Seems like it quite popular question. How to setup idle time for hdd properly?
I think for me good enough is ~10 minutes. But there is also APM configuration which make whole business quite tricky.
How I should configure it?
:~$ tail /etc/hdparm.conf
/dev/sdb {
apm = 120
spindown_time = 120
}
With this settings I have sleep mode each few seconds!! Without apm option it just doesn’t work at all. :-/. For how I put APM as 130 which mean no hibernate for drive… but Load_Cycle_Count still increasing.:@
P.S. how read spindown time from hdd? for APM hdparm -I but for spindown?
Usually the default settings is the best for your device.
If you have Load_Cycle_Count increasing you might have a buggy drive so I would recommend sticking to the defaults and not messing around. Usually the spindowns also don’t bring much power saving. If you really want to save some power replace your hdd with a ssd.
This is not about power. I already have SSD but buy another one for 600$+ too expensive for replace my 1tb store drive. First reason why I do that ‘silence’ HDD most loud thing in my laptop. And if it can save battery power why not. This is not system drive. Just store for media data.