit lower, as opposed to '255'. If HD temperature gets high, you may want to set it all the way "down" to 200 or so. ~1 click every 2.5-3 minutes is fine.
Temporary workaround: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695/comments/14
A more extensive description of the workaround: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=591503
Note: Some disks are unresponsive to having their APM changed by hdparm, and therefore the workaround doesn't work. It would be a good idea, in such cases, to disable APM in the BIOS if possible.
Following is a summary of the issue:
It is confirmed that some systems are seeing an unusually high number of load/unload cycles on their hard disks, as evidenced by smartctl. It was originally surmised that this was related to laptop-mode being enabled, but this affects systems *regardless* of whether or not laptop-mode has been enabled. In fact, aggressive APM is not a bad idea while a system is not on AC, as that system is much more likely to encounter a physical impact. But unfortunately, the heads are only parked for a very short period of time, making impact protection much less effective (and wearing out the drive as well).
This problem has been confirmed in Ubuntu as well as in other distributions and on MacOS X and Windows.
Symptoms of this bug are:
* Frequent HD clicks -- more than one per 3 minutes while idle, louder than the typical access sounds. Often more than twice per minute. On some disks, the click is very quiet
* Rapidly Increasing Load_Cycle_Count as displayed in the final number in "sudo smartctl -a /dev/hda | grep Load_Cycle_Count" (where /dev/hda is replaced with your own hard disk device)
* Early hard disk failure never stay parked, due to very frequent disk activity. Thus this cycle occurs often, thus wearing out the drive, and any comparative benefit is negligible (whereas, if the-- some disks are cut down to less than a year of actual uptime.
The problem is only present due to the existence of *all three* of the following factors:
* Hardware is set (default or otherwise) to aggressive power management, causing heads to park. (default behaviour of many drives and often the only user available type of power management)
* Disk is touched often, causing heads to unpark. (default behaviour of many distributions)
* Drives are spec'd to a limited number of these cycles. (600,000 is the most common, although some may be spec'd higher or lower).
Reasonable Limits / Criteria for a fix:
* There should be fewer than ~15 load cycles per hour, except during heavy usage while on battery.
* This provides a life expectancy of over four years, which is reasonable for a hard disk.
Temporary Workaround:
* Follow the above link.
Permanent Fix:
* Obtain utility from your hard drive manufacturer to change the head parking time if available.
Some hardware with this issue:
WD1200VE -- http://www.wdc.com/en/library/portable/2879-001121.pdf -- This aggressive parking is a feature of this disk, but that feature relies on behaviour that allows for significant amounts of (truly) idle time without the disk being touched. Notice the "Load/unload cycles" of 600,000.
Example Load_Cycle_Counts:
* Thinkpad Z60m/Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00 with well over 7000 load cycles in only 100 hours. That's >70 per hour.
* Gateway MT6451/Western Digital WD1200VE with 164762 load cycles in 3747 hours (156 days) of uptime. That's ~43 per hour -- except that the system was patched during the initial third of its life, which puts it at ~63/hour since Gutsy was installed (and wasn't patched, as I had done with feisty).
Please see for yourself how often your drive is load cycling:
smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda
(This command is for an SATA drive; you'll need to install the smartmontools package first.)
You can get the average per hour by the following division:
Load_Cycle_Count / Power_On_Hours
See also http://paul.luon.net/journal/hacking/BrokenHDDs.html for a rather dramatic account of the effects the current default values may have.
|
This is not a support forum. Please do not use it as such (even though it has been used as such already).
You can scan through the bug for links to the Ubuntu forums where many, many different questions have been asked, answered, and re-answered. The temporary workaround is just below, but you may need to use '254', or a bit lower, as opposed to '255'. If HD temperature gets high, you may want to set it all the way "down" to 200 or so. ~1 click every 2.5-3 minutes is fine.
See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerManagement for an overview about what is involved and for a remedy.
Temporary workaround: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695/comments/14
A more extensive description of the workaround: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=591503
Note: Some disks are unresponsive to having their APM changed by hdparm, and therefore the workaround doesn't work. It would be a good idea, in such cases, to disable APM in the BIOS if possible.
Following is a summary of the issue:
It is confirmed that some systems are seeing an unusually high number of load/unload cycles on their hard disks, as evidenced by smartctl. It was originally surmised that this was related to laptop-mode being enabled, but this affects systems *regardless* of whether or not laptop-mode has been enabled. In fact, aggressive APM is not a bad idea while a system is not on AC, as that system is much more likely to encounter a physical impact. But unfortunately, the heads are only parked for a very short period of time, making impact protection much less effective (and wearing out the drive as well).
This problem has been confirmed in Ubuntu as well as in other distributions and on MacOS X and Windows.
Symptoms of this bug are:
* Frequent HD clicks -- more than one per 3 minutes while idle, louder than the typical access sounds. Often more than twice per minute. On some disks, the click is very quiet
* Rapidly Increasing Load_Cycle_Count as displayed in the final number in "sudo smartctl -a /dev/hda | grep Load_Cycle_Count" (where /dev/hda is replaced with your own hard disk device)
* Early hard disk failure never stay parked, due to very frequent disk activity. Thus this cycle occurs often, thus wearing out the drive, and any comparative benefit is negligible (whereas, if the-- some disks are cut down to less than a year of actual uptime.
The problem is only present due to the existence of *all three* of the following factors:
* Hardware is set (default or otherwise) to aggressive power management, causing heads to park. (default behaviour of many drives and often the only user available type of power management)
* Disk is touched often, causing heads to unpark. (default behaviour of many distributions)
* Drives are spec'd to a limited number of these cycles. (600,000 is the most common, although some may be spec'd higher or lower).
Reasonable Limits / Criteria for a fix:
* There should be fewer than ~15 load cycles per hour, except during heavy usage while on battery.
* This provides a life expectancy of over four years, which is reasonable for a hard disk.
Temporary Workaround:
* Follow the above link.
Permanent Fix:
* Obtain utility from your hard drive manufacturer to change the head parking time if available.
Some hardware with this issue:
WD1200VE -- http://www.wdc.com/en/library/portable/2879-001121.pdf -- This aggressive parking is a feature of this disk, but that feature relies on behaviour that allows for significant amounts of (truly) idle time without the disk being touched. Notice the "Load/unload cycles" of 600,000.
Example Load_Cycle_Counts:
* Thinkpad Z60m/Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00 with well over 7000 load cycles in only 100 hours. That's >70 per hour.
* Gateway MT6451/Western Digital WD1200VE with 164762 load cycles in 3747 hours (156 days) of uptime. That's ~43 per hour -- except that the system was patched during the initial third of its life, which puts it at ~63/hour since Gutsy was installed (and wasn't patched, as I had done with feisty).
Please see for yourself how often your drive is load cycling:
smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda
(This command is for an SATA drive; you'll need to install the smartmontools package first.)
You can get the average per hour by the following division:
Load_Cycle_Count / Power_On_Hours
See also http://paul.luon.net/journal/hacking/BrokenHDDs.html for a rather dramatic account of the effects the current default values may have.
|
|
| 2008-07-07 08:15:29 |
ceg |
description |
This is not a support forum. Please do not use it as such (even though it has been used as such already).
You can scan through the bug for links to the Ubuntu forums where many, many different questions have been asked, answered, and re-answered. The temporary workaround is just below, but you may need to use '254', or a bit lower, as opposed to '255'. If HD temperature gets high, you may want to set it all the way "down" to 200 or so. ~1 click every 2.5-3 minutes is fine.
See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerManagement for an overview about what is involved and for a remedy.
Temporary workaround: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695/comments/14
A more extensive description of the workaround: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=591503
Note: Some disks are unresponsive to having their APM changed by hdparm, and therefore the workaround doesn't work. It would be a good idea, in such cases, to disable APM in the BIOS if possible.
Following is a summary of the issue:
It is confirmed that some systems are seeing an unusually high number of load/unload cycles on their hard disks, as evidenced by smartctl. It was originally surmised that this was related to laptop-mode being enabled, but this affects systems *regardless* of whether or not laptop-mode has been enabled. In fact, aggressive APM is not a bad idea while a system is not on AC, as that system is much more likely to encounter a physical impact. But unfortunately, the heads are only parked for a very short period of time, making impact protection much less effective (and wearing out the drive as well).
This problem has been confirmed in Ubuntu as well as in other distributions and on MacOS X and Windows.
Symptoms of this bug are:
* Frequent HD clicks -- more than one per 3 minutes while idle, louder than the typical access sounds. Often more than twice per minute. On some disks, the click is very quiet
* Rapidly Increasing Load_Cycle_Count as displayed in the final number in "sudo smartctl -a /dev/hda | grep Load_Cycle_Count" (where /dev/hda is replaced with your own hard disk device)
* Early hard disk failure never stay parked, due to very frequent disk activity. Thus this cycle occurs often, thus wearing out the drive, and any comparative benefit is negligible (whereas, if the-- some disks are cut down to less than a year of actual uptime.
