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Disk spin down or power down wakeup
I would like to set my RN424 and RN104 so that they sleep most of the time unless called up by windows explorer, a backup program attempt to access, an rsync routine, a streamer drive share access, or drive maintenance. Dont really use that regularly.
I know that there is a scheduled power up and down option and I could use that for scheduled backups by a third party backup program on a PC.
But is spin down or wakeup by LAN the best approach for anything else? Does it work reliably on most recent firmware?
I need it to be reliable especially for my RN424 as it has been relocated to the basement due to the cycling noise the NAS makes with 10TB Ironwolf drives even at idle with no apps installed....some kind of Seagate drive routine I have read. Anyway, dont have easy access to power button.
Any suggestions appreciated.
Thanks,
BJB
BJB wrote:
I hear you on proving if spin down helps disc longevity. If I used them even once or twice daily I would not spin down. But that is not the case.
Other than one backup a week, my use of my NAS is absolutely random and not that frequent (once I have them setup right). They could go a full 7 days without being accessed.
Well, at the end of the day I have have spin-down enabled on my NAS. I was just giving you my reason, which might not be the same as yours. Which is fine of course, there is room for more than one view on the pros and cons of spindown.
BJB wrote:
Reading all the input above.....it sounds like when I get my live-NAS to backup-NAS Rsync job setup (the Rsync one-time copy worked great, thanks) I can make sure that they are not spun down during those times so that one NAS to NAS share is copied.
There's no real need to disable spindown when the backups are scheduled. Even the 5-minute spindown is enough to keep the disks spinning while the backups are running. I only turn off spindown on the main NAS when we tend to use it. So media players won't have a big delay when we use them, etc. It's always on in the backup NAS.
BJB wrote:
If simply using windows file explorer triggers the WOL, turning on WOL on the NAS units might be good enough for me.
It doesn't (and your browser won't trigger it either). You need a utility that sends the WOL "magic packet". So it's a way I can remotely trigger the NAS power-up, but there's nothing automatic about it.
BJB wrote:
As far as my PC backup to the NAS using a PC backup imaging program that is another issue. Turns out unless the PC is on at that time it won't run.
My PC imaging software also runs on a power schedule (and windows has a way for the backup program to wake up the PC). So I coordinate the two schedules on my desktop PCs - setting the NAS to power on at (for example) 12:00, and telling the backup to start the image backup at 12:05.
I do the laptops manually, since I don't want them to power on automatically.
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Hi BJB
Both features has it's own Pros and Cons. Both let's you save power if the unit is not in use or idle, they are configured differently but guides are always available online. Both are reliable but at the same time might not work as intended when used or configured improperly or not compatible with your setup.
Here are available links for you to check on the features that will help you decide what to use.
Other community members might be able to recommend other options or tips on using the features.
Hope this helps!
Regards
Thanks. Does it steer me in a particular direction if I note I am not trying to save power, just reduce wear and tear on drives if spinning for say 7 days or a month and used once?
Thanks,
BJB
Hi BJB
Disk Spin-down can potentially extend disk life, also if your NAS is going to be idle for that long it would be wise to choose the Power timer as well.
As noted on the article: Allowing disks to slow or spin down when not being actively used can potentially save power and extend the life of the disks, but this can also slow effective read/write speeds and can make the disks appear to be off-line or cause time outs.
The new Power Timer setting is known as event-based Power Timer. Event-based Power Timer mandates a schedule for your ReadyNAS on when it should power on or off the device. Any time not selected will keep the device in the last known state. This provides a flexibility for between powering on and powering off the device for different days. Additionally, it allows you to keep the device powered off instead of turning back on.
Regards
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