MyBook Spindown ?

MyBook Spindown ?

kinji 1191998241|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hi everyone,

I found on this forum on a topic, this link : [http://websupport.wdc.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5595]

I followed everything, copied the smart_spindown and the start/stop script in the right directory with the right permissions x2 since this script can only monitor one disk at a time.
Everybody seem to get it working without any problems, but here I get one, I've got this error when I try to launch the start script :

/etc/init.d/smart_spindown start
bash: /etc/init.d/smart_spindown: /sbin/runscript: bad interpreter: No such file or directory

It cannot work since there is no /sbun/runscript. So how everybody does it ? Did I miss something ? Thanks for you help !

Re: MyBook Spindown ?

johanfa 1192025272|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Frankly I dont know if anyone actually has gotten this to work on mybook ? I can start the script but the disk never spins down …. so .. ? Anyone with better luck ?

Re: MyBook Spindown ?

kinji 1192025983|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Did you update your hdparm ? You have to download the last version at sourceforge (http://sourceforge.net/projects/hdparm) and just make & install.

How did you manage it to work ? I mean, how did you install runscript ? Because there is no runscript folder in my /sbin/

Re: MyBook Spindown ?

johanfa 1192026362|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Yeah I have updated hdparm, and the runscript too is downloaded from the spindown-homepage if I remember it correctly. However when I run it I seem to get no function what so ever….

Re: MyBook Spindown ?

kinji 1192027194|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

I can't find any link or any text about runscript, can you remember or find again where you get it ? So I can test by myself !

Re: MyBook Spindown ?

johanfa 1192027947|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_HDD_spindown_small_server

There are two boxes with code on this page… the first is the spindown-script, the second is the runscript….

Re: MyBook Spindown ?

kinji 1192028432|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Yeah I already did that, but If i try to execute the runscript all I get is that there is no runscript in /sbin/.

My question is in fact : how did you manage to install the runscript package ?

Re: MyBook Spindown ?

johanfa 1192029360|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

You have to check the paths mentioned in the scripts…. in runscript you've got
SMART_SPINDOWN_SCRIPT=/usr/sbin/smart_spindown

then of course smart_spindown has to be placed in /usr/sbin

the runscript is supposed to be placed in /sbin … then you must have it there… or change in the script…

Re: MyBook Spindown ?

kinji 1192029840|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

I will look tonight if i can find where runscript is located because it's not under /sbin…. I still don't understand why you have it and I don't…

Re: MyBook Spindown ?

Zium 1192052562|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

I tried the script, changed few things to match MBWE.
I'll post if it works.

Re: MyBook Spindown ?

Zium 1192080669|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Here are few tips :
I named the script in /ect/init.d smart_spindown.sh
changed the line !/sbin/runscript to !/bin/sh
It seems to be quite fine, except ebegin eend commands (log commants only)

I changed /etc/fstab like this:

/dev/md3 /var ext3 defaults,noatime,commit=43200 0 2

(don't remove others line than /dev/md3)

It still need tune to be sure it's a good setup (i mean time to spin down, laptop_mode or not…)

Re: MyBook Spindown ?

kyyhkynen 1192094671|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hi!

I have been using the script successfully with my MBWE II (in raid1 mode) for a few weeks now; the drives and the fan are spinning only when needed. Since I'm using my MBWE only as a music and backups storage, it is unused most of the time anyway. At the moment the average time the drives have spent sleeping seems to be a little under four hours.

I have modified the script to support two disks and made a few other tweaks to make it more MBWE-friendly. I have also created a temperature monitoring and logging script to replace the original one.
(I have also swapped the original teensy-weensy noisy fan to 2x 120mm silent fans, but thats a whole another story :)

On the other hand, I have also made other changes in order to minimize unwanted disk reads/writes, such as:
- disable mionet (I don't need it personally)
- disable klogd and syslogd (busybox version of syslogd doesn't support changing the location of syslog)
- disable wdc-fuel-gauge (displays the disk usage in the blue led ring) and wdc-heat-monitor, since they seem to spin up the disks randomly
- create a small ram disk and keep logs and samba .tdb's there

I will write a step-by-step tutorial, just need to find some free time for that.

