Nice explanation, Kirk. Thanks. Alan On Tue, Dec 1, 2009 at 6:47 AM, Kirk Bauer wrote: > On Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 9:45 PM, Alan Dayley wrote: >> On Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 4:22 PM, Kirk Bauer wrote: >>> For the record, I have both ntfs and ext4 partitions on the drive, >>> both mounted at all times under Ubuntu 9.10, and the drive remains in >>> a "standby" state except when I'm actually using the drives. >> >> Interesting.  If I may ask, I'd like more details for my own education. >> >> How do you know the drive is in standby? > > I know when it is in standby by running "hdparm -C /dev/sda" (as I > learned on this list). > >> How do you know when you are actually using the drive? > > For me, the only thing I have on the drive is my Windows partition > (which I virtually never use) and my data stores for VMWare Server. > So even though the drives are mounted, and even though VMWare Server > is running, until I actually access the Windows filesystem or > create/start a virtual machine, the drive isn't being used. > >> As you start using it, is there any latency or pause before the access >> starts?  If so, how long does it last?  (Not looking for hard numbers, >> just a felt guess.) > > Definitely a 2-second delay when I first access the drive when it is in standby. > >> After you use it, how long before they go back to standby? > > 30 seconds (because of the -S setting below) > >> Did you do any special settings or configuration to achieve this behavior? > > Default Ubuntu 9.10 settings, except I added this to /etc/hdparm.conf > (not sure what the default would have been though). > > command_line { >       hdparm -B 1 -S 6 /dev/sda > } > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss