Comment 563 for bug 59695
Revision history for this message
| thebrotherofasis (libardoab) wrote Re: [Bug 59695] Re: High frequency of load/unload cycles on some hard disks may shorten lifetime | #563 |
© 2004
Canonical Ltd.
•
Terms of use
•
Data privacy
•
Contact Launchpad Support
•
Blog
•
Careers
•
System status
•
bbfa235
(Get the code!)
Did it fix it even after suspending / hibernating on battery?
On Mon, Oct 27, 2008 at 2:11 PM, Babyshamble <email address hidden>wrote:
> I got it fixed in a HP 6720b with a fresh install of Intrepid and with
> laptop_mode on acpi properties. Did you enable it?
>
> On Mon, Oct 27, 2008 at 1:42 PM, Igor Vatavuk
> <email address hidden>wrote:
>
> > I am still affected by this bug in the fresh install of Intrepid RC, this
> > bug is not fixed!
> > Hdparm reports: Advanced power management level: 128
> > Laptop is plugged in AC (it's HP 6710b)... I'm back to 99-hdd-ugly-fix
> >
> > --
> > High frequency of load/unload cycles on some hard disks may shorten
> > lifetime
> > https:/
> > You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> > of the bug.
> >
> > Status in The Dell Project: Confirmed
> > Status in "acpi-support" source package in Ubuntu: Fix Released
> > Status in "linux-meta" source package in Ubuntu: New
> > Status in "pm-utils" source package in Ubuntu: New
> > Status in acpi-support in Ubuntu Hardy: Triaged
> > Status in linux-meta in Ubuntu Hardy: New
> > Status in pm-utils in Ubuntu Hardy: New
> > Status in "acpi-support" source package in Baltix: New
> > Status in "acpi-support" source package in Debian: Fix Released
> > Status in "pm-utils" source package in Fedora: Invalid
> > Status in "laptop-mode-tools" source package in Mandriva: Confirmed
> > Status in Suse Linux: Fix Released
> >
> > Bug 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:/
> 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://
> 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:/
> > A more extensive description of the workaround:
> > http://
> >
> > 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://
> rather
> > dramatic account of the effects the current default values may have.
> >
> >
>
> --
> High frequency of load/unload cycles on some hard disks may shorten
> lifetime
> https:/
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of a duplicate bug.
>