Ubuntu
hdparm package

editing /etc/hdparm.conf

Asked by Rosika Schreck on 2021-03-03

Hi altogether,

lately I´ve installed Linux/Lubuntu 20.04.2 LTS as a clean/fresh install.
All went well but I´ve encountered a problem referring to my (external) HDD. This is a "Western Digital Technologies, Inc. Elements 25A2" and this is where my system is installed, i.e. I run my Lubuntu from there.

As I want to avoid the much too frequent writing actions to the HDD (also known as the WD_IntellPark problem) I used to solve the problem that way:

I edited /etc/hdparm.conf by first establishing

ls -l /dev/disk/by-*/* | grep 'sd.$' | grep sdb # sdb currently my HDD
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Mär 3 12:22 /dev/disk/by-id/usb-WD_Elements_25A2_57584C314135364855375855-0:0 -> ../../sdb

and then as a second step: at the end of /etc/hdparm.conf:

/dev/disk/by-id/usb-WD_Elements_25A2_57584C314135364855375855-0:0 {
                         apm = 254
                 # apm_battery = 254
                 # spindown_time = 0
                 }

This procedure worked well in bionic but now in focal this entry keeps being ignored and after each reboot the APM value is set to 128 once again (instead of 254).

Can anybody help me solve this issue?

Thanks a lot in advance.
Many greetings.
Rosika