The problem is only present due to the existence of *all three* of the following factors:
* Hardware is set (default or otherwise) to aggressive power management, causing heads to park. (default behaviour of many drives and often the only user available type of power management)
* Disk is touched often, causing heads to unpark. (default behaviour of many distributions)
* Drives are spec'd to a limited number of these cycles. (600,000 is the most common, although some may be spec'd higher or lower).
Reasonable Limits / Criteria for a fix:
* There should be fewer than ~15 load cycles per hour, except during heavy usage while on battery.
* This provides a life expectancy of over four years, which is reasonable for a hard disk.
Temporary Workaround:
* Follow the above link.
Permanent Fix:
* Obtain utility from your hard drive manufacturer to change the head parking time if available.
Some hardware with this issue:
WD1200VE -- http://www.wdc.com/en/library/portable/2879-001121.pdf -- This aggressive parking is a feature of this disk, but that feature relies on behaviour that allows for significant amounts of (truly) idle time without the disk being touched. Notice the "Load/unload cycles" of 600,000.
Example Load_Cycle_Counts:
* Thinkpad Z60m/Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00 with well over 7000 load cycles in only 100 hours. That's >70 per hour.
* Gateway MT6451/Western Digital WD1200VE with 164762 load cycles in 3747 hours (156 days) of uptime. That's ~43 per hour -- except that the system was patched during the initial third of its life, which puts it at ~63/hour since Gutsy was installed (and wasn't patched, as I had done with feisty).
Please see for yourself how often your drive is load cycling:
smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda
(This command is for an SATA drive; you'll need to install the smartmontools package first.)
You can get the average per hour by the following division:
Load_Cycle_Count / Power_On_Hours
See also http://paul.luon.net/journal/hacking/BrokenHDDs.html for a rather dramatic account of the effects the current default values may have.
|
This is not a support forum. Please do not use it as such (even though it has been used as such already).
You can scan through the bug for links to the Ubuntu forums where many, many different questions have been asked, answered, and re-answered. The temporary workaround is just below.
See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerManagement for an overview about what is involved and for a remedy.
Following is a summary of the issue:
It is confirmed that some systems are seeing an unusually high number of load/unload cycles on their hard disks, as evidenced by smartctl.
It was originally surmised that this was related to laptop-mode being enabled, but this especially affects systems where laptop-mode is disabled. In fact, aggressive APM is not a bad idea while a system is not on AC, as that system is much more likely to encounter a physical impact.
This is due to disk APM settings that let the heads park or disk spin down after an idle period that is shorter than the regular disk access patterns of the OS.
Then, the heads are only parked for a very short period of time and almost imediately loaded again. Making impact protection much ineffective and wearing out the drive.
It can happen when the disk asumes aggressive APM settings (like many laptop disks) and the OS does not take care to set the APM settings accordingly to its current disk access pattern.
This problem has been confirmed in Ubuntu as well as in other distributions and on MacOS X and Windows.
Symptoms of this bug are:
* Frequent HD clicks -- more than one per 3 minutes while idle, louder than the typical access sounds. Often more than twice per minute. On some disks, the click is very quiet
* Rapidly Increasing Load_Cycle_Count as displayed in the final number in "sudo smartctl -a /dev/hda | grep Load_Cycle_Count" (where /dev/hda is replaced with your own hard disk device)
* Early hard disk failure never stay parked, due to very frequent disk activity. Thus this cycle occurs often, thus wearing out the drive, and any comparative benefit is negligible (whereas, if the-- some disks are cut down to less than a year of actual uptime.
The problem is only present due to the existence of *all four* of the following factors:
* Hardware is set (default or otherwise) to aggressive power management, causing heads to park. (default behaviour of many drives and often the only user available type of power management)
* Disk is touched often, causing heads to unpark. (default behaviour of many distributions)
* Drives are spec'd to a limited number of these cycles. (600,000 is the most common, although some may be spec'd higher or lower).
* The OS not setting disk APM variables according to current disk access pattern.
Reasonable Limits / Criteria for a fix:
* There should be fewer than ~15 load cycles per hour, except during heavy usage while on battery.
* This provides a life expectancy of over four years, which is reasonable for a hard disk.
Temporary Workaround:
* Follow the above link.
Permanent Fix:
* Obtain utility from your hard drive manufacturer to change the default head parking time if available.
* Contrlolling the APM variables of hard drives according to the current disk access pattern. (i.e. chunked into blocks with minutes of idle time (disk-idleing or "laptop_mode") or continous disk access every x seconds expecting the disks to stay up all the time.)
Some hardware with this issue:
WD1200VE -- http://www.wdc.com/en/library/portable/2879-001121.pdf -- This aggressive parking is a feature of this disk, but that feature relies on behaviour that allows for significant amounts of (truly) idle time without the disk being touched. Notice the "Load/unload cycles" of 600,000.
Example Load_Cycle_Counts:
* Thinkpad Z60m/Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00 with well over 7000 load cycles in only 100 hours. That's >70 per hour.
* Gateway MT6451/Western Digital WD1200VE with 164762 load cycles in 3747 hours (156 days) of uptime. That's ~43 per hour -- except that the system was patched during the initial third of its life, which puts it at ~63/hour since Gutsy was installed (and wasn't patched, as I had done with feisty).
Please see for yourself how often your drive is load cycling:
smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda
(This command is for an SATA drive; you'll need to install the smartmontools package first.)
You can get the average per hour by the following division:
Load_Cycle_Count / Power_On_Hours
Old workaround for 7.10 (not working in 8.04): https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695/comments/14
A more extensive description of the workaround: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=591503
You may need to use '254', or a bit lower, as opposed to '255'. If HD temperature gets high, you may want to set it all the way "down" to 200 or so. ~1 click every 2.5-3 minutes is fine.
Note: Some disks are unresponsive to having their APM changed by hdparm, and therefore the workaround doesn't work. It would be a good idea, in such cases, to disable APM in the BIOS if possible.
See also http://paul.luon.net/journal/hacking/BrokenHDDs.html for a rather dramatic account of the effects the current default values may have.
|
|
| 2008-10-08 14:13:58 |
Colin Watson |
acpi-support: status |
Triaged |
Fix Released |
|
| 2008-10-08 14:13:58 |
Colin Watson |
acpi-support: statusexplanation |
|
I believe all the necessary fixes (well, the workaround for the major parts of this bug) are included now in Intrepid. Here are the changelogs:
acpi-support (0.111) intrepid; urgency=low
* lib/IBM.config: Change VBE state and POST_VIDEO for 1834's
(LP: #40621, #211285)
* Incorporate a portion of the changes from Debian, as detailed below.
Debian has been accumulating valuable fixes and structural changes for
some years, but it will take some time to digest all of them.
[ Bart Samwel ]
* ac.d/90-hdparm.sh, battery.d/90-hdparm.sh, resume.d/90-hdparm.sh,
start.d/90-hdparm.sh: Set hdparm power management to 254 for all hard
drives. Ignore errors while detecting of APM is supported. Set
hdparm -B 128 while on battery in 90-hdparm.sh. Head parking is useful
on the road for shock protection. Still set hdparm -B 254 while on AC.
(Closes: #448673, #452489, #453478, #458787, #481685)
* Switch from #!/bin/bash to #!/bin/sh in a number of scripts, and
cleanup bashisms throughout. Continues a change started with 0.93.
(Closes: #407510, #485435, #453861)
* Add checks for existance of key-constants and state-funcs throughout
scripts to prevent erroneous failures when using eeepc-acpi-scripts.
Use "test ... || ..." style over "[ ... ] || ..." just for consistency.
(Closes: #469556)
* Check if we can actually open event device in acpi_fakekey.c.
(Closes: #410478)
* Correctly detect keyboard event device in acpi_fakekey.c. Apparently
the power key is in the range checked by acpi_fakekey. It's now
changed it so that it assumes that any input device which has a key in
the QWERTYUIOP range is "the" keyboard.
(Closes: #433771)
* Remove useless use of grep in asus-touchpad.sh.
* Add HOTK key names in events/asus-* for additional keys.
* Support Asus Eee PC volume up/down and mute keys in events/asus-eee-volume-*.
(Closes: #459326)
* Add rotatescreen.sh, asus-rotate script to support Asus R1F tablet
screen rotation.
(Closes: #450531)
[ Raphael Hertzog ]
* Add a new SKIP_INTERFACES variables in /etc/default/acpi-support and use
it to define network interfaces that are not tied to hardware to avoid
shutting them down during suspend, such as lo, qemu, and dummy.
