HDD Hibernation

[Mr.Good]

I am about to buy this gadget but would like to ask one question before.
I am planning it to be swithed on whole day long 24/7 and I am afraid
that HDD will spin all time and will die soon due to this. Is there any hibernation mode ( or may be something similar) when HDD not used?
Your answers/suggestions will be highly appreciated.

[Oleg]

IBM/Hitachi drives could be configured for spin down, using IBM Feature Tool.

[Mr.Good]

Thank you very much for your fast reply.
In other word there is no embedded tool to do it.
Unfortunately I am afraid "silent mode" of HDD will not completely solve my problem. I would like that it will stop spindle at all.
Very sad:( :( :( I so much like this compact device but it seems to be unuseful for me as 24/7 network storage.
Thank you.

[Oleg]

This is not a "silent" mode (acoustic management), but the real spin off.

[Mr.Good]

Dear Oleg,
Are you completely sure of this?
I just download user manual for "IBM (now Hitachi) feature tools" and read it.
Of course, I can think mistakenly, but "advanced power management" feature does not give possibility of total switch off. It just decrease idling speed and move heads to the parking position. Please, correct me if I am wrong.
Thanks for your help.

Link for your reference:
http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/downloads/FTool_User_Guide_201.pdf

[sdf]

Would "hdparm" when using Oleg's Firmware do the same job?
This is what i got from jonoWiki "This package will allow you to place your harddrive in a standby-mode"

Thanks

[SuperB]

I have the same question as Mr.Good so I contacted Hitachi Customer support.
Here is the reply I got.



thank you for contacting our support center.

The power management under windows will allow you to set a time for the hard drives to power off. You could set this, and the drives would spin down.

This wont effect the master, as this wont follow the Power Management rules (it periodically gets polled by the OS so never gets to really shutdown), but should allow the drive in the usb enclosure to power off.

Should you have any questions please do not hesitate and contact us again.

Yours sincerely,

[Name]
Senior TSC Agent
Hitachi Technical Support Center


It sounds promising, but I am still not entirely sure. :(

[seza]

try to found here

http://www.macsat.com/forum/index.php?topic=194.0

my wlhdd runing more 6 month evry dey with hitachi hd

[sjdigital]

Yes, as the originator of the query linked to the the post above, I can confirm that the Hitachi Feature Tool does the business and my drive has been running for over six months without any problems.

[sdf]

I also can confirm that Hitachi Feature Tool does power down my Hitachi Travelstar 60 gig HDD

I turned down acoustic properties and power management to their lowest power level but it seems to power down only after about 20 seconds (only testing by having the cover off and touching the Hitachi HDD and wait for the vibration to stop)

As the drive is only used a 10-20 times a week then i spose it will be alright

Thanks sjdigital and seza

[drfreak]

WL-HDD
Fujitsu 120 GB drive
Oleg Firmware
Twonky mediaserver
Twonky stops accessing HD after 5 minutes idle
HDPARM set to spin down Fujitsu after 10 minutes no access

Works.

Regards.