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

[Francisco Ares]

Em qui., 2 de jan. de 2020 às 07:49, Dale <rdalek1967@×××××.com> escreveu:

> Neil Bothwick wrote:
> > On Wed, 1 Jan 2020 20:27:34 -0600, Dale wrote:
> >
> >>> If you wait for a few seconds after the backup is completed before
> >>> you unmount the drive, you should be OK.  Although it may slow down
> >>> or any LEDs flash less frequently the drive may not stop spinning,
> >>> unless there is some power save process taking control of it.
> >>>
> >> Given the speed, it is likely done when I tell the KDE thingy to
> >> unmount.  Usually, I start the backup and walk away for a few minutes.
> >> I do it with one of my scripts, if one can call what I do a script, and
> >> it does the date command at the end.
> > Add a sync command to the end of the script to make sure all filesystem
> > buffers are flushed to disk before it finishes.
> >
> >
>
> Now there's a idea.  Between the sync command and the unmount process,
> it should be safe for sure.  You made good use of those brain cells.
> lol  I didn't think of that and I don't recall anyone else thinking of
> it either.  Still wonder what the heck it is doing sometimes tho.
>
> Dale
>
> :-)  :-)
>
>
Another thing to be considered is S.M.A.R.T. activity, that is proper to
the hard drive firmware.  Don't know if it is safe or not to power it down
during that process though.  I would wait until it really finishes all
activity.

But do you really need to power it down?  Mechanic (magnetic) hard drives
are known to have shorter lives if they are turned on and off frequently.
My desk computer is rarely turned off, I have 4 hard drives, the oldest is
close to 10 years old and SMART diagnostics are always good.

Best regards,
Francisco