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Questions tagged [hdparm]

78 questions
35
votes
2 answers

Hdparm - Checking if a drive is spun down

Is there anyway to find out if a hard drive has spun down? I've been using the following command to spin it down after idle time: hdparm -S 120 /dev/hdX However I'm not sure it's working correctly and was wondering how to check the current power…
Jason
  • 351
30
votes
2 answers

What do different values of hard drive's Advanced Power Management feature (hdparm -B) affect, except spin-down?

hdparm's -B parameter is documented as: Get/set Advanced Power Management feature, if the drive supports it. A low value means aggressive power management and a high value means better per‐ formance. Possible settings range from values 1…
Petr
  • 3,273
18
votes
1 answer

hdparm doesn't read SSD? HDIO_DRIVE_CMD(identify) failed: Inappropriate ioctl for device

I'm trying to use hdparm to do secure erase of my 512GB SSD SK Hynix. SSD has Windows 10 installed in it. I boot Ubuntu from a usb flash drive. sudo fdisk -l I get a lot of different disks, turns out /dev/sda is my 8gb flash drive, not SSD. SSD is…
Jack
  • 283
18
votes
7 answers

hdparm error: SG_IO: bad/missing sense data

I'm trying hdparm in Kali Live to add a ATA password to my Micron M600 Self-encrypted SSD, I use: hdparm --security-set-pass PASSWORD sda But I get: sda: Issuing SECURITY_SET_PASS command, password="PASSWORD", user=user, mode=high SG_IO:…
Sam
  • 1,180
11
votes
3 answers

How to unfreeze drive in Linux?

I run sudo hdparm -I /dev/sda results: Security: Master password revision code = [redacted just in case it's sensitive data] supported not enabled not locked frozen not expired: security count supported: enhanced erase My objective is to…
user138072
  • 351
10
votes
2 answers

HDD Power-Up in Standby: prevent from spinning up

On my Linux Mint 17.1 system I am using a Western Digital WD20EZRX HDD for backup. To minimize power consumption and to extend drive endurance, I want the HDD to normally be in spun-down standby state, and to only spin up when explicitly…
Finwood
  • 203
9
votes
1 answer

What is an alternative to Linux utility hdparm on Windows 8?

Is there a utility similar to hdparm that can be run natively on Windows 8?
PetaspeedBeaver
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9
votes
1 answer

hdparm vs /dev/zero in hdd erase

So, what is more secure and why? hdparm --security-erase-enhanced NULL /dev/sdX or dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdx
user149770
  • 227
9
votes
1 answer

Is the “idle3” timeout mess still relevant on Western Digital WD Blue hard drives from 2022?

Is the “idle3” timeout still relevant for 2022 Western Digital Blue hard drives, and specifically for their WD40EZAZ line? Or should I take hdparm -J reporting an invalid exchange as proof that the timer was removed and that the disks won't park…
Gro-Tsen
  • 231
7
votes
4 answers

Safe to manually spin down hard drive with hdparm?

I have a laptop with a ssd for primary OS drive, and a large Spinning disk for storage. I currently have an alias I use for manually spinning down the drive when I'm not using it (after umount of course): sudo hdparm -y…
Shane
  • 203
5
votes
2 answers

HDPARM Keeps giving Input/Output Error

I've been trying to set the password on my Seagate drive: sudo hdparm --user-master m --security-set-pass pwd /dev/sda I get Issuing SECURITY_SET_Pass command, password="pwd", user=master, mode=high SECURITY_SET_PASS: Input/output error Why do…
Glad
  • 51
5
votes
1 answer

How do hdparm's -S and -B options interact?

These two options seem confusing. For example: according to the man page -B 254 "does not permit spin-down". However, testing with -B 254 -S 1 the drive does spin down after 5 seconds. -B Query/set Advanced Power Management feature, if the drive…
user697683
  • 529
5
votes
1 answer

Why is "hdparm -w" considered dangerous?

I have an old disk that often gets stuck in some form of loop, and often I need to perform a full reboot to get it "unstuck", whereupon I had found out about the hdparm -w command. However, its manpage lists this command as dangerous: -w Perform a…
nanofarad
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5
votes
0 answers

How to remove the ATA lock on a Toshiba (MK1060GSC) hard drive?

I have 4 Toshiba hard drives (model MK1060GSC) that are ATA locked. The master password for Toshiba (32 spaces) is not working to unlock the drive and if there is a user password, I have no idea what that is. I do not want or care about the data, I…
Brian
  • 51
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4
votes
2 answers

How to set the spin down timeout on WD Green HDDs

My internal WD20EARS disk does not spin down autoamtically. I tried hdparm -S 1 (5 seconds), but nothing happens. I disabled the IntelliPower headparking with wdidle3 from the Ultimate Boot CD. hdparm -y spins down the disk. Setup is Archlinux on a…
ManuelSchneid3r
  • 1,282
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