A tip for the startup/shutdown script; name it to something like
/etc/init.d/S50smart_spindown
and make a link to it named something like
/etc/init.d/K50smart_spindown (ln -s /etc/init.d/S50smart_spindown /etc/init.d/K50smart_spindown)
then the script will be started during boot and stopped during shutdown.
(like all the other S* and K* scripts in /etc/init.d; S* scripts are run during boot and K* scripts during shutdown; the number defines the order they are executed in)

Re: MyBook Spindown ?

johanfa 1192098765|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Interesting … would be very nice of you to post your modified script if it also actually works on MBWE1….

Re: MyBook Spindown ?

Freshman 1192214794|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

kyyhkynen:
Hi,
could you kindly publish step-by-step how here? I have MBWE1, but I'm really newbie in Linux environment…

Re: MyBook Spindown ?

kabadi 1198786467|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

I have noticed that when my fan speed needs to go to the fist speed (50) it actually goes to 100 briefly. Ie. It goes 0 - 100 - 50 - 0 -100 -50 etc.

Has anyone else noticed this?

Re: MyBook Spindown ?

ArTi 1192116949|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

i'm really interested by your script and the how to dissable blue usage led,wdc-heat-monitor, klogd etc…

i wait with impatient your how to.. good work

Re: MyBook Spindown ?

kinji 1192123063|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

I've managed to make it work too. But I'm really interested for all the thing you disable if it help the spindown script to work properly :D. I think I can manage to find how to do it will try :)

Re: MyBook Spindown ?

kinji 1192125693|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Just to know : Did someone manage to shut the fan when the disk are in standby ? Would be really nice too !

Re: MyBook Spindown ?

bobbywise 1192138168|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hi there,

I have everything installed, and I think it's running okay. However, how can we test to see that this is actually running ?

When I do a ps -A, I get the following:

[root@SAN ~]# ps -A

PID TTY TIME CMD
1 ? 00:00:00 init
2 ? 00:00:00 ksoftirqd/0
3 ? 00:00:00 events/0
4 ? 00:00:00 khelper
5 ? 00:00:00 kthread
9 ? 00:00:00 kblockd/0
36 ? 00:00:00 pdflush
37 ? 00:00:00 pdflush
38 ? 00:00:00 kswapd0
39 ? 00:00:00 aio/0
143 ? 00:00:00 ata/0
146 ? 00:00:00 sata-endQ
147 ? 00:00:00 scsi_eh_0
152 ? 00:00:00 sata-endQ
153 ? 00:00:00 scsi_eh_1
172 ? 00:00:00 kcryptd/0
173 ? 00:00:00 kcryptd/0
177 ? 00:00:00 md3_raid1
179 ? 00:00:00 md2_raid1
181 ? 00:00:00 md1_raid1
182 ? 00:00:00 kjournald
190 ? 00:00:00 kjournald
193 ? 00:00:00 kjournald
240 ? 00:00:07 sshd
496 ? 00:00:00 khubd
677 ? 00:00:00 fuel-gauge
691 ? 00:00:00 heat-monitor
697 ? 00:00:00 sleep
715 ? 00:00:00 keyring
766 ? 00:00:00 ntpd
770 ? 00:00:00 inetd
774 ? 00:00:00 mDNSResponderPo
777 ? 00:00:00 nmbd
781 ? 00:00:00 lighttpd
784 ? 00:00:10 perl
792 ? 00:00:00 php-cgi
794 ? 00:00:00 crond
796 ? 00:00:00 php-cgi
801 ? 00:00:00 php-cgi
802 ? 00:00:00 php-cgi
803 ? 00:00:00 php-cgi
804 ? 00:00:00 php-cgi
806 ? 00:00:00 php-cgi
805 ? 00:00:00 php-cgi
807 ? 00:00:00 mt-daapd
808 ? 00:00:03 mt-daapd
813 ttyS0 00:00:00 getty
814 ? 00:00:00 syslogd
815 ? 00:00:00 klogd
816 ? 00:00:00 mt-daapd
817 ? 00:00:00 mt-daapd
833 ? 00:00:00 sshd
835 pts/0 00:00:00 bash
844 pts/0 00:00:00 ps

From this list of processes, can we identify which one is the smart spindown process which has been launched by the script at boot time ?

