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- Joined
- Jan 1, 2004
- Location
- Netherlands
I have 4 WD Caviar Green 1TB hdd's installed in my fileserver running RAID5 under Linux and I have always noticed
them making clicking sounds. This has always bothered me and this week I decided to do some research on it.
What appears to be the problem with these drives (and with similar 'eco' drives from other manufacturers) is there is
some built in 'feature' (for WD drives called 'Intellipark') which parks the drive's head in order to save power. The problem
with this is that it is basically wearing the drive out as there is a limited amount of times the head can be parked and unparked.
WD drives for example are rated at 300.000 times before failing, as I've read.
The number of times this has been happening already can be found in the SMART data of the drive, under the
value 'Load_Cycle_Count'.
You can use Smartmontools to view SMART data on most OS, here is a link to the windows version.
On my server for example, this is happening quite frequently. The load cycle count on the green drives had already
exceeded 120.000 times. I don't know if this is really leading to drive failure but somehow it was not giving me a
pleasant feeling, so I decided to take action.
Regarding WD HDD's, what can be done is using a DOS based utility available from WD to modify the drive's firmware
in order to completely disable Intellipark. I did this with succes, the drive's are working perfectly and I have not heard
a single click since.
what you want to do is:
First Step
Download WDIDLE3
It didn't mention the drives I was working on being compatible, but it was.
Second Step
Make a bootable USB Key. The guide that was super simple for me to follow was here:
http://www.bay-wolf....usbmemstick.htm
Third Step
Now to actually use the program, follow the instructions on making the bootable drive, and once it is done you should have
a fairly large partition to copy files onto. Grab the WDIDLE3.exe and copy it on over.
Final Step
Now for simplicity, I liked connecting only one drive at a time to my computer. The system should boot directly into the
DOS prompt from that key you just made.
Type "WDIDLE.exe /R"
This will give you a readout of the drive model and serial number, as well as the current timer if the drive is supported.
You can adjust the idle time, but if you are googling around enough to find this post, chances are you want nothing of it.
Type "WDIDLE.exe /D"
This will completely disable the timer. Verify the timer is disabled by typing "WDIDLE.exe /R", and if it still lists
disabled, power off the system, or if you have other drives, disconnect the current drive and plug in another.
I don't know the methods to disable head parking for drives of other manufacturers, but for WD I can confirm it's working.
If you stumble across something feel free to post, then I will include it in this post.
IMHO it's really ridiculous things like this are finding their way to drives you can buy and use for everything. The new
meaning of the word 'durable', which means stuff just becomes crappier in order to save energy instead of being really
durable and reliable for a long time.
recources:
http://forums.storagereview.com/ind...wer-western-digital-hdd-head-parking-and-you/
http://www.sagaforce.com/~sound/wdantiparkd/
Fixed your post for you
-mbentley
them making clicking sounds. This has always bothered me and this week I decided to do some research on it.
What appears to be the problem with these drives (and with similar 'eco' drives from other manufacturers) is there is
some built in 'feature' (for WD drives called 'Intellipark') which parks the drive's head in order to save power. The problem
with this is that it is basically wearing the drive out as there is a limited amount of times the head can be parked and unparked.
WD drives for example are rated at 300.000 times before failing, as I've read.
The number of times this has been happening already can be found in the SMART data of the drive, under the
value 'Load_Cycle_Count'.
You can use Smartmontools to view SMART data on most OS, here is a link to the windows version.
On my server for example, this is happening quite frequently. The load cycle count on the green drives had already
exceeded 120.000 times. I don't know if this is really leading to drive failure but somehow it was not giving me a
pleasant feeling, so I decided to take action.
Regarding WD HDD's, what can be done is using a DOS based utility available from WD to modify the drive's firmware
in order to completely disable Intellipark. I did this with succes, the drive's are working perfectly and I have not heard
a single click since.
what you want to do is:
First Step
Download WDIDLE3
It didn't mention the drives I was working on being compatible, but it was.
Second Step
Make a bootable USB Key. The guide that was super simple for me to follow was here:
http://www.bay-wolf....usbmemstick.htm
Third Step
Now to actually use the program, follow the instructions on making the bootable drive, and once it is done you should have
a fairly large partition to copy files onto. Grab the WDIDLE3.exe and copy it on over.
Final Step
Now for simplicity, I liked connecting only one drive at a time to my computer. The system should boot directly into the
DOS prompt from that key you just made.
Type "WDIDLE.exe /R"
This will give you a readout of the drive model and serial number, as well as the current timer if the drive is supported.
You can adjust the idle time, but if you are googling around enough to find this post, chances are you want nothing of it.
Type "WDIDLE.exe /D"
This will completely disable the timer. Verify the timer is disabled by typing "WDIDLE.exe /R", and if it still lists
disabled, power off the system, or if you have other drives, disconnect the current drive and plug in another.
I don't know the methods to disable head parking for drives of other manufacturers, but for WD I can confirm it's working.
If you stumble across something feel free to post, then I will include it in this post.
IMHO it's really ridiculous things like this are finding their way to drives you can buy and use for everything. The new
meaning of the word 'durable', which means stuff just becomes crappier in order to save energy instead of being really
durable and reliable for a long time.
recources:
http://forums.storagereview.com/ind...wer-western-digital-hdd-head-parking-and-you/
http://www.sagaforce.com/~sound/wdantiparkd/
Fixed your post for you
-mbentley
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