* Improved package description in control file, thanks to Cl?ment Stenac.
(Closes: #383691)
[ Loic Minier ]
* Install new manpage for acpi_fakekey, thanks Nico Golde.
(Closes: #383365)
* Fix "APCI" instead of "ACPI" typo in IBM.config; thanks Joshua Kwan;
(Closes: #389511)
-- Bryce Harrington <bryce@ubuntu.com> Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:43:42 -0700
laptop-mode-tools (1.45-1ubuntu2) intrepid; urgency=low
* etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf: Go back to 'hdparm -B 254';
acpi-support has been fixed to do that now, so let's not have
laptop-mode-tools undo the effectiveness of that fix in the name of
consistency with an old version (LP: #172282).
-- Colin Watson <cjwatson@ubuntu.com> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:05:10 +0100 |
|
| 2008-10-08 16:22:47 |
Colin Watson |
acpi-support: status |
New |
Triaged |
|
| 2008-10-08 16:22:47 |
Colin Watson |
acpi-support: importance |
Undecided |
Critical |
|
| 2008-10-08 16:22:47 |
Colin Watson |
acpi-support: statusexplanation |
|
|
|
| 2008-10-08 16:22:47 |
Colin Watson |
acpi-support: milestone |
|
ubuntu-8.04.2 |
|
| 2008-10-30 18:16:46 |
Mario Limonciello |
dell: importance |
Undecided |
Low |
|
| 2008-11-06 23:44:33 |
angel chen |
bug |
|
|
added attachment '90-hdparm.diff' (90-hdparm.diff) |
| 2008-11-10 15:13:24 |
der74hva3 |
bug |
|
|
added attachment 'D:\dor test\anal\aa.html' (D:\dor test\anal\aa.html) |
| 2008-11-20 06:26:41 |
Nanley Chery |
acpi-support: status |
Fix Released |
In Progress |
|
| 2008-11-20 06:26:41 |
Nanley Chery |
acpi-support: statusexplanation |
I believe all the necessary fixes (well, the workaround for the major parts of this bug) are included now in Intrepid. Here are the changelogs:
acpi-support (0.111) intrepid; urgency=low
* lib/IBM.config: Change VBE state and POST_VIDEO for 1834's
(LP: #40621, #211285)
* Incorporate a portion of the changes from Debian, as detailed below.
Debian has been accumulating valuable fixes and structural changes for
some years, but it will take some time to digest all of them.
[ Bart Samwel ]
* ac.d/90-hdparm.sh, battery.d/90-hdparm.sh, resume.d/90-hdparm.sh,
start.d/90-hdparm.sh: Set hdparm power management to 254 for all hard
drives. Ignore errors while detecting of APM is supported. Set
hdparm -B 128 while on battery in 90-hdparm.sh. Head parking is useful
on the road for shock protection. Still set hdparm -B 254 while on AC.
(Closes: #448673, #452489, #453478, #458787, #481685)
* Switch from #!/bin/bash to #!/bin/sh in a number of scripts, and
cleanup bashisms throughout. Continues a change started with 0.93.
(Closes: #407510, #485435, #453861)
* Add checks for existance of key-constants and state-funcs throughout
scripts to prevent erroneous failures when using eeepc-acpi-scripts.
Use "test ... || ..." style over "[ ... ] || ..." just for consistency.
(Closes: #469556)
* Check if we can actually open event device in acpi_fakekey.c.
(Closes: #410478)
* Correctly detect keyboard event device in acpi_fakekey.c. Apparently
the power key is in the range checked by acpi_fakekey. It's now
changed it so that it assumes that any input device which has a key in
the QWERTYUIOP range is "the" keyboard.
(Closes: #433771)
* Remove useless use of grep in asus-touchpad.sh.
* Add HOTK key names in events/asus-* for additional keys.
* Support Asus Eee PC volume up/down and mute keys in events/asus-eee-volume-*.
(Closes: #459326)
* Add rotatescreen.sh, asus-rotate script to support Asus R1F tablet
screen rotation.
(Closes: #450531)
[ Raphael Hertzog ]
* Add a new SKIP_INTERFACES variables in /etc/default/acpi-support and use
it to define network interfaces that are not tied to hardware to avoid
shutting them down during suspend, such as lo, qemu, and dummy.
* Improved package description in control file, thanks to Cl?ment Stenac.
(Closes: #383691)
[ Loic Minier ]
* Install new manpage for acpi_fakekey, thanks Nico Golde.
(Closes: #383365)
* Fix "APCI" instead of "ACPI" typo in IBM.config; thanks Joshua Kwan;
(Closes: #389511)
-- Bryce Harrington <bryce@ubuntu.com> Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:43:42 -0700
laptop-mode-tools (1.45-1ubuntu2) intrepid; urgency=low
* etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf: Go back to 'hdparm -B 254';
acpi-support has been fixed to do that now, so let's not have
laptop-mode-tools undo the effectiveness of that fix in the name of
consistency with an old version (LP: #172282).
-- Colin Watson <cjwatson@ubuntu.com> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:05:10 +0100 |
|
|
| 2008-11-29 16:49:56 |
Tom Jaeger |
bug |
|
|
added attachment 'acpi-support-0.115.debdiff' (acpi-support-0.115.debdiff) |
| 2008-11-29 17:12:36 |
Tom Jaeger |
bug |
|
|
added attachment 'acpi-support-0.115.debdiff' (acpi-support-0.115.debdiff) |
| 2008-12-15 18:25:37 |
Vincenzo Ciancia |
bug |
|
|
added attachment 'watch_load_cycles' ("daemon" to put in /usr/local/bin) |
| 2008-12-15 18:27:50 |
Vincenzo Ciancia |
bug |
|
|
added attachment 'watch_load_cycles' (init.d (very rough) script) |
| 2008-12-15 18:29:08 |
Vincenzo Ciancia |
bug |
|
|
added attachment 'syslog_cycles.txt' (The log of the above script with hdparm -B commented out on up-to-date intrepid) |
| 2009-01-05 10:59:37 |
Steve Langasek |
acpi-support: status |
New |
Triaged |
|
| 2009-01-05 10:59:37 |
Steve Langasek |
acpi-support: statusexplanation |
|
|
|
| 2009-01-05 11:00:08 |
Launchpad Janitor |
acpi-support: status |
In Progress |
Fix Released |
|
| 2009-01-05 11:35:57 |
Steve Langasek |
acpi-support: importance |
Undecided |
Critical |
|
| 2009-01-05 11:43:45 |
Steve Langasek |
acpi-support: status |
Triaged |
In Progress |
|
| 2009-01-05 11:43:45 |
Steve Langasek |
acpi-support: statusexplanation |
|
package uploaded to intrepid as well, waiting for review. |
|
| 2009-01-05 11:45:04 |
Steve Langasek |
acpi-support: assignee |
|
vorlon |
|
| 2009-01-05 11:45:04 |
Steve Langasek |
acpi-support: statusexplanation |
package uploaded to intrepid as well, waiting for review. |
|
|
| 2009-01-05 11:46:00 |
Steve Langasek |
acpi-support: status |
Triaged |
In Progress |
|
| 2009-01-05 11:46:00 |
Steve Langasek |
acpi-support: assignee |
|
vorlon |
|
| 2009-01-05 11:49:52 |
Steve Langasek |
bug |
|
|
added subscriber Ubuntu Stable Release Updates Team |
| 2009-01-06 09:40:46 |
Martin Pitt |
acpi-support: status |
In Progress |
Fix Committed |
|
| 2009-01-06 09:42:44 |
Martin Pitt |
bug |
|
|
added subscriber SRU Verification |
| 2009-01-06 09:44:31 |
Martin Pitt |
acpi-support: status |
In Progress |
Fix Committed |
|
| 2009-01-06 09:44:31 |
Martin Pitt |
acpi-support: milestone |
ubuntu-8.04.2 |
|
|
| 2009-01-06 18:28:08 |
Steve Langasek |
acpi-support: milestone |
|
ubuntu-8.04.2 |
|
| 2009-01-07 00:31:33 |
Steve Langasek |
description |
This is not a support forum. Please do not use it as such (even though it has been used as such already).
You can scan through the bug for links to the Ubuntu forums where many, many different questions have been asked, answered, and re-answered. The temporary workaround is just below.
See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerManagement for an overview about what is involved and for a remedy.
Following is a summary of the issue:
It is confirmed that some systems are seeing an unusually high number of load/unload cycles on their hard disks, as evidenced by smartctl.
It was originally surmised that this was related to laptop-mode being enabled, but this especially affects systems where laptop-mode is disabled. In fact, aggressive APM is not a bad idea while a system is not on AC, as that system is much more likely to encounter a physical impact.
