calling all linux/ubuntu techies.

[loser]

got a question.

i just noticed this on the ubuntu forum about hard drives failing prematurely and it being linked to the "load unload cycle."

anyone using ubuntu on laptops that have a high load unload cycle count?

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=805570 <----is the link to its explanation.

i dual boot with ubuntu and just bought this hard drive and its already up to 7k load cycles. which is alot.

also wondering if this is the cause of why my hard drive crapped out before ....

[tollboothwilly]

I dont own a laptop, but for your question about your other harddrive failing. Im going to say probably yes, but not really knowing how often you use the computer and how new the drive was.

[loser]

the other drive was about 2 years old? maybe 3

and at most, turned on and off once a day.


apparently from what im reading, when ur laptop goes into an idle state the arm goes back into the cradle and rests.

this is considered a load unload cycle.

most drives can only handle so many of these before failure. some are in the 500-600k range.

the problem is, with ubuntu, its loading/unloading 2-3 times a second O.O'

[tollboothwilly]

then I would venture a guess and say ubuntu is the cause of the premature drive failure, or the drive just went bad on its own.

[loser]

well im reading more into this and it seems to only affect laptop drives and its not ubuntus fault.

its the advanced power management on the bios of the drive itself.

reason its parking the arm so much on laptop drives is so when ur moving around the arm dont bounce and it wont touch the platter and damage it.

makes sense. but its seems like half ass'd preventative measures.

it dont affect windows because windows ignores the drives a.p.m and uses its own. linux doesnt.

[Elviswind]

Does Windows provide its own? Just curious cause I've got a several year old IBM ThinkPad that I use for e-mail and travel at work and it has IBM software to detect when the laptop is moved and park the HDD's head.

I wonder why a Linux distro as popular as Ubuntu wouldn't have its own software to intelligently park the HDD's head.

[loser]

the problem is ubuntu lets the drives apm feature control it, which parks 2-3 times a second.

windows uses its own controls so the drives apm feature does nothing.

to give ya an idea.

in windows, i get a load/unload cycle every time i reboot or shutdown and start up. which is maybe 2 times a day. so thats 2 load unload cycles a day in windows.

in ubuntu, im averaging 600 load unload cycles a day. which is the equivalent of restating my computer 600 times! O.O

theres a fix for this, but still, thats insane, and im starting to believe this is why my other hard drive crapped out on me.

6 years of usage in 2 years. >.<

[Elviswind]

And this is only problem with smaller form-factor drives that are used in laptops? 2.5 inches and smaller, I think?

[tollboothwilly]

if you get a hard drive any smaller then 2.5 inches you might as well call it a flash drive.

[Elviswind]

Originally Posted by tollboothwilly

if you get a hard drive any smaller then 2.5 inches you might as well call it a flash drive.

Yeah, the 1.8" HDD's are pretty tiny.

[loser]

its 0.85 inches long and has a capacity of 8 gb

[Elviswind]

Originally Posted by loser

its 0.85 inches long and has a capacity of 8 gb

Damn!

[tollboothwilly]

so is it a 5200rpm or 7200rpm drive, and is it sata or ide?

[Elviswind]

Originally Posted by tollboothwilly

so is it a 5200rpm or 7200rpm drive, and is it sata or ide?

Well, I think an IDE connector would be bigger than the drive itself!

[TheLancinator]

Can I ask a serious question? What is the advantage (if any) to using Linux for the average PC user? I understand that it can be a more stable environment than Windows, but why bother using it if there will be a learning curve with a new OS and possible compatibility issues?