linux-hero.com— A recent bug report for Ubuntu Linux has confirmed that both the Feisty and Gutsy versions of Ubuntu cause some unnecessary wear and tear on a hard drive.
Oct 24, 2007View in Crawl 4
OK, the author has posted a response to the article. This is -not- a bug in Ubuntu - I repeat, NOT a bug. This is an issue with the BIOS settings in laptops and is the fault of the manufacturers, not of Linux. The fix provided fixed it for me (though it was very mild on my computer), forcing Linux to override the incorrect behavior of the BIOS.
I’m a big fan of Ubuntu. I don’t want to see Ubuntu hurt because it’s not Ubuntu who is setting these aggressive power management defaults.Some background of the problem :If your harddrive spins down and spins up again your Load_Cycle_Count increases by one. If your harddrive head parks and unparks again your Load_Cycle_Count increases by one. You don’t want your Load_Cycle_Count to increase too fast.Harddrive manufacturers seem to claim most harddrives can handle at least 600.000 Load_Cycles but this is probably an average under ideal circumstances. My harddrive started to die slowly when at a Load_Cycle_Count of 200.000.Ubuntu is NOT causing aggressive power management. The following things might instead cause aggressive power management settings :* your (laptop) harddrive firmware might have aggressive power management defaults (operating system independent)* your (laptop) BIOS might set your harddrive to use aggressive power management (operating system independent)* you might have enabled laptop-mode in /etc/default/acpi-support (disabled by default) which will set your harddrive to use aggressive power managementThese aggressive power management settings are set by your BIOS or harddrive firmware. Windows and/or Mac OS X might be overriding these settings which might make Ubuntu look bad if Ubuntu doesn't override these settings.Read here what Matthew Garret an experienced and well known Ubuntu Developer has said about this problem :<a class="user" href="http://www.advogato.org/person/mjg59/diary/82.html">http://www.advogato.org/person/mjg59/diary/82.html</a>for more information see :<a class="user" href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695">https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-sup ...</a><a class="user" href="http://ubuntudemon.wordpress.com/2007/10/30/ubuntu-is-not-causing-aggressive-power-management">http://ubuntudemon.wordpress.com/2007/10/30/ubuntu ...</a>
gawtmilkOct 25, 2007
This bug was reported on the 9th of September, 2006. More than a year ago.
kowejaOct 26, 2007
Considering how the Ubuntu logo is his icon, I say it's safe to assume that he's at least somewhat familiar with Ubuntu and its release cycle.
Closed AccountOct 26, 2007
OK, the author has posted a response to the article. This is -not- a bug in Ubuntu - I repeat, NOT a bug. This is an issue with the BIOS settings in laptops and is the fault of the manufacturers, not of Linux. The fix provided fixed it for me (though it was very mild on my computer), forcing Linux to override the incorrect behavior of the BIOS.
ubuntudemonOct 31, 2007
I’m a big fan of Ubuntu. I don’t want to see Ubuntu hurt because it’s not Ubuntu who is setting these aggressive power management defaults.Some background of the problem :If your harddrive spins down and spins up again your Load_Cycle_Count increases by one. If your harddrive head parks and unparks again your Load_Cycle_Count increases by one. You don’t want your Load_Cycle_Count to increase too fast.Harddrive manufacturers seem to claim most harddrives can handle at least 600.000 Load_Cycles but this is probably an average under ideal circumstances. My harddrive started to die slowly when at a Load_Cycle_Count of 200.000.Ubuntu is NOT causing aggressive power management. The following things might instead cause aggressive power management settings :* your (laptop) harddrive firmware might have aggressive power management defaults (operating system independent)* your (laptop) BIOS might set your harddrive to use aggressive power management (operating system independent)* you might have enabled laptop-mode in /etc/default/acpi-support (disabled by default) which will set your harddrive to use aggressive power managementThese aggressive power management settings are set by your BIOS or harddrive firmware. Windows and/or Mac OS X might be overriding these settings which might make Ubuntu look bad if Ubuntu doesn't override these settings.Read here what Matthew Garret an experienced and well known Ubuntu Developer has said about this problem :<a class="user" href="http://www.advogato.org/person/mjg59/diary/82.html">http://www.advogato.org/person/mjg59/diary/82.html</a>for more information see :<a class="user" href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695">https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-sup ...</a><a class="user" href="http://ubuntudemon.wordpress.com/2007/10/30/ubuntu-is-not-causing-aggressive-power-management">http://ubuntudemon.wordpress.com/2007/10/30/ubuntu ...</a>
int19hNov 10, 2007
git(the vcs/built test system)
wtfpwned98Nov 14, 2007
Hitachi actually has a way of protecting against this problem...<a class="user" href="http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/techdocs/9076679E3EE4003E86256FAB005825FB/$file/LoadUnload_white_paper_FINAL.pdf">http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/techdoc ...</a>
wtfpwned98Nov 14, 2007
I've got you beat: 1,267,671No clicking though. Hmmm.
honestabeDec 15, 2008
It's been more than two years since this bug was reported and it still hasn't been fixed.Windows > Linux, yet again.