Samsung HM160JI

[ShaneWard]

Got this drive that spins up okay, gets recognized by the system and is registered in systems properties as the correct serial number and such, but it just spins down after 5 to 6 seconds. I have not read any data or no drive is loaded at the moment. I just done a quick look on this drive. Anyone seen this spindown problem before and knows of a way to keep it running?

Many thanks
Shane

[shahij]

do u see the drive READY?

[ShaneWard]

Will do, have to connect the adapter to the pins, they are of different size so will have to make something. However, if the heads are damaged I would have thought the drive would not be identified in system properties. Also I don't hear any unusual sounds.

[shahij]

If there is no clicking as stated, update the info if the drive comes to READY or not... my next ques or answer is depending on this info...

[ShaneWard]

Not sure if the drive goes to ready or not, but here is the Putty log or commands it throws out at me when I switch the thing on.

=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~= PuTTY log 2014.01.10 14:36:59 =~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=
 1.5G Limited
SPW 1.5G Link Ok! 
IS=+00004
Sp OK
H: +00000
Load
SK C: 000005C7
ENG>SRV>
SvoTbl Loaded
BD
ENG>Sb

Is there any commands I can enter to bring up more information to help you lot. I understand each manufacturer has different commands within terminal.

Shane

[BlackST]

Are you using the drive without the data cable on

OR

Was the drive a pull from DVR or STB?

OR

Does the drive carry any logo or has a custom label / code ?

I have a certain feeling...

[ShaneWard]

I have a USB/SATA bridge connected to the drive to power it. As for the drives history, I am not too sure. I assume it was in a laptop or something. Here is more info on the drive provided by the image.

Here is more terminal log of more commands I searched and entered to see what would happen.

=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~= PuTTY log 2014.01.10 16:45:46 =~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=
 1.5G Limited
SPW 1.5G Link Ok! 
IS=+00002
Sp OK
H: +00000
Load
SK C: 000005D9
ENG>SRV>
SvoTbl Loaded
BD
ENG>DSSD
E:0001 - Inv Cmd
ENG>Sb

ENG>
*** Break at 0x99E8 [from User]
99E8: D4B8 FC02
DBG>DR
R:00 99E8 0000 0000 E2FC 0000 0004 0006 0000
R:08 0018 0006 4C08 0006 4C07 0000 4000 0000
R:10 0018 0000 250B FAF0 250A 0000 0000 470A
R:18 0000 0809 03E0 3040 FF00 0000 A118 0000
R:20 0082 03E0 1000 0000 0000 0000 0000
DBG>GO
ENG>XT
 1.5G Limited
SPW 1.5G Link Ok! 
IS=+00003
Sp OK
H: +00000
Load
SK C: 000005D2
ENG>SRV>
SvoTbl Loaded
BD
ENG>Sb

ENG>RT
 1.5G Limited
SPW 1.5G Link Ok! 
IS=+00005
IS=+00004
Sp OK
H: +00000
Load
SK C: 000005F1
ENG>SRV>
SvoTbl Loaded
BD
ENG>Sb

ENG>LB
E:0001 - Inv Cmd
ENG>
*** Break at 0x99E5 [from User]
99E5: 88E2 000B
DBG>LB
E:0001 - Inv Cmd
DBG>GO
ENG>RT
 1.5G Limited
SPW 1.5G Link Ok! 
IS=+00001
Sp OK
H: +00000
Load
SK C: 000005EB
ENG>SRV>
SvoTbl Loaded
BD
ENG>Sb

ENG>SD
E:0003 - Req Prm
ENG>LB
E:0001 - Inv Cmd
ENG>HE
DC MC BT PK DM MM SD SM VU TO CC EP EC CE SV XN
XW XR XS XC XF XH XT XD HE RT D DP DB DW DF DI
M MD MB MW MP MI FB FW SB CA RC BI DN DU LW LP
LD FI BD BS BC GO R2 T2 SS NS DA DR MR
ENG>LB
E:0001 - Inv Cmd
ENG>LM
E:0001 - Inv Cmd
ENG>RT
 1.5G Limited
SPW 1.5G Link Ok! 
IS=+00001
Sp OK
H: +00000
Load
SK C: 000005BB
ENG>SRV>
SvoTbl Loaded
BD
ENG>LT
E:0001 - Inv Cmd
ENG>Sb