This is due to disk APM settings that let the heads park or disk spin down after an idle period that is shorter than the regular disk access patterns of the OS.
Then, the heads are only parked for a very short period of time and almost imediately loaded again. Making impact protection much ineffective and wearing out the drive.
It can happen when the disk asumes aggressive APM settings (like many laptop disks) and the OS does not take care to set the APM settings accordingly to its current disk access pattern.
This problem has been confirmed in Ubuntu as well as in other distributions and on MacOS X and Windows.
Symptoms of this bug are:
* Frequent HD clicks -- more than one per 3 minutes while idle, louder than the typical access sounds. Often more than twice per minute. On some disks, the click is very quiet
* Rapidly Increasing Load_Cycle_Count as displayed in the final number in "sudo smartctl -a /dev/hda | grep Load_Cycle_Count" (where /dev/hda is replaced with your own hard disk device)
* Early hard disk failure never stay parked, due to very frequent disk activity. Thus this cycle occurs often, thus wearing out the drive, and any comparative benefit is negligible (whereas, if the-- some disks are cut down to less than a year of actual uptime.
The problem is only present due to the existence of *all four* of the following factors:
* Hardware is set (default or otherwise) to aggressive power management, causing heads to park. (default behaviour of many drives and often the only user available type of power management)
* Disk is touched often, causing heads to unpark. (default behaviour of many distributions)
* Drives are spec'd to a limited number of these cycles. (600,000 is the most common, although some may be spec'd higher or lower).
* The OS not setting disk APM variables according to current disk access pattern.
Reasonable Limits / Criteria for a fix:
* There should be fewer than ~15 load cycles per hour, except during heavy usage while on battery.
* This provides a life expectancy of over four years, which is reasonable for a hard disk.
Temporary Workaround:
* Follow the above link.
Permanent Fix:
* Obtain utility from your hard drive manufacturer to change the default head parking time if available.
* Contrlolling the APM variables of hard drives according to the current disk access pattern. (i.e. chunked into blocks with minutes of idle time (disk-idleing or "laptop_mode") or continous disk access every x seconds expecting the disks to stay up all the time.)
Some hardware with this issue:
WD1200VE -- http://www.wdc.com/en/library/portable/2879-001121.pdf -- This aggressive parking is a feature of this disk, but that feature relies on behaviour that allows for significant amounts of (truly) idle time without the disk being touched. Notice the "Load/unload cycles" of 600,000.
Example Load_Cycle_Counts:
* Thinkpad Z60m/Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00 with well over 7000 load cycles in only 100 hours. That's >70 per hour.
* Gateway MT6451/Western Digital WD1200VE with 164762 load cycles in 3747 hours (156 days) of uptime. That's ~43 per hour -- except that the system was patched during the initial third of its life, which puts it at ~63/hour since Gutsy was installed (and wasn't patched, as I had done with feisty).
Please see for yourself how often your drive is load cycling:
smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda
(This command is for an SATA drive; you'll need to install the smartmontools package first.)
You can get the average per hour by the following division:
Load_Cycle_Count / Power_On_Hours
Old workaround for 7.10 (not working in 8.04): https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695/comments/14
A more extensive description of the workaround: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=591503
You may need to use '254', or a bit lower, as opposed to '255'. If HD temperature gets high, you may want to set it all the way "down" to 200 or so. ~1 click every 2.5-3 minutes is fine.
Note: Some disks are unresponsive to having their APM changed by hdparm, and therefore the workaround doesn't work. It would be a good idea, in such cases, to disable APM in the BIOS if possible.
See also http://paul.luon.net/journal/hacking/BrokenHDDs.html for a rather dramatic account of the effects the current default values may have.
|
This is not a support forum. Please do not use it as such (even though it has been used as such already).
You can scan through the bug for links to the Ubuntu forums where many, many different questions have been asked, answered, and re-answered. The temporary workaround is just below.
See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerManagement for an overview about what is involved and for a remedy.
SRU justification: current behavior may lead to premature disk failure in laptops due to excessive unnecessary drive parking. Fix will disable disk cycling by default when on AC power, by correcting an error in the hdparm logic of acpi-support.
For jaunty, this issue is addressed in acpi-support 0.115.
TEST CASE:
1. With acpi-support 0.109 (hardy) or 0.114 (intrepid) installed and laptop-mode *not* enabled in either /etc/default/laptop-mode or /etc/default/acpi-support, monitor the load cycle count of your hard drive by running 'sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda|grep Load_Cycle_Count' over an interval of several minutes, and observe that it is incrementing. (If it does not increment, your hard drive's manufacturer defaults are sane and you are not affected by this problem.)
2. install acpi-support from hardy-proposed or intrepid-proposed
3. while connected to AC power, monitor 'sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda|grep Load_Cycle_Count' again to confirm that the number is no longer incrementing
4. (assuming that the system is a laptop:) disconnect the system from AC power, and confirm that the number is incrementing again
5. enable laptop mode by setting ENABLE_LAPTOP_MODE=true in /etc/default/laptop-mode and running 'sudo /etc/init.d/laptop-mode restart'
6. reconnect the system to AC power and confirm that the Load_Cycle_Count stops incrementing.
7. suspend and resume the system and confirm that the Load_Cycle_Count is still not incrementing.
REGRESSION POTENTIAL:
As this patch causes "hdparm -B 128" and "hdparm -B 254" to be invoked automatically on systems where it was not being run before, there is some risk that this change will have a measurable impact on the disk throughput, power consumption, and temperature of some hard drives. Nevertheless, it is believed that these APM power settings are the sensible default settings for the vast majority of hard drives and that the current behavior poses a significant risk to the longevity of hard drives used in a wide range of laptop models, so this update should only be blocked if it results in confirmed hardware damage that can be expected to apply to a similar range of configurations.
Following is a summary of the issue:
It is confirmed that some systems are seeing an unusually high number of load/unload cycles on their hard disks, as evidenced by smartctl.
It was originally surmised that this was related to laptop-mode being enabled, but this especially affects systems where laptop-mode is disabled. In fact, aggressive APM is not a bad idea while a system is not on AC, as that system is much more likely to encounter a physical impact.
This is due to disk APM settings that let the heads park or disk spin down after an idle period that is shorter than the regular disk access patterns of the OS.
Then, the heads are only parked for a very short period of time and almost imediately loaded again. Making impact protection much ineffective and wearing out the drive.
It can happen when the disk asumes aggressive APM settings (like many laptop disks) and the OS does not take care to set the APM settings accordingly to its current disk access pattern.
This problem has been confirmed in Ubuntu as well as in other distributions and on MacOS X and Windows.
Symptoms of this bug are:
* Frequent HD clicks -- more than one per 3 minutes while idle, louder than the typical access sounds. Often more than twice per minute. On some disks, the click is very quiet
* Rapidly Increasing Load_Cycle_Count as displayed in the final number in "sudo smartctl -a /dev/hda | grep Load_Cycle_Count" (where /dev/hda is replaced with your own hard disk device)
The problem is only present due to the existence of *all four* of the following factors:
* Hardware is set (default or otherwise) to aggressive power management, causing heads to park. (default behaviour of many drives and often the only user available type of power management)
* Disk is touched often, causing heads to unpark. (default behaviour of many distributions)
* Drives are spec'd to a limited number of these cycles. (600,000 is the most common, although some may be spec'd higher or lower).
* The OS not setting disk APM variables according to current disk access pattern.
Reasonable Limits / Criteria for a fix:
* There should be fewer than ~15 load cycles per hour, except during heavy usage while on battery.
* This provides a life expectancy of over four years, which is reasonable for a hard disk.
Temporary Workaround:
* Follow the above link.
Some hardware with this issue:
WD1200VE -- http://www.wdc.com/en/library/portable/2879-001121.pdf -- This aggressive parking is a feature of this disk, but that feature relies on behaviour that allows for significant amounts of (truly) idle time without the disk being touched. Notice the "Load/unload cycles" of 600,000.
Example Load_Cycle_Counts:
* Thinkpad Z60m/Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00 with well over 7000 load cycles in only 100 hours. That's >70 per hour.
* Gateway MT6451/Western Digital WD1200VE with 164762 load cycles in 3747 hours (156 days) of uptime. That's ~43 per hour -- except that the system was patched during the initial third of its life, which puts it at ~63/hour since Gutsy was installed (and wasn't patched, as I had done with feisty).
Please see for yourself how often your drive is load cycling:
smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda
(This command is for an SATA drive; you'll need to install the smartmontools package first.)
You can get the average per hour by the following division:
Load_Cycle_Count / Power_On_Hours
Old workaround for 7.10 (not working in 8.04): https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695/comments/14
A more extensive description of the workaround: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=591503
You may need to use '254', or a bit lower, as opposed to '255'. If HD temperature gets high, you may want to set it all the way "down" to 200 or so. ~1 click every 2.5-3 minutes is fine.
