How to turn on HDD power down? No reason for spinning when I'm sleeping and at work.

[__init__]

I'm using TrueNAS 24.10.1. Can't seem to find the setting for SMART APM.

Ideally I want to set Level 64.

[Dylan]

Hi @__init__ - Unless electricity cost is an issue spinning HDD's really should be left on. Powering them up and down over-and-over is where trouble happens.

[Majzok]

4 hours ago, Dylan said:

Hi @__init__ - Unless electricity cost is an issue spinning HDD's really should be left on. Powering them up and down over-and-over is where trouble happens.

Who’s talking about „over and over”? In many home usecases (mine for example) data stored on HDD can be accessed once, twice a day! Also aren’t spindown issues a thing from a past? 

[Dylan]

3 hours ago, Majzok said:

Who’s talking about „over and over”? In many home usecases (mine for example) data stored on HDD can be accessed once, twice a day! Also aren’t spindown issues a thing from a past? 

OP is talking about over and over which is at least 2 power cycles and I didn't mention anything about spin-down issues.You did. I recommended leaving them on as power cycling them can increase the wear on the spindle head, head parking and unparking, thermal expansion and contraction among other stressors.

[Creeju]

10 hours ago, Dylan said:

Unless electricity cost is an issue

It most certainly is for many people in many countries.

Edited December 21, 2024 by Creeju

[__init__]

On 12/20/2024 at 5:58 PM, Dylan said:

Hi @__init__ - Unless electricity cost is an issue spinning HDD's really should be left on.

Electricity prices are crazy.

I calculated that leaving 2 HDD's off for 16 hours per day will save me enough for either one 2kg chicken or 1kg of cheese.

I really need to know how to turn on HDD power down.

[Lachlan]

Currently setting up a server with 10 drives that I may access only about once or twice a week. 
would really like to know if this is an option as well.

it would just very unnecessary energy cost and drive wear.

[Majzok]

On 12/21/2024 at 12:18 AM, Dylan said:

OP is talking about over and over which is at least 2 power cycles and I didn't mention anything about spin-down issues.You did. I recommended leaving them on as power cycling them can increase the wear on the spindle head, head parking and unparking, thermal expansion and contraction among other stressors.

Sorry, I did not want to sound like a jerk - English is not my first language. I'm no expert, but checking the information on Toshiba's page it states:

Quote

For drives that are not specified for 24/7 operation, the maximum number of start/stop cycles for the spindle motor will be defined. This normally lies between 10,000 and 50,000 start-stop cycles.

https://www.toshiba-storage.com/trends-technology/mttf-what-hard-drive-reliability-really-means/

As a lot of people here are hobbyists (me included), even taking the lower of presented values (10,000) and dividing this by 2, results in 5000 days of promised workdays, when we start/stop HDD from Toshiba twice a day. In this case, I'll argue, that start/stop cycles are not that important if we are not doing them - for example - 20 a day. This can be set in various ways, for example, to power off an HDD that has not been used in the past 1h.

As is already stated, electricity costs are extremely high, and in a scenario when the HDD is not in use for 100-80% of the day (this is my exact scenario) it is extremely important for HexOS (in my opinion at least and TBH that would be a deal breaker for me that if I would know beforehand I'll probably not buy it - and I already did) to have a way to define terms, on which HDD can be powered down.

Edited December 23, 2024 by Majzok

[PsychoWards]

You need to login into Truenas, go to storage -> Manage Devices -> select your pool and then the first drive. On the right side on the Disk Info part press "Edit" and there you have the possibility to set the HDD Standby and/or Advanced Power Management. Under Advanced Power Management everything from Level 1 to 127 will spin down the drive, from 128 to 254 will not spin down the drive. You have to do this for every HDD.

I don't know how Hexos is reacting to this and which side effect it can have, also for other people reading this, spinning down drives is generally not recommended because the spin ups are putting wear on the drives, and drives are vulnerable during spin ups. When drives are spinning there is an air cushion which is keeping the head of the disks, while this is not the case during a spin up and a head crash can occur. Also when leaving a drive sitting without spinning it can have a negative impact on the lubrication of the bearing. Also make sure that the drive doesn't not cool down to much, this is especially import in the winter if the server is sitting in a cellar or basement where the air temperature can drop and this can also cool down your drive significantly, depending on your setup. There have been plenty of perfectly working drives without issues, which did not recover from a spin up. So be warned, that it might shorten the lifespan of a drive.

Also you might want to look into enabling the different C-States in the Bios, this can also save a significant amount of energy.

[Dylan]

22 minutes ago, PsychoWards said:

I don't know how Hexos is reacting to this and which side effect it can have

This is REALLY important to note. Excellent reply @PsychoWards!

[__init__]

On 12/23/2024 at 11:47 PM, PsychoWards said:

When drives are spinning there is an air cushion which is keeping the head of the disks,

 

Yes, there are about 100 atoms of air between the read/write head and the platter. That's a 15nm gap and you can buy them at your local supermarket!!!

How do Hard Disk Drives Work

 

Also, I have found a solution:

I turn my NAS off whenever I'm not home and sleeping.

[Vault Dweller]

My drives have never spun down even with Advanced Power Management Level 1.

The solution: I moved the System Data Set to the boot-drive (System –> Advanced Settings –> Storage –> Configure) and now they do!

Edited March 2 by Vault Dweller
wrong level