From: linux-audio-user-bounces(a)lists.linuxaudio.org on behalf of John Murphy Yes. Thank you John :) that's a very good idea. I'll test it right now. FWIW for spinymouse@avlinux:~$ uname -a Linux avlinux 3.0.23-avl-7-pae #28 SMP PREEMPT Thu Mar 1 19:14:14 EST 2012 i686 GNU/Linux spinymouse@avlinux:~$ cat /etc/issue Debian GNU/Linux 6.0 \n \l Xfce does auto-mount the partitions and the WD never spins down, the LED shows access every few seconds, even with nothing else but Xfce and the screensaver running. Suse 11.2, Ubuntu Quantal and Arch Linux (all 64-bit) also make the WD spin down and up when the partitions are mounted. *restart*

On Thu, March 14, 2013 1:38 pm, John Murphy wrote: Ah, now the rosegardener nick makes sense. -- Len Ovens www.OvenWerks.net

On Thu, March 14, 2013 1:19 pm, Ralf Mardorf wrote: If the action is different in xfce than gnome or unity, then tumblerd would likely be the cause... but before looking at that, I would suggest looking at any of these linux's in RL 1 (safe mode) which should be on most Grub boot lists. This would make sure X and any of the session stuff is not running. Then look when gdm/lightdm/xdm or whatever is the only thing running. That would clear or point to system services. There may also be a difference if the drive is plugged in before boot, or after boot (hot plugged). -- Len Ovens www.OvenWerks.net

On Thu, 2013-03-14 at 13:39 -0700, Len Ovens wrote: It isn't different and since I can't disable the energy saving, I need to find out what does touch the drive. Assumed it's tumblerd for Xfce and something similar for GNOME2, than I need to find out, if there's a way to disable touching the drive by tumblerd, without removing tumblerd. However, I now definitively know that it's neither the drive's nor the kernel's fault. To use idle3ctl I suspect I need to know how to open and close the case, but I don't know how to do it: EN https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=159738 DE https://bbs.archlinux.de/viewtopic.php?pid=301152#p301152 Regards, Ralf

Thanks to everybody, I tested it with different Linux installs and I also sent a request to different lists. I add several partitions to the drive, including some ext4 partitions, but the issue occurs also when no partition is mounted, so no need to try this. When booting Ubuntu in recovery mode, it doesn't start Xfce, but finished startup with a root prompt. The energy saving mode does work perfectly then, in the same way as when sitting in the BIOS. Perhaps tumblerd for Xfce on Arch and Ubuntu and something similar for GNOME2 on Suse, but it seemingly isn't the kernel. Assumed it would be the cause, then it wouldn't be a solution to stop/remove tumblerd. I want to use averaged desktop environments, so a bug report might or might not be useful, but as long is it isn't fixed I need to - disable energy saving or if it should be impossible to do it - touch the drive by a script or perhaps using the commit option for ext4 to keep the drive awake. AV Lnux with Xfce already keeps the drive awake by default. WD drives might be less good, I had all kinds of drive internal my machine and the only drives that last very long, still in my machine for didn't last very long, just around 2 years. However the external WD drive is brand new and has got 2 years of warranty. Energy saving for external drive is forced by EU Directive, so it will be an issue with Xfce and drives from all vendors. To avoid it, I would buy a case with USB controller and a drive instead of an already build USB drive in the future. The vendor A is better than vendor B claims should be, model X revision Z of vendor A is better than model Q revision P of vendor B ;). Don't expect that the rule "a drive from vendor A is better than a drive from vendor B" is a valid rule. An off topic tip, if your drive should fail with click click noise and shouldn't spin up, than use a soft hammer, I'm not kidding, use a hammer to release the heads. I did it once and could copy data from a broken drive. However, this drive isn't broken. To disable the energy saving mode, it could be, that I need to connect the drive to a SATA port. I've got the knowledge to use gparted and even to repair a board. I also know how to handle gear that is sealed, without losing warranty. Unfortunately this case isn't sealed, it's plugged together so no seal and screws. I've got no idea how to open it, without damaging it. It might be, that I can't disable energy saving, without opening the drive :(. I'm uncertain if I should disable energy saving right now or if I should try to find out, what exactly does touch the drive, to file a bug or at least a feature request. FWIW my perception regarding to time was a little bit disturbed. Unlikely that the drive does spin down and up several times an hour. It might be 3 times in 2 hours or something like that, since the drive spins down after 30 minutes, it at least does for my last test with Ubuntu in recovery mode. Again, thanks to everybody. I'll report back, if it's possible to disable energy saving without opening the drive. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Advanced_Format#Disable_via_changing_f… Regards, Ralf