Note: Some disks are unresponsive to having their APM changed by hdparm, and therefore the workaround doesn't work. It would be a good idea, in such cases, to disable APM in the BIOS if possible.
See also http://paul.luon.net/journal/hacking/BrokenHDDs.html for a rather dramatic account of the effects the current default values may have.
|
|
| 2009-01-08 04:16:29 |
Endolith |
description |
This is not a support forum. Please do not use it as such (even though it has been used as such already).
You can scan through the bug for links to the Ubuntu forums where many, many different questions have been asked, answered, and re-answered. The temporary workaround is just below.
See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerManagement for an overview about what is involved and for a remedy.
SRU justification: current behavior may lead to premature disk failure in laptops due to excessive unnecessary drive parking. Fix will disable disk cycling by default when on AC power, by correcting an error in the hdparm logic of acpi-support.
For jaunty, this issue is addressed in acpi-support 0.115.
TEST CASE:
1. With acpi-support 0.109 (hardy) or 0.114 (intrepid) installed and laptop-mode *not* enabled in either /etc/default/laptop-mode or /etc/default/acpi-support, monitor the load cycle count of your hard drive by running 'sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda|grep Load_Cycle_Count' over an interval of several minutes, and observe that it is incrementing. (If it does not increment, your hard drive's manufacturer defaults are sane and you are not affected by this problem.)
2. install acpi-support from hardy-proposed or intrepid-proposed
3. while connected to AC power, monitor 'sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda|grep Load_Cycle_Count' again to confirm that the number is no longer incrementing
4. (assuming that the system is a laptop:) disconnect the system from AC power, and confirm that the number is incrementing again
5. enable laptop mode by setting ENABLE_LAPTOP_MODE=true in /etc/default/laptop-mode and running 'sudo /etc/init.d/laptop-mode restart'
6. reconnect the system to AC power and confirm that the Load_Cycle_Count stops incrementing.
7. suspend and resume the system and confirm that the Load_Cycle_Count is still not incrementing.
REGRESSION POTENTIAL:
As this patch causes "hdparm -B 128" and "hdparm -B 254" to be invoked automatically on systems where it was not being run before, there is some risk that this change will have a measurable impact on the disk throughput, power consumption, and temperature of some hard drives. Nevertheless, it is believed that these APM power settings are the sensible default settings for the vast majority of hard drives and that the current behavior poses a significant risk to the longevity of hard drives used in a wide range of laptop models, so this update should only be blocked if it results in confirmed hardware damage that can be expected to apply to a similar range of configurations.
Following is a summary of the issue:
It is confirmed that some systems are seeing an unusually high number of load/unload cycles on their hard disks, as evidenced by smartctl.
It was originally surmised that this was related to laptop-mode being enabled, but this especially affects systems where laptop-mode is disabled. In fact, aggressive APM is not a bad idea while a system is not on AC, as that system is much more likely to encounter a physical impact.
This is due to disk APM settings that let the heads park or disk spin down after an idle period that is shorter than the regular disk access patterns of the OS.
Then, the heads are only parked for a very short period of time and almost imediately loaded again. Making impact protection much ineffective and wearing out the drive.
It can happen when the disk asumes aggressive APM settings (like many laptop disks) and the OS does not take care to set the APM settings accordingly to its current disk access pattern.
This problem has been confirmed in Ubuntu as well as in other distributions and on MacOS X and Windows.
Symptoms of this bug are:
* Frequent HD clicks -- more than one per 3 minutes while idle, louder than the typical access sounds. Often more than twice per minute. On some disks, the click is very quiet
* Rapidly Increasing Load_Cycle_Count as displayed in the final number in "sudo smartctl -a /dev/hda | grep Load_Cycle_Count" (where /dev/hda is replaced with your own hard disk device)
The problem is only present due to the existence of *all four* of the following factors:
* Hardware is set (default or otherwise) to aggressive power management, causing heads to park. (default behaviour of many drives and often the only user available type of power management)
* Disk is touched often, causing heads to unpark. (default behaviour of many distributions)
* Drives are spec'd to a limited number of these cycles. (600,000 is the most common, although some may be spec'd higher or lower).
* The OS not setting disk APM variables according to current disk access pattern.
Reasonable Limits / Criteria for a fix:
* There should be fewer than ~15 load cycles per hour, except during heavy usage while on battery.
* This provides a life expectancy of over four years, which is reasonable for a hard disk.
Temporary Workaround:
* Follow the above link.
Some hardware with this issue:
WD1200VE -- http://www.wdc.com/en/library/portable/2879-001121.pdf -- This aggressive parking is a feature of this disk, but that feature relies on behaviour that allows for significant amounts of (truly) idle time without the disk being touched. Notice the "Load/unload cycles" of 600,000.
Example Load_Cycle_Counts:
* Thinkpad Z60m/Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00 with well over 7000 load cycles in only 100 hours. That's >70 per hour.
* Gateway MT6451/Western Digital WD1200VE with 164762 load cycles in 3747 hours (156 days) of uptime. That's ~43 per hour -- except that the system was patched during the initial third of its life, which puts it at ~63/hour since Gutsy was installed (and wasn't patched, as I had done with feisty).
Please see for yourself how often your drive is load cycling:
smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda
(This command is for an SATA drive; you'll need to install the smartmontools package first.)
You can get the average per hour by the following division:
Load_Cycle_Count / Power_On_Hours
Old workaround for 7.10 (not working in 8.04): https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695/comments/14
A more extensive description of the workaround: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=591503
You may need to use '254', or a bit lower, as opposed to '255'. If HD temperature gets high, you may want to set it all the way "down" to 200 or so. ~1 click every 2.5-3 minutes is fine.
Note: Some disks are unresponsive to having their APM changed by hdparm, and therefore the workaround doesn't work. It would be a good idea, in such cases, to disable APM in the BIOS if possible.
See also http://paul.luon.net/journal/hacking/BrokenHDDs.html for a rather dramatic account of the effects the current default values may have.
|
This is not a support forum. Please do not use it as such (even though it has been used as such already).
You can scan through the bug for links to the Ubuntu forums where many, many different questions have been asked, answered, and re-answered. The temporary workaround is just below.
See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerManagement for an overview about what is involved and for a remedy.
SRU justification: current behavior may lead to premature disk failure in laptops due to excessive unnecessary drive parking. Fix will disable disk cycling by default when on AC power, by correcting an error in the hdparm logic of acpi-support.
For jaunty, this issue is addressed in acpi-support 0.115.
TEST CASE:
1. With acpi-support 0.109 (hardy) or 0.114 (intrepid) installed and laptop-mode *not* enabled in either /etc/default/laptop-mode or /etc/default/acpi-support, monitor the load cycle count of your hard drive by running 'sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda|grep Load_Cycle_Count' over an interval of several minutes, and observe that it is incrementing. (If it does not increment, your hard drive's manufacturer defaults are sane and you are not affected by this problem.)
2. install acpi-support from hardy-proposed or intrepid-proposed
3. while connected to AC power, monitor 'sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda|grep Load_Cycle_Count' again to confirm that the number is no longer incrementing
4. (assuming that the system is a laptop:) disconnect the system from AC power, and confirm that the number is incrementing again
5. enable laptop mode by setting ENABLE_LAPTOP_MODE=true in /etc/default/laptop-mode and running 'sudo /etc/init.d/laptop-mode restart'
6. reconnect the system to AC power and confirm that the Load_Cycle_Count stops incrementing.
7. suspend and resume the system and confirm that the Load_Cycle_Count is still not incrementing.
REGRESSION POTENTIAL:
As this patch causes "hdparm -B 128" and "hdparm -B 254" to be invoked automatically on systems where it was not being run before, there is some risk that this change will have a measurable impact on the disk throughput, power consumption, and temperature of some hard drives. Nevertheless, it is believed that these APM power settings are the sensible default settings for the vast majority of hard drives and that the current behavior poses a significant risk to the longevity of hard drives used in a wide range of laptop models, so this update should only be blocked if it results in confirmed hardware damage that can be expected to apply to a similar range of configurations.
Following is a summary of the issue:
It is confirmed that some systems are seeing an unusually high number of load/unload cycles on their hard disks, as evidenced by smartctl.
It was originally surmised that this was related to laptop-mode being enabled, but this especially affects systems where laptop-mode is disabled. In fact, aggressive APM is not a bad idea while a system is not on AC, as that system is much more likely to encounter a physical impact.
This is due to disk APM settings that let the heads park or disk spin down after an idle period that is shorter than the regular disk access patterns of the OS.
Then, the heads are only parked for a very short period of time and almost imediately loaded again. Making impact protection much ineffective and wearing out the drive.
