Green Caviar: High Load Cycle Cout after short operation time

Thank you, Bill.

You’re welcome.

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Bill,

You mentioned that WDidle3 supports the following GP drives:

GP Drives - WD20EADS, WD20EARS, WD15EADS, WD15EARS, WD10EADS, WD10EARS, WD8000AARS, WD7500AADS, WD7500AARS, WD6400AADS, WD6400AARS, WD5000AADS, WD5000AARS

Even though on the link provided it mentions not to use it unless its with an RE2-GP drive.

I want to make sure before I attempt with a WD15EADS that it infact works with it, or is there another version coming out anytime soon that will?

Just being a little cautious here…

Bill_S,

you did ask to read answer 5357, but that aswer has a Linux context and the second link (answer 3263) is just for some drives

if one can use wdidle for the other drives, why is the first link you did name saying:

CAUTION: Do not attempt to run this software on any hard drives other than what is listed above.” ??

This link looks more important than answer 5357 (linux context) and answer 3263 (some drives)

So as long as http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=609&sid=113&lang=en is not edited

I will not use wdiddle for my wd15ears drive in my windows machine

I can understand your hesitations.  And I sympathize.  However, I’ve talked to several people that have said that it works on those drives.  I understand the KBA focuses on the Linux OS, but it does name those drives, specifically.  

You will need to make sure that you have any and all important data backed up before doing this, because this is a firmware update.  The only other recommendation I can make is for one of you to be the sacrificial lamb and update it to verify that it works.  Otherwise, I have to stand by my posts.

WDEARS,  you do have a good point about updating the KB article.  If you guys want I can see if that can be done before you step off into this.

Bill_S

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Bill_S wrote:  “If you guys want I can see if that can be done before you step off into this.”

I think it is harder to find someone who doesn’t want you to see if that can be done.

In any case, I would be very pleased and I think it also would be in the interest of WD.

If they won’t update, I’m curious for the reasons.

Well call me a guinea pig…

I’ve got good news and bad news… well the bad news is all mine.

The good news, it works.

 I was able to disable the idle timer (or change it)

The bad news, it didn’t fix my issue of having the OS lag every once in a while for 5-30 seconds.

I’ll have to look at it being either software (reinstall Win7) or it being a hardware issue (drive/motherboard).

It was working fine for months, and then all of the sudden it started doing the ‘lag’ thing.

I’ve been too lazy to pinpoint exactly how long in duration, or frequency it happens.

S.M.A.R.T. reports nothing wrong, and it looks as if the drives are healthy.

Suggestions?

That’s awesome.  I’m still waiting on a response for permission to change the article.

Hi,

I’ve been dealing with the same problem (high load_cycle_count) and I would very appreciate that someone write WD20EARS and other WD Green disc on the list of wdidle3 supported drives!! There is no logical reason why this advice is NOT available from WD Green discs FAQ.

Thank you,

David Kusak

Your drive is on the list for WDIDLE3.  The link below shows that it is. 

http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=5357

Thank you and sorry, I was looking at a different site.

Best regards,

David

I’m considering buying a couple of green Caviar drives (WS10EARS, WD15EARS or WD20EARS) but have been putting it off since I learnt about the 8 second auto-parking/auto-sleeping “feature”. However, this thread seems promising although I have some additional questions:

1) does the disabling of auto-sleep/auto-park work with current Green Caviar drives?

I’ve heard that recently purchased drives have disabled the ability to turn off the auto-park feature (while older models could do this)

2) I’m on an Apple Mac (any other Mac users here? Seems like all WD owners are Windows or Linux users).

Since WD seems to ignore the Mac community by not making any software for us, is there a way to run the mentioned utility on a Mac so I can configure my drives without having to buy expensive emulators, a full Windows installation etc?

The Green Caviar drives will be placed inside a Firewire 800 interfaced external enclosure, and connected to the Mac’s Firewire ports (I can also use USB if needed).

3) What does the WD spinup utility do? I read about the two different spinup speeds/modes, but I’m unsure about what exactly this means and how it affects me.

4) Considering the 8 second auto-park/auto-sleep function can be disabled entirely, are there any other issues with these drives which should leave me looking for other models/brands of drives, or are these essentially good drives (when reconfigured and when running in a MacOSX system, not Windows XP as I’ve read several people have had problems with because of the advanced format system)?

Would someone be able to post step by step screen grabs to show how to perform this update?

It would be much appreciated.

Nobody reading this thread? :wink:

Since WD’s spinup and idle utilities run under PC DOS, I expect that they would also run on an Intel x86 based Mac.

supra wrote:

I’m considering buying a couple of green Caviar drives (WS10EARS, WD15EARS or WD20EARS) but have been putting it off since I learnt about the 8 second auto-parking/auto-sleeping “feature”. However, this thread seems promising although I have some additional questions:

 

1) does the disabling of auto-sleep/auto-park work with current Green Caviar drives?

I’ve heard that recently purchased drives have disabled the ability to turn off the auto-park feature (while older models could do this)

 

2) I’m on an Apple Mac (any other Mac users here? Seems like all WD owners are Windows or Linux users).

Since WD seems to ignore the Mac community by not making any software for us, is there a way to run the mentioned utility on a Mac so I can configure my drives without having to buy expensive emulators, a full Windows installation etc?

