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WD20EARS and idle timer

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Diod631

n00b
Joined
Feb 2, 2011
Messages
26
Hey, I'm setting up a fileserver with FreeBSD using ZFS as the filesystem and I need some advice on what value to use for the idle timer (the one that puts the drive in standby after x seconds) on my WD20EARS disks.

I have 2 different models of the WD20EARS disks:
WD20EARS-00MVWB0 which has the timer at 8 seconds as the default setting
WD20EARS-60MVWB0 which has the timer disabled as the default setting

Now I know that the 8 seconds isn't good for my drives at all, but I'm not really sure what to choose: putting the timer at 5 minutes (300 seconds is the max) or disabling it altogether. Which choice will maximize the lifespan of my drives?
 
Yeah, I was gonna do the same at first, but today I got this WD20EARS-60MVWB0 and the wdidle3 tool reported the drive has its timer disabled. So I'm wondering what the pro's and con's are of the two choices.

If the drive doesn't go in standby mode at all when the timer is disabled, then I guess it would indeed be better to just put it at 300. But if FreeBSD or ZFS makes the drives go in standby then I guess it might be better to disable the timer on the drive.

EDIT: I'll just go with the 5 minute timer instead of disabling it altogether. Disabling it altogether doesn't seem very healthy for the drive in the long run.
 
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On all of the WDEADS drives I have I attempted to disable the timer. Most of them allowed me to do this, some allowed me to set it to only 30s. Its hard to say which is worse - the wear and tear of having it spin up and down every 30s, or of it never spinning down at all..
 
Yeah, that's what I was wondering.
I seem to be able to disable the timer on every drive though, but that's probably because I've got the EARS instead of the EADS (and perhaps it's just a newer version of the model too).

I think setting the timer at its maximum allowed number of seconds is probably a safe choice. Never spinning down probably wears down the motor too much.
 
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