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

[Dale]

Francisco Ares wrote:
>
>
> Em qui., 2 de jan. de 2020 às 07:49, Dale <rdalek1967@×××××.com
> <mailto: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


That's what I meant when talking about selftest or media checks.  As we
know, most all drives have this function nowadays.  As far as I know,
all drives do this now, except SSD anyway.  They may have some other
thing they do tho.

I've thought about the power on/off cycle and it's one reason I only
back up once a day most all the time.  Sometimes, I may not backup for a
couple days or so depending on what's going on.  While my puter runs
24/7, I've had drives go bad in them before too.  Something always
happens whether it is power on/off or media going bad or just plain
mechanical/electrical failure.  It's likely a gamble no matter what one
does.  It's always something to consider tho. 

Dale

:-)  :-)