Summary: Re: Spin down HDD after disk sync or before power off

[Oliver Fromme]

Alexander Best wrote:
 > but this will not solve the real issue: specifying 'atacontrol
 > spindown 1s' WILL damage your hardware!

You're making assumptions.  I can very well imagine scenarios
where 1s might make sense and will not damage the hardware,
for example when there is no file system mounted from the
disk in question.

For several years I ran a BBS machine that ran off a memory
disk.  Every 24 hours it made a backup of its current state
by writing a tar file to the raw device of a physical disk
(there were no file systems mounted from that disk).
Having a spindown time of 1s in such a context certainly
wouldn't hurt.

Best regards
   Oliver

PS:  Please allow me to copy a few things from my collection
of quotes which fit very well here:

"UNIX was not designed to stop you from doing stupid things,
because that would also stop you from doing clever things."
        -- Doug Gwyn

"If you aim the gun at your foot and pull the trigger, it's
UNIX's job to ensure reliable delivery of the bullet to
where you aimed the gun (in this case, Mr. Foot)."
        -- Terry Lambert

"Unix gives you just enough rope to hang yourself --
and then a couple of more feet, just to be sure."
        -- Eric Allman

-- 
Oliver Fromme, secnetix GmbH & Co. KG, Marktplatz 29, 85567 Grafing b. M.
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        -- Joseph Strout