Re: MyBook Spindown ?

ionoff 1192152360|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Do a ps aux
If will give you more details

Re: MyBook Spindown ?

bobbywise 1192226325|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

I did ps aux, and get the following:

USER PID %CPU %MEM VSZ RSS TTY STAT START TIME COMMAND
root 1 0.0 1.2 1280 372 ? Ss Oct11 0:00 init
root 2 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SN Oct11 0:02 [ksoftirqd/0]
root 3 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Oct11 0:00 [events/0]
root 4 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Oct11 0:00 [khelper]
root 5 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Oct11 0:00 [kthread]
root 9 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Oct11 0:03 [kblockd/0]
root 36 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S Oct11 0:00 [pdflush]
root 37 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S Oct11 0:00 [pdflush]
root 38 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S Oct11 0:00 [kswapd0]
root 39 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Oct11 0:00 [aio/0]
root 143 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Oct11 0:28 [ata/0]
root 146 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Oct11 0:00 [sata-endQ]
root 147 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Oct11 0:00 [scsi_eh_0]
root 152 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Oct11 0:01 [sata-endQ]
root 153 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Oct11 0:00 [scsi_eh_1]
root 172 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Oct11 0:00 [kcryptd/0]
root 173 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Oct11 0:00 [kcryptd/0]
root 177 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Oct11 0:05 [md3_raid1]
root 179 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Oct11 0:00 [md2_raid1]
root 181 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Oct11 0:00 [md1_raid1]
root 182 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Oct11 0:00 [kjournald]
root 190 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Oct11 0:00 [kjournald]
root 193 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Oct11 0:00 [kjournald]
root 240 0.0 2.5 2140 752 ? S Oct11 0:09 /usr/sbin/sshd
root 496 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Oct11 0:00 [khubd]
root 677 0.0 2.7 1544 824 ? S Oct11 0:03 /bin/bash /usr/local/wdc/fuel-gauge
root 691 0.0 0.8 560 244 ? S Oct11 0:04 /usr/local/wdc/heat-monitor
root 715 0.0 0.6 552 188 ? S Oct11 0:00 /sbin/keyring
root 766 0.0 4.7 1520 1432 ? SL Oct11 0:00 /usr/sbin/ntpd -p /var/run/ntpd.pid
root 770 0.0 1.1 1284 332 ? S Oct11 0:00 /usr/sbin/inetd
root 774 0.0 1.1 740 336 ? S Oct11 0:00 /sbin/mDNSResponderPosix -f /etc/mDNSResponderPosix -b
root 777 0.0 2.6 1976 792 ? Ss Oct11 0:02 /usr/local/samba/sbin/nmbd -D -s/var/oxsemi/smb.conf -l/v
www-data 781 0.0 1.9 2496 596 ? S Oct11 0:00 /usr/sbin/lighttpd -f /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf
www-data 784 0.0 25.9 8760 7804 ? S Oct11 0:10 perl /usr/www/lib/nasMaster.pl
www-data 792 0.0 5.6 4744 1696 ? Ss Oct11 0:00 /usr/local/bin/php-cgi
root 794 0.0 1.0 1276 324 ? S Oct11 0:00 /usr/sbin/crond -c /etc/crontabs
www-data 796 0.0 5.6 4744 1696 ? Ss Oct11 0:00 /usr/local/bin/php-cgi
www-data 801 0.0 5.6 4744 1696 ? Ss Oct11 0:00 /usr/local/bin/php-cgi
www-data 802 0.0 5.6 4744 1696 ? Ss Oct11 0:00 /usr/local/bin/php-cgi
www-data 803 0.0 3.0 4744 928 ? S Oct11 0:00 /usr/local/bin/php-cgi
www-data 804 0.0 3.0 4744 928 ? S Oct11 0:00 /usr/local/bin/php-cgi
www-data 806 0.0 3.0 4744 928 ? S Oct11 0:00 /usr/local/bin/php-cgi
www-data 805 0.0 3.0 4744 928 ? S Oct11 0:00 /usr/local/bin/php-cgi
root 807 0.0 2.0 1724 616 ? S Oct11 0:00 /usr/local/sbin/mt-daapd -c /etc/mt-daapd.conf
root 808 0.0 15.3 5440 4600 ? S Oct11 0:03 /usr/local/sbin/mt-daapd -c /etc/mt-daapd.conf
root 813 0.0 1.2 1276 364 ttyS0 Ss+ Oct11 0:00 /sbin/getty -L ttyS0 115200 vt100
root 814 0.0 1.2 1272 376 ? Ss Oct11 0:00 /sbin/syslogd -n -m 0
root 815 0.0 1.2 1272 364 ? Ss Oct11 0:00 /sbin/klogd -n
root 816 0.0 15.3 5440 4600 ? S Oct11 0:00 /usr/local/sbin/mt-daapd -c /etc/mt-daapd.conf
root 817 0.0 15.3 5440 4600 ? S Oct11 0:00 /usr/local/sbin/mt-daapd -c /etc/mt-daapd.conf
root 8285 0.0 7.0 4552 2108 ? Ss 23:42 0:00 smbd -s/var/oxsemi/smb.conf -l/var/log -d0
root 8335 0.0 0.7 564 220 ? S 23:52 0:00 sleep 300
root 8343 0.8 4.0 4744 1212 ? Ss 23:54 0:00 /usr/sbin/sshd: root@pts/0
root 8346 0.3 3.4 1604 1036 pts/0 Ss+ 23:54 0:00 -bash
root 8358 0.0 1.3 1400 412 pts/0 R+ 23:55 0:00 ps aux

