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Questions tagged [hdparm]

A command line program to set and view parameters and test performance of storage devices.

hdparm is a command line interface to various kernel interfaces supported by the Linux SATA/PATA/SAS "libata" subsystem and the older IDE driver subsystem.

Warning: Using hdparm incorrectly can cause major data corruption and data loss.

In Ubuntu, executing hdparm requires root permission, so it should normally be run with sudo.

More information:

  • hdparm on Ubuntu Manpages
  • ATA Secure Erase on ata Wiki (how to use the hdparm command to issue a Secure Erase ATA instruction to a target storage device)
  • DMA on Ubuntu Community Help Wiki (some information about hdparm related to DMA or Direct Memory Access)
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secure erase with hdparm - can still see file content

I downloaded latest stable Ubuntu (ubuntu-16.04.3-desktop-amd64.iso image that I double checked for authenticity) and used it to boot my new Win10 system which I wanted to wipe. I followed the instructions, like those…
Justin
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What is so dangerous about --trim-sector-ranges?

I have an SSD that I want to TRIM before installing Ubuntu on it. It has been suggested to me, that I leave some unpartitioned space, such that the wear leveling will have free blocks to work with. However I understand that because the drive has…
kasperd
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Equivalent of hdparm -t for home directory?

I want to test the read speed on an Ubuntu Server hard drive like one would do with hdparm -t, but I need to automatically this on multiple machines where I don't know beforehand what dev the main HDD is, so I can't just hdparm -t /dev/sda. I would…
Jim
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My pc says it reads 4633MB/s from SSD drive cache over SATA 6Gb/s, how is that possible?

I got this number using: jdoe@jdoe:~$ sudo hdparm -tT /dev/sda /dev/sda: Timing cached reads: 9260 MB in 2.00 seconds = 4633.30 MB/sec Timing buffered disk reads: 978 MB in 3.00 seconds = 325.77 MB/sec The SSD is a Samsung 850EVO with SATA…
Mads Skjern
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ATA Secure Erase - password set - not locked

Today I tried to wipe my ssd using ATA Secure Erase (with an Ubuntu live sytem). I basically followed the description here: What is the recommended way to empty a SSD? However, I think I made a mistake during the password setting. Setting the…
Max1
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How to automaticaly power off hdd

I have laptop with two hard drives. First is SSD (with system) and the second is HDD with my private files. So I would like to setup to automatically power off of disk after 4 minutes. I set hdparm -S 48. It didn't work. So I set hdparm -B. If I set…
Dave
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What's the difference between hdparm APM and spindown?

When I check hdparm man page, I see two options which looks similar to reduce power usage by hard drive. One is -B which sets APM (Advanced Power Management) and other one is -S which is the standby (spindown) timeout for the drive. What exactly is…
mokazemi
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hdparm.conf has no effect in 20.04

I recently did a clean install of 20.04 on my server. In 18.04, I could spin down my mechanical drive with this line in hdparm.conf: /dev/sda { spindown_time = 25 } Now, the config file doesn't appear to have any effect. I can still set the…
woodcarver
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gnome-disk-utility or hdparm to spin down hdd permanently → issues

I used to use this hdparm -Y /dev/sda under KDE to spin down hdd disk but this stopped to work as disk started to spin up by itself, I couldn't find a way to correct this by using other hdparm parameters and afrer a wide research found that still…
PawełG
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How to wipe existing SSD prior to fresh Ubuntu install?

I'm running Ubuntu Server 16.04 LTS on a system with a single drive, an SSD. When 18.04 releases in April, I intend to do a fresh install using a USB installer. I'd like to safely wipe the SSD prior to doing so, but am unfamiliar with how to do so…
Jamie S
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hdparm spin down time not persisting between reboots

If enter the following commands on the command line it works as expected and spins down in the specified time. sudo hdparm -S 120 /dev/sda sudo hdparm -S 120 /dev/sdb Putting this in /etc/hdparm.conf does nothing however. The disks just stay spun…
Geo R
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HDPARM - Secure erase SSD over pxe boot

I have been using hdparm fine for ssd's by booting a live debian or ubuntu from usb. Even if the device is frozen, sleeping the computer works fine because the os was loaded from usb. But what if i am pxe grub booting ubuntu or debian, and i need to…
philthy
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Is there a way to make a hdparm setting "stick" over boots AND suspend/resumes?

I have a system here where I set a an idle (low-power) timeout for one hard-drive, as it is not used that much. For this, I have the command hdparm -S6 /dev/sdc in /etc/rc.local. However, I've found that this works well over boots, but when I send…
isync
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secure erase returns input/output error

I've already given a detailed description of my predicament in my previous question. Now I've got this: sudo hdparm --user-master u --security-erase my_password /dev/sda returns: security_password: "my_password" /dev/sda: Issuing…
m.a.a.
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Problems restoring damaged sectors on hdd

I have some problems with my laptop hdd, due to a lack of electricity during a critical update. Since then, I have been able to reboot with little to no further issues, but recently, possibly due to another major update or something worsening with…
Ajna
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