ENG>DF
E:0003 - Req Prm
ENG> DF 61 4
F:000061 4D4F 4445 4C5F 4944
ENG>LB
E:0001 - Inv Cmd
ENG>ïûï»9›·ÿæΘ3
E:0001 - Inv Cmd
ENG>VMmS1 00000003
E:0001 - Inv Cmd
ENG>LD
E:0003 - Req Prm
ENG>LT
E:0001 - Inv Cmd
ENG>LL
E:0001 - Inv Cmd
ENG>DV
E:0001 - Inv Cmd
ENG>

[fzabkar]

Could this behaviour be due to an aggressive APM setting?

Does the drive spin up again if you access it via SATA?

[ShaneWard]

Ummmm, it does spin up when connected to sata connection. It formats fine and seems to work okay, but stops spinning after 5 seconds of inactivity. I think a setting has been tweaked too tightly somewhere, anywhere to change the spin down time?

[fzabkar]

WD has a tool called WDIDLE3 that changes the APM settings for its drives, but it uses WD's VSCs so it can't be used for other makes of HDD. The changes are nonvolatile and appear to be applied to MOD 02.

Alternatively, you could use an application such as hdparm or CrystalDiskInfo. These APM changes are volatile, so you need some way to automate the change at at each boot.

http://forums.seagate.com/t5/Laptop-HDD ... m-p/132218

Still another way is to use an application such as quietHDD.

https://sites.google.com/site/quiethdd/

"This little tool just sits in the sys-tray and will recognize when the system wakes up from suspend or hibernate and disable the drives APM feature. That's all."

Here is a registry modification that almost works, but the original AAM/APM settings are restored after returning from standby mode:

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/140404- ... -registry/

[BlackST]

Are you using the drive without the data cable on

OR

Was the drive a pull from DVR or STB?

OR

Does the drive carry any logo or has a custom label / code ?

I have a certain feeling...

[ShaneWard]

So how did the setting get like that in the first place and is there a way through terminal to reset the original settings?

[fzabkar]

No doubt it's a factory setting. Some Seagate and WD drives are shipped with APM timeouts as low as 8 seconds.

[ShaneWard]

I see, I have checked with more software and it says it has APM enabled and set on low power consumption with standby. Other than that the drive looks in good health. But I can't imagine the drive starting and stopping all the time doing it any good.

If anyone has any ideas on what can be done, feel free to let me know and I will experiment

Shane

[fzabkar]

I wonder if "Sb" and/or "SB" refer to "standby" ...

[ShaneWard]

Does MHDD have the function to change the standby settings? I downloaded the program, will play around later with it.

As for the SB command, I think there is something inside the system area, just need to find the file or place its hiding and use terminal to download that chunk, edit the values and upload it. Or simply get the drive to change the settings directly. There must be a way.

Shane

[fzabkar]

Try these tools:

http://malthus.zapto.org/viewtopic.php?f=129&t=81&p=94
http://malthus.zapto.org/viewtopic.php? ... 233&p=1996

[ShaneWard]

Been playing around with the SB command in terminal. It does do something. I tried entering some values found on this form for APM settings and got some results. not good though. Still don't know how to use the command. When I enter SB 254 Which should be the highest setting it almost messed up the drive. It resets, clicks. Powering it down for one min seems to restore it back to its original state. Using SB 255 seems to do nothing which should disable APM.

I just need to view the value of SB to get some idea on how it works.

[fzabkar]

I would think that the value of any parameter would be in hex.

Does "SB" on its own produce any output?

[ShaneWard]

No, it says "E:0003 - Req Prm"