Stupid Linkstation Question

[Michaelwagner]

I feel awfully thick, but I have searched this forum and the Buffalo docs and the buffalo web site and I can't find it.

I could have sworn that linkstations could spin down their disk when it hadn't been used for a while.

But for the life of me I can't find out how.

I found a place where the whole linkstation could be powered down and back up at certain times of day, but that's not what I"m looking for.

Anyone able to help?

[aubuti]

IIRC, the stock firmware does not have the feature you're looking for. After hacking a LinkStation, in theory it can be accomplished via hdparm or similar utility, provided the LS is sufficiently inactive (e.g., not serving up the current time to a "switched off" SB).

[Michaelwagner]

Does serving up the time cause disk activity?

[Michaelwagner]

So I was planning on buying 2 of these gigabit linkstations, since I can actually get them in Toronto, unlike some of the other options discussed in this forum. And at a half ways decent price. One for my office, to be used as a file server, and one for my home, to be used as at least a file server and perhaps a Slimserver.

I imagined I'd have to flash the home one, but wanted to keep the work one stock.

But even the work one has 2 days every week where no one touches the hard disk. So even the work one I need to flash?

I know this isn't really a slimserver question but it's kind of peripherally related. If I buy one for Slimserver use and learn how it works, etc, it's easier on my small number of remaining brain cells if I have the same one at work and not some totally different NAS with a totally different set of quirks and quarks.

[dborn]

The difficult part is getting a working telnet on the box. Once you have that, yes it's easy to modify one of the scripts with the hdparm in it. I find that the stock os accesses the disk too often on its own to make the spindown feature really useful! I wound up doing the exact opposite!, I modified the hdparm to keep the disk always spinning. I figure even with the disk spinning 24/7, I should be able to get a good 10 years of of the HDD, way longer than I'll want to use the linkstation for sure!

Daniel