Some hdparm Examples
Be very careful using hdparm – you can easily ruin your harddrive.
Examples:
hdparm -I /dev/sda — print disk information and current settings
*hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda — set power management to “medium”
*hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda — set power management to “disabled”
hdparm -M 128 /dev/sda — set acoustic management to “quiet”
hdparm -M 254 /dev/sda — set acoustic management to “fast”
hdparm -S 120 /dev/sdb — set 2nd disks standby timeout to 10min
hdparm -y /dev/sdb — set 2nd disk to standby mode
hdparm -t /dev/sda — perform disk read timings
hdparm –security-freeze /dev/sda — Freeze security settings
*Please note: based on Joost’s comment below, it is clear that either the “medium” or “disabled” parameter must be wrong, since they are identical.
hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda — set power management to “medium”
hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda — set power management to “disabled”
I reckon one of those should be different.
I reckon you’re right! Unfortunately, I no longer know which is correct. But thanks for pointing it out.
hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda — set power management to “disabled”
hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda — set power management to “low” – In case you have on of those drives where the power management can’t be disabled or if you want to have the less aggressive APM level.
hdparm -B 128 /dev/sda — actually set power management to the most “aggressive” without shutting off the drive rotation motor
hdparm -B 127 or less — set power management to a level where the disk can shut itself off automatically – hdparm -S can override the time it takes to perform the spindown in this case.
hdparm -B 1 /dev/sda — set the drive to the most aggressive setting and enable spindown.
a value of 254 is recommended. A value of 180 is good for a good balance between powersaving and acceptable HDD decreased lifetime.