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Hi! I have an idea that would be extremely useful for laptop users.
Using the "hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda" and similar options is very annoying when I have to switch from battery to AC (and vice versa).
But it's necessary if I want to save power on battery, or get rid of annoying "clicks" on AC when disk is spinning down and up unnecessarily (which also destroys slowly HDD).

Please add option for setting HDD power management level in each profile, i.e.
four levels of power saving (none, little, medium, aggresive); or let user specify timeout before spin down (i.e. none to 60min.).

Well, you can already make Powerdevil execute a script when you change profile.

Yes, I know, and I can also use laptop-mode-tools. But from simple user point of view, this is bad solution.

I'd like simple GUI when I can change this. Think about non-advanced users.

Besides, even Windows 98 (!) allowed setting time before disk spindown. It's just so obvious and natural that one of the main power mngmnt options is controlling HDD.

It will great if powerdevil has this function.

+1 for this....

There also should be an extra option for external storage devices like external hdd to be able to stop it after some period of time. It is very annoying to go below table to shot down hdd, or play with mount/unmount

AdeBe wrote:Yes, I know, and I can also use laptop-mode-tools. But from simple user point of view, this is bad solution.

I'd like simple GUI when I can change this. Think about non-advanced users.

Besides, even Windows 98 (!) allowed setting time before disk spindown. It's just so obvious and natural that one of the main power mngmnt options is controlling HDD.

Do you think that a simple user is going to know things like hdparm settings? Also, if he/she doesn't know exactly what is doing, it can be even dangerous for the drive.

GoolerES wrote:Do you think that a simple user is going to know things like hdparm settings? Also, if he/she doesn't know exactly what is doing, it can be even dangerous for the drive.

But I'm not talking about a GUI for hdparm settings! Please read my first post again.

AdeBe wrote:Yes, I know, and I can also use laptop-mode-tools. But from simple user point of view, this is bad solution.

I'd like simple GUI when I can change this. Think about non-advanced users.

I'm not saying that the idea is bad, only pointing out that it already is possible.
Sure, a GUI option for this would be nice.

how could it be realised?

I think hdparm needs to be run as root, but powerdevil runs scripts only as user? Am I right?

I think Solid is responsible for such things.

Solid1986Snake wrote:how could it be realised?

I think hdparm needs to be run as root, but powerdevil runs scripts only as user? Am I right?

You could add the script to your sudoers file.

I thought about that.... but I don't really like this solution... isn't it a little bit unsafe?
Not really sure about that...

Well, I have fairly nothing against this but one concern, since I don't really know how hdparm internals work.

I heard (could be just some stupid voices) that having the HD spin down, as adebe already told, might damage the HD. A similar thing could be feasible if:

1. It actually saves power/improves performance
2. It is not dangerous, in any possible configuration, for the HD

If those requirements are met, I still need some guidance from some hdparm guru, and if it is doable through HAL that's a bonus point

In any case, PolicyKit solves the "as root" problem. Not really an issue