It can happen when the disk asumes aggressive APM settings (like many laptop disks) and the OS does not take care to set the APM settings accordingly to its current disk access pattern.
This problem has been confirmed in Ubuntu as well as in other distributions and on MacOS X and Windows.
Symptoms of this bug are:
* Frequent HD clicks -- more than one per 3 minutes while idle, louder than the typical access sounds. Often more than twice per minute. On some disks, the click is very quiet
* Rapidly Increasing Load_Cycle_Count as displayed in the final number in "sudo smartctl -a /dev/hda | grep Load_Cycle_Count" (where /dev/hda is replaced with your own hard disk device)
The problem is only present due to the existence of *all four* of the following factors:
* Hardware is set (default or otherwise) to aggressive power management, causing heads to park. (default behaviour of many drives and often the only user available type of power management)
* Disk is touched often, causing heads to unpark. (default behaviour of many distributions)
* Drives are spec'd to a limited number of these cycles. (600,000 is the most common, although some may be spec'd higher or lower).
* The OS not setting disk APM variables according to current disk access pattern.
Reasonable Limits / Criteria for a fix:
* There should be fewer than ~15 load cycles per hour, except during heavy usage while on battery.
* This provides a life expectancy of over four years, which is reasonable for a hard disk.
Temporary Workaround:
* Follow the above link.
Some hardware with this issue:
WD1200VE -- http://www.wdc.com/en/library/portable/2879-001121.pdf -- This aggressive parking is a feature of this disk, but that feature relies on behaviour that allows for significant amounts of (truly) idle time without the disk being touched. Notice the "Load/unload cycles" of 600,000.
Example Load_Cycle_Counts:
* Thinkpad Z60m/Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00 with well over 7000 load cycles in only 100 hours. That's >70 per hour.
* Gateway MT6451/Western Digital WD1200VE with 164762 load cycles in 3747 hours (156 days) of uptime. That's ~43 per hour -- except that the system was patched during the initial third of its life, which puts it at ~63/hour since Gutsy was installed (and wasn't patched, as I had done with feisty).
* Dell Inspiron 8600/Hitachi HTS721010G9AT00 with 200 to 280 load cycles per hour
Please see for yourself how often your drive is load cycling:
smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda
(This command is for an SATA drive; you'll need to install the smartmontools package first.)
You can get the average per hour by the following division:
Load_Cycle_Count / Power_On_Hours
Old workaround for 7.10 (not working in 8.04): https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695/comments/14
A more extensive description of the workaround: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=591503
You may need to use '254', or a bit lower, as opposed to '255'. If HD temperature gets high, you may want to set it all the way "down" to 200 or so. ~1 click every 2.5-3 minutes is fine.
Note: Some disks are unresponsive to having their APM changed by hdparm, and therefore the workaround doesn't work. It would be a good idea, in such cases, to disable APM in the BIOS if possible.
See also http://paul.luon.net/journal/hacking/BrokenHDDs.html for a rather dramatic account of the effects the current default values may have.
|
|
| 2009-01-14 14:27:14 |
Jakob Unterwurzacher |
bug |
|
|
added attachment '95hdparm-apm' (/usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/95hdparm-apm) |
| 2009-01-14 17:56:03 |
Colin Watson |
pm-utils: status |
New |
Triaged |
|
| 2009-01-14 17:56:03 |
Colin Watson |
pm-utils: assignee |
|
vorlon |
|
| 2009-01-14 17:56:03 |
Colin Watson |
pm-utils: importance |
Undecided |
Critical |
|
| 2009-01-14 17:56:03 |
Colin Watson |
pm-utils: statusexplanation |
|
After reviewing this bug and bug 223879, I agree that pm-utils needs to be fixed too (and confirmed that with Steve Langasek on IRC).
Nevertheless, notwithstanding some side-effects on certain pieces of hardware that are probably not entirely resolvable, I think that the acpi-support package in hardy-proposed is on balance a significant improvement. It is true that until pm-utils is fixed, power management will be reset on suspend/resume; nevertheless this is better than it being wrong across the board.
I've raised the priority of the pm-utils task on this bug as high as it will go, assigned it to Steve, and targeted it for 8.04.3. I expect that it can in fact be dealt with well before that. |
|
| 2009-01-14 17:56:03 |
Colin Watson |
pm-utils: milestone |
|
ubuntu-8.04.3 |
|
| 2009-01-14 17:56:48 |
Launchpad Janitor |
acpi-support: status |
Fix Committed |
Fix Released |
|
| 2009-01-14 17:58:03 |
Launchpad Janitor |
acpi-support: status |
Fix Committed |
Fix Released |
|
| 2009-01-15 12:23:43 |
Jakob Unterwurzacher |
bug |
|
|
added attachment 'power-funcs.patch' (power-funcs.patch) |
| 2009-01-15 12:28:00 |
Jakob Unterwurzacher |
bug |
|
|
added attachment '90-hdparm.sh.patch' (90-hdparm.sh.patch) |
| 2009-01-15 13:10:44 |
Steve Langasek |
acpi-support: status |
Fix Released |
In Progress |
|
| 2009-01-15 13:10:44 |
Steve Langasek |
acpi-support: statusexplanation |
|
Ralph, Jakob, thank you for the analysis. I've prepared a new upload of acpi-support to hardy-proposed, and will work on fixing this for intrepid and jaunty shortly. |
|
| 2009-01-15 13:15:10 |
Steve Langasek |
acpi-support: status |
Fix Released |
Triaged |
|
| 2009-01-15 13:18:41 |
Steve Langasek |
acpi-support: status |
Fix Released |
Triaged |
|
| 2009-01-15 13:21:15 |
Colin Watson |
acpi-support: status |
In Progress |
Fix Committed |
|
| 2009-01-15 13:21:15 |
Colin Watson |
acpi-support: statusexplanation |
Ralph, Jakob, thank you for the analysis. I've prepared a new upload of acpi-support to hardy-proposed, and will work on fixing this for intrepid and jaunty shortly. |
|
|
| 2009-01-15 13:21:15 |
Colin Watson |
acpi-support: milestone |
ubuntu-8.04.2 |
|
|
| 2009-01-15 13:59:20 |
Colin Watson |
acpi-support: status |
Triaged |
Fix Committed |
|
| 2009-01-15 22:49:21 |
Launchpad Janitor |
acpi-support: status |
Fix Committed |
Fix Released |
|
| 2009-01-15 22:52:56 |
Launchpad Janitor |
acpi-support: status |
Fix Committed |
Fix Released |
|
| 2009-01-25 19:39:21 |
Michał Gołębiowski-Owczarek |
bug |
|
|
added attachment 'laptop-mode.conf' (Original Intrepid version of /etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf file) |
| 2009-01-28 01:32:31 |
Steve Langasek |
acpi-support: assignee |
ubuntu-kernel-acpi |
vorlon |
|
| 2009-01-28 01:32:31 |
Steve Langasek |
acpi-support: statusexplanation |
|
|
|
| 2009-01-28 03:14:50 |
Steve Langasek |
linux-meta: status |
New |
Invalid |
|
| 2009-01-28 03:14:50 |
Steve Langasek |
linux-meta: statusexplanation |
|
doesn't appear to be anything actionable here on linux/linux-meta, marking these tasks 'invalid'. |
|
| 2009-01-28 03:15:41 |
Steve Langasek |
linux-meta: status |
New |
Invalid |
|
| 2009-01-28 03:15:41 |
Steve Langasek |
linux-meta: statusexplanation |
|
|
|
| 2009-01-28 03:16:25 |
Steve Langasek |
linux-meta: status |
New |
Invalid |
|
| 2009-01-28 03:16:25 |
Steve Langasek |
linux-meta: statusexplanation |
|
|
|
| 2009-01-28 09:54:57 |
Milan Bouchet-Valat |
acpi-support: status |
New |
Fix Released |
|
| 2009-01-28 09:54:57 |
Milan Bouchet-Valat |
acpi-support: statusexplanation |
|
|
|
| 2009-01-28 17:21:53 |
Mario Limonciello |
dell: status |
Confirmed |
Fix Released |
|
| 2009-01-30 10:10:06 |
Launchpad Janitor |
acpi-support: status |
Triaged |
Fix Released |
|
| 2009-02-09 17:15:06 |
Launchpad Janitor |
pm-utils: status |
New |
Fix Released |
|
| 2009-02-09 19:30:22 |
Steve Langasek |
pm-utils: status |
Triaged |
In Progress |
|
| 2009-02-09 19:30:22 |
Steve Langasek |
pm-utils: statusexplanation |
After reviewing this bug and bug 223879, I agree that pm-utils needs to be fixed too (and confirmed that with Steve Langasek on IRC).
