Have a customer that is very dissapointed about this missing feature. Had to take the NAS back and take my losses. I can't understand that this is still not present....
Well Chirpa said "They haven't implemented the feature on the RN102 yet. Other models already have it." and normally Chirpa is quite a good source. 😉 Thanks!
Has ayone tried SSHing to the box, and using hdparm?
e.g.
hdparm -S 241 /dev/sda
Gave it a try today, but with no success. I guess that one or more processes (e.g. SMART) will prevent a proper spin down. Browsing the Internet shows me that the risk loosing data shouldn't to high. There are still some more options to try, e.g. http://www.j-pfennig.de/ngflushd/index.html or http://noflushd.sourceforge.net/
Gave it a try today, but with no success. I guess that one or more processes (e.g. SMART) will prevent a proper spin down. Browsing the Internet shows me that the risk loosing data shouldn't to high.
I assume you issued the hdparm command for all the disks on your NAS (and not just /dev/sda)?
Good luck on getting the spin down feature. I was told by Netgear mg two months ago, that they where working on it, and it would be available in 6.2 Well it took 2 months for them to go from 6.14 to 6.15 so I guess 6.2 may be sometime in 2015 LOL I'm ready to abandon the RN 102 and RN 104 I now have, and switch to Syn DS412 I would have everything I wanted in it, for what I paid for the RN102 and RN 104. You would think Netgear would realize a majority of users have the RN102 or RN104 for media servers that may not truly be accessed more than once or twice a day, and the spin down feature is a necessity to prolong the life of the hard drives. Without spin down it's a waiting game to see when the first hard drive will fail. Yes I'm aggravated as crap with Netgear. The only reason I purchased the RN 104 to go with my RN102, is because I was told by Netgear mgn that "spin down" would be available very soon in firmware rev. 6.2 Don't hold your breath waiting for the spin down feature .. I kinda wonder if they really have any intention of adding it to the RN 100 series. Doesn't seem so. I will not wait to see, much longer. It will be cheaper to purchase a new SYN 412 NAS than to replace 6 worn out hard drives.
It is debatable whether spindown helps prolong disk life. Some believe it shortens it. What disk spindown does do is reduce power usage. Hopefully 6.2.0 will be the next release after 6.1.6. NetGear sure has made a lot of 6.1.6 RCs so hopefully they are trying to make 6.1.6 the last 6.1.x release.
It is debatable whether spindown helps prolong disk life. Some believe it shortens it.
Agreed.
Spin-up clearly stresses the motor more than keeping it spinning. But while it is spun down, there is no stress at all. So likely there is a trade-off. My guess is that conservative spin-down settings would improve drive life somewhat, but it is just a guess. I've never seen a study on this - not sure there is one.
mdgm wrote:
What disk spindown does do is reduce power usage.
To quantify this a bit... If you are using 6 ST4000VN000 drives, the total drive standby power is about 3 watts. Total idle power (spinning, but not accessing data) is about 23.7 watts, saving 20.7 watts. If the NAS is active 8 hours a day (and spun down the rest of the time), that would save you about 120 kwh a year.
In the US, that would save me about $18 per year in electricity costs. In countries where power is more expensive (like Germany or Australia), savings could reach about $50 (US) per year. Of course for many people this is not about the money, it is about being responsible for the environment.
Personally, I use spindown on my older NAS, and I would like to see this implemented in OS6. But I don't see it as something to get too stressed about. Obviously there is room for different opinions on this, I'm just sharing mine - not criticizing other views.
I agree they are circumstances where using the spin down feature would not be wise. Especially if the hard drive(s) are accessed frequently, as startup is more stressful on the motor than "constant spinning". I have watched hard drives evolve over the years, as I'm 58 years old, and got my BS in CS 35 years ago LOL I still have a dinosaur running with my first 10MB 5.25" full bay hard drive. You know, the hard drive with the outside the enclosure "motor". 😉 And yes, 10MB. LOL My opinion, observing hard drive failures over the many years is a hard drive seldom used will last longer if it is powered down when not in use, and a hard drive accessed often will last longer if it is never powered down. If the NAS is used in a business environment, where it is accessed for data, or backup constantly, then the spin down feature would not be needed, or wise to use... Just schedule power shutdown for the hours the NAS is not in use. But if the NAS is used as a home media server for music, videos, and photos, that may not be accessed at all, some-days, and perhaps 2 hrs out of 24 when used. Then having the Spin Down feature is a necessity, not only to save energy, but to prolong the life of the hard drives. Just like an automobile engine, they are more energy involved (friction and wear) in starting a motor up, than they are in letting it idle. Yet they are also more friction and wear involved (thus dissipated energy) in a motor running, compared to no friction or wear in one which is stopped. Just my opinion LOL
...You know, the hard drive with the outside the enclosure "motor". 😉 And yes, 10MB. LOL...
Here's what my first hard drive looked like: . I'm glad those days are gone. LOL
Jerryntenn wrote:
My opinion, observing hard drive failures over the many years is a hard drive seldom used will last longer if it is powered down when not in use, and a hard drive accessed often will last longer if it is never powered down.
That would be my opinion too. But hard to prove, since for any given drive I've either powered it down, or not. I can only guess what would have happened if I'd made the opposite choice.
The google disk study (some years back now) disproved some commonly held opinions about drives - notably the views on the impact of drive temperature on drive life. So it'd be nice to actually see a study on this. Since data centers have gotten much more green, this might be possible today. But while I've seen a couple of studies on disk power management, I've never seen one that looks at the impact on disk life.
As a practical matter, spindown does have some negative consequences., since the NAS is non-responsive while the disks are spinning up. For instance, I have media players that will time out, which can be frustrating. So I keep spin-down timers pretty long.
I have an old Etrayz probably 3+ year old with 2x1.5gb jbod with spin down capability and i say is a must have feature as it keep my hdds new and in still working state. If you dont need it people request an option to NOT enable it in gui other than that is a must have feature and highly required imo.
It seems that there's some notion going around that 6.2.0 won't have disk spin down(or that 6.2.0 will never be released). It will have disk spin down. However as 6.2.0 is more than just a disk spin down update, the term "when it's done" applies. 6.1.x release would be minor updates, with a 6.x being a major update. Just be patient.
reading grievous post , I think it will be in 6.2.0 and it won't be an addon. sounds logical cause it may require a lot of change which can not be handled by an addon
I have know idea how many and waiting for this but I have a very old X6 and really want to upgrade. The X6 is a power monster and will up my electricity bill by $60 a month if I leave it on, so it only gets powered up a for a few hours a week to do TimeMachine backups, and occasionally get to some files.
It would be so much more helpful if the Netgear team would publish a road map. The must have one...At least to know that we don't have to go though 100's of more incremental versions like 6.1.999999....until 6.2 appears...
With software if you announce we'll release on such and such a date that puts pressure on to release it at that date even if it's not ready which you don't want to do especially when a premature release could put data at risk.
With the time it's taken already it's pretty clear that 6.2.0 is the biggest release since 6.0.0.
There alternatives to disk spin-down like a power off/on timer if you only need the NAS on at certain times of the day.
With software if you announce we'll release on such and such a date that puts pressure on to release it at that date even if it's not ready which you don't want to do especially when a premature release could put data at risk.
Also it can create revenue recognition issues when people purchase products to get promised features that aren't implemented yet.
Well at least 6.2 can't be too far away now when the 6.1.9 rc5 beta is out. Lets hope the feature is implanted by then. Sent from my RM-821_eu_sweden_235 using Tapatalk
. I'm glad those days are gone. LOL
