[gentoo-user] Re: External hard drive and idle activity

[Ian Zimmerman]

On 2020-01-01 18:09, Dale wrote:

> As some may recall, I have a 8TB external SATA hard drive that I do
> back ups on. Usually, I back up once a day, more often if
> needed. Usually I turn the power on, mount it, do the back ups,
> unmount and turn the power back off. Usually it is powered up for 5
> minutes or so. When I unmount it tho, I sometimes notice it is still
> doing something. I can feel the mechanism for the heads moving. It has
> a slight vibration to it.  Questions are, what is it doing and should
> I let it finish before powering it off? I'd assume that once it in
> unmounted, the copy process is done so the files are safe. I guess it
> is doing some sort of internal checks or something but I'm not sure.

I have observed the same thing.  But in my case, I also disconnect the
_cable_ from the computer to the enclosure when I am done ... and still
the drive activity goes on.  From that I conclude that it is the drive
circuitry itself doing some kind of internal housekeeping, and there is
no point in worrying about it because one would wait forever for it to
end.

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