Junior Member
Hi everybody,
just activated the WL-500gx router! Now, I´m thinking about replacement of the original FW by the custom one.
Especially, I´m interested in running Samba on the router, using external HDD.
Due to the fact, that my router (and the futute external storage) is situated in my living rooom, I´m very serious about the noise the HDD makes. Due to the fact, it is very critical for me to know the answer for the following question:
Does the wl-500gx custom FW have some functionality to set the HDD to sleep mode (stop the motor of the HDD) if the external storage is not used for e.g. 10 minutes?
Can anybody confirm this or give an alternate solution?
Thanks in advance.
Junior Member
i'll point you to a different site, the sollution for a NSLU2 unit can be found here, on the www.nslu2-linux.org. The technical basis why almost all USB connected disks do NOT spin down is also described there. I think that with reasonable knowledge, you can adapt the HowTo found there for use on the wl500g(x)...
Jiri
Junior Member
Originally Posted by Rumcajs_tr
What kind of HDD do you use? My Maxtor PS3200 on the WL-500gP does take care of this itself (I guess). After about 20 mins (I don't know exactly, it is not documented) it turns off. Maybe you can try this first before you add any tools.
BR
Martin
Junior Member
I wanted to buy separate HDD rack, as I allready have a Seagate Baracuda 200GB SATA disc. So I assume, that while you have a complete external HDD which has this functionality built-in, I want a cheap rack to put my existing HDD in. Not sure if some rack can do this...
Junior Member
Well, it seems almost impossible to install HDD into an external rack while not interrupting the powr supply...
Junior Member
Martin, are you using Oleg's firmware? I've got a Maxtor PS3100 and it never spins down! It gets pretty warm too so I'm getting concerned.
-Gerry
Junior Member
I'm afraid, that the only external storage I found to correctly handle the sleep issue is Western Digital My Book Essential. However, this is handled by the rack itself more than the HDD.
So I'm still searching for an external USB HDD rack, which can handle the spin-down issue... (for SATA HDD drive)
Junior Member
The Maxtor OneTouch series has a (windows only) application which allows you to set up spin-down times on the usb hd. This settings then remains when you powerdown & up again.
-Ger
Senior Member
I have a Seagate Deskstar GPX that I have configured to spin down after 20 minutes. It works perfectly. This is done via a special software to configure the hard disk parameters that can be found in Hitachi's web site.
Junior Member
Ok, so it looks like there are a few USB HDDs available on the market, which are able to handle the sleep mode correctly using a setup utility.
However, I'm looking for an external USB box since I allready have a spare 200GB SATA HDD. I didn't find any external box, which has this funcion specified in the documentation and as I don't wat to buy a "black box" I'm looking for user experiences with external USB boxes with spindown function.
Any comments are welcome
PS: Could the above mentioned HDD spindown utility work also for Seagate drives installed in external USB box?
Senior Member
I'm almost sure your Seagate is also programable so you can set up this parameter. Yours its much newer than mine. You can find this software in http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm under "Feature Tool".
BTW, my Seagate is in an USB box.
Junior Member
Thank you for your reference.
I have downloaded the Feature Tool from Hitachi's site. It created a bootable floppy with a DOS utility.
As I don't have the USB external BOX yet, I wanted to test it on a second USB external drive I have - It is an external Wester Digital COMBO drive - WD2500JBA (IDE).
After booting the floppy, the program didn't find the USB drive, only my PC's internal drive and CDROM.
1) Did you configure the drive connested to (S)ATA interface in yor PC or connected through an USB port?
2) Where did you set the 20Min spindown time? I didn't find such option anywhere in teh menu of the Feature Tool utility.
Any Ideas? Thanks in advance...
Senior Member
You have to do this with the HD connected directly to the SATA or IDE port. It does not work at all via USB ports.
You can find this option under "Features->Change Advance Power Mode" there you will find "Select the desired APM level" set it to the lowest level (Battery life) which means standby after approx. 20min. You will notice the HD will stop spinning.
Junior Member
Thank you, I didn't think about the fact, that this utility is probably for internal drives only.
Just one question before I will test it:
After setting the parameter in the utility and then switching off the disc from power supply - are these setting stored somehow inside the disk? Because I have to return the disc inside the external box then...
PS: I have just ordered the Raidsonic Icybox IB-351StUS-B SATA 3,5" external USB BOX - it should be delivered in a week so I will test it as soon as possible with two different drives:
Seagate baracuda SATA 200 GB
Western Digital SATA 500 GB
Senior Member
Yes, all parameters are saved in the nvram of the HD therefore you will not lose the new configuration. That is how it worked for me.
BTW nice purchase...
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