"smartctl -o on sdX" disables spindown

[jimbob]

Having turned smartctl -o on (and then off again) my WD passport 2TB usb drive no longer spins down when idle.

Something similar is noted here: ​http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking#Samsung_MP0804H_80GB

However, in my case it is not desired behaviour. It now runs rather hot.

Can anything be done?

[Christian Franke]

This is a bug tracker, not a support forum. For future support questions, please use the smartmontools-support mailing list instead.

Does the problem persists even after smartctl -o off and waiting for completion of current data collection (check with smartctl -c) ?

If yes, try to set APM to a lower value with smartctl -s apm,N (see man page).

Please provide output of smartctl -x as an attachment.

[jimbob]

Apologies. I looked for a forum/mailing list but couldn't see anything on the site.

And yes, it does seem to persist. The drive eventually spins down but it no longer seems to do the quick "park" thing that the passport usually does after a very short interval.

[Christian Franke]

This is a drive firmware issue which cannot be fixed by smartctl.