It seems like my /etc/init.d/smart_spindown.sh script has not started the /usr/sbin/smart_spindown

Did people change the $DISK value in /usr/sbin/smart_spindown from hda to md3 ?

Re: MyBook Spindown ?

Freshman 1192302599|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Should not $DISK be 'sda'?

Re: MyBook Spindown ?

bobbywise 1192310753|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

yes, I had a look at the other WDA scripts, and the two disks are sda and sdb

I have created two files in /usr/sbin called smart_spindown_sda and smart_spindown_sdb, where $DISK=sda and $DISK=sdb, respectively.

Then I have created the two startup scripts in /etc/initi.d which call the two files in smart_spindown_sda and smart_spindown_sdb /usr/sbin.

However, I still see no evidence of them running as processes when I run ps aux….

Re: MyBook Spindown ?

kinji 1192174198|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

@kyyhkynenkyyhkynen : I have left my mybook during night and the fan was silent and the disk didn't spinup without reason. So what make you think that the fuel-gauge and heat-monitor make them spinup from time to time ? (I'm using the same hardware configuration !)

Re: MyBook Spindown ?

kyyhkynen 1192430073|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

@kinji:

If yours works fine without disabling any additional services, good for you :)
This probably depends on how you use your device; what services you run on it, how much you use ssh etc. For some people, just running smart_spindown will be enough to keep the device silent, for others additional tweaks may be needed.

Spinups mostly occur because the files accessed aren't in the read/write cache in RAM, and because the MBWE doesn't have much RAM, spinups tend to occur often when lots of services are used concurrently.

A way to monitor which programs access disk:

First disable syslogd and klogd by commenting them out in /etc/inittab ( the two lines starting ::respawn:/sbin/syslogd and ::respawn:/sbin/klogd ) and rebooting. This must be done to prevent a feedback loop.

echo 1 > /proc/sys/vm/block_dump
This causes the system to log every disk access to diagnostic messages.
The messages can then be viewed using the command dmesg.

Set block_dump to 1, leave the device running for a good while without accessing it (thus causing disk access), then see which programs have been causing reads and writes.
Remember to set block_dump to 0 afterwards by
echo 0 > /proc/sys/vm/block_dump

Remember, the above setting causes every disk access to be logged, so it may not be a good idea to read/write large amounts of data when using it :)

Re: MyBook Spindown ?

Zium 1192655261|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Well, after i setup the script, i thought it was fine.
While checking more, it seems that the disk spin up 3 times an hour.. too much for me.