The Green Caviar drives will be placed inside a Firewire 800 interfaced external enclosure, and connected to the Mac’s Firewire ports (I can also use USB if needed).

 

3) What does the WD spinup utility do? I read about the two different spinup speeds/modes, but I’m unsure about what exactly this means and how it affects me.

 

4) Considering the 8 second auto-park/auto-sleep function can be disabled entirely, are there any other issues with these drives which should leave me looking for other models/brands of drives, or are these essentially good drives (when reconfigured and when running in a MacOSX system, not Windows XP as I’ve read several people have had problems with because of the advanced format system)?

 

There are a couple of Knowledge Base Articles we have below that might be of some help in explaining what the IDLE3 does and why.  Don’t pay any immediate attention to the main reference to Linux.  However, running the utility requires using Dos level commands, so more than likely you should be able to use it on your Mac.  Text files for how to use the utility are located in the zip files. 

http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=3263

http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=5357

If you need further help, let me know.

Thanks.

It’s a little confusing because the first document ( answer ID 3263) doesn’t mention the WDxxEARS drives, but refers to the WDidle3 1.05 utility (apparently also referred to as the RE2GP utility) which the document also links to.

The download page for that utility yet again does NOT refer to the WDxxEARS drives. There’s even a warning that you should NOT attempt to run the software on any other drive than those listed.

The second document you link to ( answer ID 5357) on the other hand DOES list the WDxxEARS drives in its discussion on drives affected by high SMART cycle counts because of auto head-parking (“Intellipark” in Western Digital terminology). So it confirms the issue we’re discussing here and which causes probloems for many people.

Further down the same document there is mention of WDidle 3 (“…Other customers have requested a utility (See link below)…”), but it only links back again to answer ID 3263 which I already mentioned above (which does NOT list the WDxxEARS drives as drives working with the utility).

So there’s some inconsistency here as no document (as far as I can see) specifically says that the WDidle 3 utility works for the WDxxEARS drives. Even the readme file that accompanies WDidle 3 says nothing about it (in fact it doesn’t list any specific drive models at all).

This could mean that WD will take no responsibility for a damaged drive if a WDxxEARS user tries to change the head-park period with WDidle 3 and something goes wrong (actually WD could claim that the documentation in answer ID 3263 specifically says that you should not use it on any other drive than those listed), or it could mean that WDxxEARS users are really on their own and the utility might possibly work, or not, and that WD assumes no responsibility -either way WD aren’t saying much about the matter and users are left guessing.

I understand you work for WD, Bill_S.

Could you please clarify the following (or have someone else at WD respond on the matter):

a) Is WDidle 3 (version 1.05) designed to work with WDxxEARS drives, effectively allowing the user to change the head parking idle time from the default 8 seconds? And does this apply to all WDxxEARS drives (recently bought and those bought a while ago)?

(if the answer is yes, can you please also have the supported drives added to the above documents which currently do NOT specifically mention them, to avoid any further confusion)?

b) If WDidle is indeed designed to work with WDxxEARS drives, can you confirm or deny that the head-parking idle time can be completely disabled (i.e. the drive NEVER automatically does any head-parking)?

There have been reports that WDidle 3 does NOT allow disabling of this feature even though its documentation says that it should (by using the /D parameter). I’ve also read other similar postings although I can’t remember off-hand how long an idle period they were able to change it to.

Basically I just want confirmation from WD that the WDxxEARS drives can be user-configured to turn off auto head-parking or not before I go out and buy a couple of these drives.

PS. please explain what you mean when you say:

However, running the utility requires using Dos level commands, so more than likely you should be able to use it on your Mac.

How do you suggest I run the utility on my Mac and will it support a WDxxEARS drive located in an external enclosure connected to the Mac via Firewire or USB?

I emailed Western digital tech support and they “INSISTED” there is NO way it can be change or turned off on the EARS drives.

Seems like use guys at Western digital need to get your act together, coz atm on one seems to know whats going on.

Im very disappointed with the way WD is handling this situation, VERY unprofessional. Use are loosing alot of credibility.

I don’t see whats so hard about the whole situation. Just provide an option that can easily allow people that dont want head parking to turn it off. And make it CLEARLY available to everyone.

I’m sorry, I never said that the WDIDLE3 would turn off autopark.  But it’s plain that this drive is not right for you, since you cannot turn of autopark.  I’d recommend looking for something else. 

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Thanks so much.  I can’t tell you how much time this has saved me.

Just for Sh/Giggles - Win7 64 wouldn’t run wdidle3 (I guess obviously.)  So I booted win XP and ran it from DOS.

Unfortunately when I ran it with /R it errored out and made an .err file which told _me_ nothing.

Ran with /? and it worked ok.

Went ahead and ran with /D anyway cuz I was sick of not being able to access my wd15eads’s 1.5tb.

Surprisingly, even though it errored out in xp DOS, when I came back to win7, it was happily using this drive for media center storage, instead of having freezes every few minutes and/or hanging windows media center/windows at those times.

My only slight concern now is about my 2 other 1TB green drives and how it’s affecting them.  I’m really happy the 1.5 drive is working now but I’m worried the working ones are now gimp’d.

Anyway, kudos on that solution.  I’ve spent more than 20 hrs trying different things and google-fu trying to get it to work!

Thank you, thank you, thank you.