Nevertheless, notwithstanding some side-effects on certain pieces of hardware that are probably not entirely resolvable, I think that the acpi-support package in hardy-proposed is on balance a significant improvement. It is true that until pm-utils is fixed, power management will be reset on suspend/resume; nevertheless this is better than it being wrong across the board.
I've raised the priority of the pm-utils task on this bug as high as it will go, assigned it to Steve, and targeted it for 8.04.3. I expect that it can in fact be dealt with well before that. |
|
|
| 2009-02-09 19:34:04 |
Steve Langasek |
pm-utils: status |
New |
In Progress |
|
| 2009-02-09 19:34:04 |
Steve Langasek |
pm-utils: assignee |
|
vorlon |
|
| 2009-02-09 19:34:04 |
Steve Langasek |
pm-utils: importance |
Undecided |
Critical |
|
| 2009-02-09 19:34:04 |
Steve Langasek |
pm-utils: statusexplanation |
|
|
|
| 2009-02-19 19:20:25 |
Martin Pitt |
pm-utils: status |
In Progress |
Fix Committed |
|
| 2009-02-19 19:21:22 |
Martin Pitt |
pm-utils: status |
In Progress |
Fix Committed |
|
| 2009-04-25 10:51:29 |
Bug Watch Updater |
laptop-mode-tools (Mandriva): status |
Confirmed |
Invalid |
|
| 2009-05-27 09:48:35 |
Nick Bell |
removed subscriber Nick Bell |
|
|
|
| 2009-06-02 07:03:55 |
Martin Pitt |
tags |
click count cycle hd hw-specific laptop load noise qa-hardy-kernel qa-jaunty-kernel smartctl smartmontools verification-needed |
click count cycle hd hw-specific laptop load noise qa-hardy-kernel qa-jaunty-kernel smartctl smartmontools verification-done |
|
| 2009-06-02 07:07:28 |
Launchpad Janitor |
pm-utils (Ubuntu Hardy): status |
Fix Committed |
Fix Released |
|
| 2009-06-05 10:30:36 |
Launchpad Janitor |
pm-utils (Ubuntu Intrepid): status |
Fix Committed |
Fix Released |
|
| 2009-06-07 20:14:46 |
Felipe Figueiredo |
removed subscriber Felipe Figueiredo |
|
|
|
| 2009-06-13 19:12:39 |
Alex Muntada |
removed subscriber Alex Muntada |
|
|
|
| 2009-06-16 14:25:46 |
Jakob Unterwurzacher |
removed subscriber Jakob Unterwurzacher |
|
|
|
| 2009-06-27 03:20:16 |
Launchpad Janitor |
branch linked |
|
lp:ubuntu/karmic/pm-utils |
|
| 2009-06-27 03:25:17 |
Launchpad Janitor |
branch linked |
|
lp:~ubuntu-branches/ubuntu/hardy/pm-utils/hardy-proposed |
|
| 2009-06-27 03:25:20 |
Launchpad Janitor |
branch linked |
|
lp:~ubuntu-branches/ubuntu/intrepid/pm-utils/intrepid-proposed |
|
| 2009-07-11 07:12:43 |
Mundi Granja |
removed subscriber Mundi Granja |
|
|
|
| 2009-09-22 12:45:54 |
Metzelmaennchen |
nominated for series |
|
Ubuntu Karmic |
|
| 2009-12-02 04:40:32 |
Launchpad Janitor |
branch linked |
|
lp:ubuntu/acpi-support |
|
| 2009-12-02 04:48:17 |
Launchpad Janitor |
branch linked |
|
lp:ubuntu/hardy-proposed/acpi-support |
|
| 2009-12-02 04:49:11 |
Launchpad Janitor |
branch linked |
|
lp:ubuntu/intrepid-updates/acpi-support |
|
| 2009-12-16 19:37:09 |
Metzelmaennchen |
nominated for series |
|
Ubuntu Lucid |
|
| 2010-01-29 10:51:45 |
Gustavo Rahal |
removed subscriber Gustavo Rahal |
|
|
|
| 2010-04-21 19:42:37 |
ceg |
description |
This is not a support forum. Please do not use it as such (even though it has been used as such already).
You can scan through the bug for links to the Ubuntu forums where many, many different questions have been asked, answered, and re-answered. The temporary workaround is just below.
See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerManagement for an overview about what is involved and for a remedy.
SRU justification: current behavior may lead to premature disk failure in laptops due to excessive unnecessary drive parking. Fix will disable disk cycling by default when on AC power, by correcting an error in the hdparm logic of acpi-support.
For jaunty, this issue is addressed in acpi-support 0.115.
TEST CASE:
1. With acpi-support 0.109 (hardy) or 0.114 (intrepid) installed and laptop-mode *not* enabled in either /etc/default/laptop-mode or /etc/default/acpi-support, monitor the load cycle count of your hard drive by running 'sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda|grep Load_Cycle_Count' over an interval of several minutes, and observe that it is incrementing. (If it does not increment, your hard drive's manufacturer defaults are sane and you are not affected by this problem.)
2. install acpi-support from hardy-proposed or intrepid-proposed
3. while connected to AC power, monitor 'sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda|grep Load_Cycle_Count' again to confirm that the number is no longer incrementing
4. (assuming that the system is a laptop:) disconnect the system from AC power, and confirm that the number is incrementing again
5. enable laptop mode by setting ENABLE_LAPTOP_MODE=true in /etc/default/laptop-mode and running 'sudo /etc/init.d/laptop-mode restart'
6. reconnect the system to AC power and confirm that the Load_Cycle_Count stops incrementing.
7. suspend and resume the system and confirm that the Load_Cycle_Count is still not incrementing.
REGRESSION POTENTIAL:
As this patch causes "hdparm -B 128" and "hdparm -B 254" to be invoked automatically on systems where it was not being run before, there is some risk that this change will have a measurable impact on the disk throughput, power consumption, and temperature of some hard drives. Nevertheless, it is believed that these APM power settings are the sensible default settings for the vast majority of hard drives and that the current behavior poses a significant risk to the longevity of hard drives used in a wide range of laptop models, so this update should only be blocked if it results in confirmed hardware damage that can be expected to apply to a similar range of configurations.
Following is a summary of the issue:
It is confirmed that some systems are seeing an unusually high number of load/unload cycles on their hard disks, as evidenced by smartctl.
It was originally surmised that this was related to laptop-mode being enabled, but this especially affects systems where laptop-mode is disabled. In fact, aggressive APM is not a bad idea while a system is not on AC, as that system is much more likely to encounter a physical impact.
This is due to disk APM settings that let the heads park or disk spin down after an idle period that is shorter than the regular disk access patterns of the OS.
Then, the heads are only parked for a very short period of time and almost imediately loaded again. Making impact protection much ineffective and wearing out the drive.
It can happen when the disk asumes aggressive APM settings (like many laptop disks) and the OS does not take care to set the APM settings accordingly to its current disk access pattern.
This problem has been confirmed in Ubuntu as well as in other distributions and on MacOS X and Windows.
Symptoms of this bug are:
* Frequent HD clicks -- more than one per 3 minutes while idle, louder than the typical access sounds. Often more than twice per minute. On some disks, the click is very quiet
* Rapidly Increasing Load_Cycle_Count as displayed in the final number in "sudo smartctl -a /dev/hda | grep Load_Cycle_Count" (where /dev/hda is replaced with your own hard disk device)
The problem is only present due to the existence of *all four* of the following factors:
* Hardware is set (default or otherwise) to aggressive power management, causing heads to park. (default behaviour of many drives and often the only user available type of power management)
* Disk is touched often, causing heads to unpark. (default behaviour of many distributions)
* Drives are spec'd to a limited number of these cycles. (600,000 is the most common, although some may be spec'd higher or lower).
* The OS not setting disk APM variables according to current disk access pattern.
Reasonable Limits / Criteria for a fix:
* There should be fewer than ~15 load cycles per hour, except during heavy usage while on battery.
* This provides a life expectancy of over four years, which is reasonable for a hard disk.
Temporary Workaround:
* Follow the above link.
Some hardware with this issue:
WD1200VE -- http://www.wdc.com/en/library/portable/2879-001121.pdf -- This aggressive parking is a feature of this disk, but that feature relies on behaviour that allows for significant amounts of (truly) idle time without the disk being touched. Notice the "Load/unload cycles" of 600,000.
Example Load_Cycle_Counts:
* Thinkpad Z60m/Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00 with well over 7000 load cycles in only 100 hours. That's >70 per hour.
* Gateway MT6451/Western Digital WD1200VE with 164762 load cycles in 3747 hours (156 days) of uptime. That's ~43 per hour -- except that the system was patched during the initial third of its life, which puts it at ~63/hour since Gutsy was installed (and wasn't patched, as I had done with feisty).