So, even if you think it never spins up, better to check again.
I used to register sound made by Mybook with my putter and watch later how was the sound, so I can see when it really spins up and down.

I'll go on and let you know (next step will be to disable klog and syslog)

Re: MyBook Spindown ?

kyyhkynen 1192695974|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Ok, I wrote a quick guide; making WD MyBook World Edition cool and quiet

The guide is written in a hurry so it might contain errors. Use with caution.
Also, if somebody with a single disk MBWE could test if the scripts actually work with it, it would be appreciated :)

Any feedback would be appreciated also.

edit: added the link also to the hacks and howto's page

last edited on 1192696273|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover by kyyhkynen + show more

Re: MyBook Spindown ?

Zium 1192739339|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Thank you, i'm looking to it.
I don't see the use of /etc/init.d/S15wdc-heat-monitor on MBWEI since there's no fan in it.
Does this script do something else than fan control ?

After test, Mybook still wakes up at least once an hour.
What do you think of this ? Isn't it too many ?

I don't want to have a setup where spindown is worse than disk always up…

last edited on 1192740945|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover by Zium + show more

Re: MyBook Spindown ?

bobbywise 1192746127|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hi kyyhkyen,

I followed your guide, and everything seems to be working fine. However, when I followed your steps to lower the disk activity (e.g. the mods to /etc/crontabs/root , /etc/inittab, /etc/ntp.conf ) I now have a bunch of defuct (zombie) processes.

[root@SAN ~]# ps -ef | grep defunct | more
root 236 1 0 00:07 ? 00:00:00 [sshd] <defunct>
root 681 1 0 00:07 ttyS0 00:00:00 [S20wdc-fan-test] <defunct>
root 746 1 0 00:08 ? 00:00:00 [ntpd] <defunct>
root 750 1 0 00:08 ? 00:00:00 [inetd] <defunct>
root 754 1 0 00:08 ? 00:00:00 [mDNSResponderPo] <defunct>
www-data 761 1 0 00:08 ? 00:00:00 [lighttpd] <defunct>
root 775 1 0 00:08 ? 00:00:00 [crond] <defunct>
root 789 1 0 00:08 ? 00:00:00 [start-stop-daem] <defunct>
root 794 1 0 00:08 ? 00:00:00 [start-stop-daem] <defunct>
root 802 1 0 00:08 ? 00:00:00 [grep] <defunct>
root 822 1 0 00:08 ? 00:00:00 [smartctl] <defunct>
root 905 1 0 00:08 ? 00:00:00 [cat] <defunct>
root 908 1 0 00:08 ? 00:00:00 [cat] <defunct>
root 1539 858 0 00:15 pts/0 00:00:00 grep defunct

I have tried killing the parent process, but they don't go away. They also come back after boot.

What is even more strange, is that I put the files (e.g. /etc/crontabs/root , /etc/inittab, /etc/ntp.conf ) that I modded back to the way they originally were. But still the same processes are defunct after rebooting.

What is also interesting is if I move the offending start file out of /etc/init.d/ (e.g. ntp.sh), then reboot, the move it back to /etc/inti.d and then start it, it does not spawn a zombie process.

It seems that the mods to /etc/crontabs/root , /etc/inittab, /etc/ntp.conf (although now reverted back to thier original state) have done something to some processes that get started at boot time.

Any ideas …. ?

Re: MyBook Spindown ?

kyyhkynen 1192771803|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

@Zium:

for MBWEI, the replacement temperature monitoring script isn't very useful… you can use it only to log your drive temperature.
Spinning up once an hour is a bit too often… you might want to figure out what's causing the spin up.
On the other hand, these drives' specs say that they should last (at least) 50000 spinups, which is, at the rate of one spin up per hour, ~5.7 years in time…:)

@bobbywise:

I have no clue whatsoever of what could be causing your zombie processes…
Which MBWE do you have? I or II?
What is your firmware version?
Have you made any other changes in your system?

Re: MyBook Spindown ?

ArTi 1192773499|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

can u post the details to make the ramdisk ?

all the log arent working without it for me cos your script log all on it

also can u give more details to build the .html graph with the log files

thanks

Re: MyBook Spindown ?