* Dell Inspiron 8600/Hitachi HTS721010G9AT00 with 200 to 280 load cycles per hour
Please see for yourself how often your drive is load cycling:
smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda
(This command is for an SATA drive; you'll need to install the smartmontools package first.)
You can get the average per hour by the following division:
Load_Cycle_Count / Power_On_Hours
Old workaround for 7.10 (not working in 8.04): https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695/comments/14
A more extensive description of the workaround: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=591503
You may need to use '254', or a bit lower, as opposed to '255'. If HD temperature gets high, you may want to set it all the way "down" to 200 or so. ~1 click every 2.5-3 minutes is fine.
Note: Some disks are unresponsive to having their APM changed by hdparm, and therefore the workaround doesn't work. It would be a good idea, in such cases, to disable APM in the BIOS if possible.
See also http://paul.luon.net/journal/hacking/BrokenHDDs.html for a rather dramatic account of the effects the current default values may have.
|
The kernel wiki gathers info about drives with too aggressive power saving defaults. A script called "storage-fixup" is also available.
https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Known_issues#Drives_which_perform_frequent_head_unloads_under_Linux
This is not a support forum. Please do not use it as such (even though it has been used as such already).
You can scan through the bug for links to the Ubuntu forums where many, many different questions have been asked, answered, and re-answered. The temporary workaround is just below.
See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerManagement for an overview about what is involved and for a remedy.
SRU justification: current behavior may lead to premature disk failure in laptops due to excessive unnecessary drive parking. Fix will disable disk cycling by default when on AC power, by correcting an error in the hdparm logic of acpi-support.
For jaunty, this issue is addressed in acpi-support 0.115.
TEST CASE:
1. With acpi-support 0.109 (hardy) or 0.114 (intrepid) installed and laptop-mode *not* enabled in either /etc/default/laptop-mode or /etc/default/acpi-support, monitor the load cycle count of your hard drive by running 'sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda|grep Load_Cycle_Count' over an interval of several minutes, and observe that it is incrementing. (If it does not increment, your hard drive's manufacturer defaults are sane and you are not affected by this problem.)
2. install acpi-support from hardy-proposed or intrepid-proposed
3. while connected to AC power, monitor 'sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda|grep Load_Cycle_Count' again to confirm that the number is no longer incrementing
4. (assuming that the system is a laptop:) disconnect the system from AC power, and confirm that the number is incrementing again
5. enable laptop mode by setting ENABLE_LAPTOP_MODE=true in /etc/default/laptop-mode and running 'sudo /etc/init.d/laptop-mode restart'
6. reconnect the system to AC power and confirm that the Load_Cycle_Count stops incrementing.
7. suspend and resume the system and confirm that the Load_Cycle_Count is still not incrementing.
REGRESSION POTENTIAL:
As this patch causes "hdparm -B 128" and "hdparm -B 254" to be invoked automatically on systems where it was not being run before, there is some risk that this change will have a measurable impact on the disk throughput, power consumption, and temperature of some hard drives. Nevertheless, it is believed that these APM power settings are the sensible default settings for the vast majority of hard drives and that the current behavior poses a significant risk to the longevity of hard drives used in a wide range of laptop models, so this update should only be blocked if it results in confirmed hardware damage that can be expected to apply to a similar range of configurations.
Following is a summary of the issue:
It is confirmed that some systems are seeing an unusually high number of load/unload cycles on their hard disks, as evidenced by smartctl.
It was originally surmised that this was related to laptop-mode being enabled, but this especially affects systems where laptop-mode is disabled. In fact, aggressive APM is not a bad idea while a system is not on AC, as that system is much more likely to encounter a physical impact.
This is due to disk APM settings that let the heads park or disk spin down after an idle period that is shorter than the regular disk access patterns of the OS.
Then, the heads are only parked for a very short period of time and almost imediately loaded again. Making impact protection much ineffective and wearing out the drive.
It can happen when the disk asumes aggressive APM settings (like many laptop disks) and the OS does not take care to set the APM settings accordingly to its current disk access pattern.
This problem has been confirmed in Ubuntu as well as in other distributions and on MacOS X and Windows.
Symptoms of this bug are:
* Frequent HD clicks -- more than one per 3 minutes while idle, louder than the typical access sounds. Often more than twice per minute. On some disks, the click is very quiet
* Rapidly Increasing Load_Cycle_Count as displayed in the final number in "sudo smartctl -a /dev/hda | grep Load_Cycle_Count" (where /dev/hda is replaced with your own hard disk device)
The problem is only present due to the existence of *all four* of the following factors:
* Hardware is set (default or otherwise) to aggressive power management, causing heads to park. (default behaviour of many drives and often the only user available type of power management)
* Disk is touched often, causing heads to unpark. (default behaviour of many distributions)
* Drives are spec'd to a limited number of these cycles. (600,000 is the most common, although some may be spec'd higher or lower).
* The OS not setting disk APM variables according to current disk access pattern.
Reasonable Limits / Criteria for a fix:
* There should be fewer than ~15 load cycles per hour, except during heavy usage while on battery.
* This provides a life expectancy of over four years, which is reasonable for a hard disk.
Temporary Workaround:
* Follow the above link.
Some hardware with this issue:
WD1200VE -- http://www.wdc.com/en/library/portable/2879-001121.pdf -- This aggressive parking is a feature of this disk, but that feature relies on behaviour that allows for significant amounts of (truly) idle time without the disk being touched. Notice the "Load/unload cycles" of 600,000.
Example Load_Cycle_Counts:
* Thinkpad Z60m/Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00 with well over 7000 load cycles in only 100 hours. That's >70 per hour.
* Gateway MT6451/Western Digital WD1200VE with 164762 load cycles in 3747 hours (156 days) of uptime. That's ~43 per hour -- except that the system was patched during the initial third of its life, which puts it at ~63/hour since Gutsy was installed (and wasn't patched, as I had done with feisty).
* Dell Inspiron 8600/Hitachi HTS721010G9AT00 with 200 to 280 load cycles per hour
Please see for yourself how often your drive is load cycling:
smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda
(This command is for an SATA drive; you'll need to install the smartmontools package first.)
You can get the average per hour by the following division:
Load_Cycle_Count / Power_On_Hours
Old workaround for 7.10 (not working in 8.04): https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695/comments/14
A more extensive description of the workaround: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=591503
You may need to use '254', or a bit lower, as opposed to '255'. If HD temperature gets high, you may want to set it all the way "down" to 200 or so. ~1 click every 2.5-3 minutes is fine.
Note: Some disks are unresponsive to having their APM changed by hdparm, and therefore the workaround doesn't work. It would be a good idea, in such cases, to disable APM in the BIOS if possible.
See also http://paul.luon.net/journal/hacking/BrokenHDDs.html for a rather dramatic account of the effects the current default values may have.
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| 2010-06-10 07:48:25 |
shuang.z.wan@gmail.com |
bug task added |
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acpi-support |
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| 2010-06-10 08:06:46 |
Milan Bouchet-Valat |
acpi-support: status |
New |
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| 2010-06-10 08:17:56 |
Michał Gołębiowski-Owczarek |
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Manuel Schmid |
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Monkey |
bug |
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| 2010-10-05 20:07:28 |
Kikko |
nominated for series |
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Ubuntu Maverick |
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| 2010-10-18 08:59:27 |
Bug Watch Updater |
laptop-mode-tools (Mandriva): status |
Invalid |
Unknown |
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MaCk- |
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| 2011-02-14 15:22:27 |
Bug Watch Updater |
laptop-mode-tools (Mandriva): importance |
Unknown |
Critical |
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| 2011-04-16 00:08:43 |
mauro luiz brandão |
bug |
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chemamartin |
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Daniel Hurtado |
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| 2011-08-30 17:02:51 |
Andrzej Kłapeć |
bug |
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CLI |
bug |
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Adam Hallgat |
bug |
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FrozenTux |
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Yeam Teik Wooi |
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Wirawan Purwanto |
bug |
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D. Hugh Redelmeier |
bug |
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Firekage |
bug |
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| 2014-04-10 03:36:58 |
Timothy R. Chavez |
somerville: importance |
Undecided |
Low |
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| 2014-04-10 03:36:58 |
Timothy R. Chavez |
somerville: status |
New |
Fix Released |
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| 2014-04-10 03:37:06 |
Timothy R. Chavez |
bug task deleted |
dell |
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| 2014-04-10 09:54:43 |
Timothy R. Chavez |
bug task deleted |
somerville |
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Karl Maier |
bug |
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Mary Gardiner |
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Bug Watch Updater |
pm-utils (Fedora): importance |
Unknown |
Medium |
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| 2017-10-27 22:20:37 |
Sébastien Valette |
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Andrzej Kłapeć |
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