[TSullivan]

Figured I would make a sticky about this, since we have had a number of drives in-house that were exhibiting excessive head parking. This includes the 750GB Scorpio Blue (head parked every 4 seconds), Caviar Green 2TB (8 sec), and the Caviar Green 3TB (8 sec). On each of these drives support pages, Western Digital makes no mention of a utility that can correct this. Thankfully though, they do make one, and its compatible. I just spent the last 15 minutes going through about 6 drives and disabling the IDLE3 timer completely. In a NAS we are testing, the Caviar Green 2TB models were racking up 500-1000 load cycles a day.

First Step

http://support.wdc.c...pid=609&sid=113

Download WDIDLE3

It didn't mention the drives I was working on being compatible, but it was.

Second Step

Make a bootable USB Key. The guide that was super simple for me to follow was here:

http://www.bay-wolf....usbmemstick.htm

Third Step
Now to actually use the program, follow the instructions on making the bootable drive, and once it is done you should have a fairly large partition to copy files onto. Grab the WDIDLE3.exe and copy it on over.

Final Step

Now for simplicity, I liked connecting only one drive at a time to my computer. The system should boot directly into the DOS prompt from that key you just made.

Type "WDIDLE.exe /R"

This will give you a readout of the drive model and serial number, as well as the current timer if the drive is supported. You can adjust the idle time, but if you are googling around enough to find this post, chances are you want nothing of it.

Type "WDIDLE.exe /D"

This will completely disable the timer. Verify the timer is disabled by typing "WDIDLE.exe /R", and if it still lists disabled, power off the system, or if you have other drives, disconnect the current drive and plug in another.

Hope this helps you guys out.

Also WD also offers a utility to adjust the spinup time on supported drives. It is linked below and follows the same steps:

http://support.wdc.c...sid=114&lang=en

[fjf]

There have been a number of discussions about this (i.e. http://www.silentpcr...php?f=7&t=51401). The main point is that there is no agreement about the parking feature becoming a problem. WD argues that there are no drive failures because of it and that the number of cycles is essentially harmless. Maybe people worry too much?.

TSullivan, on 22 November 2010 - 12:49 AM, said:

Figured I would make a sticky about this, since we have had a number of drives in-house that were exhibiting excessive head parking. This includes the 750GB Scorpio Blue (head parked every 4 seconds), Caviar Green 2TB (8 sec), and the Caviar Green 3TB (8 sec). On each of these drives support pages, Western Digital makes no mention of a utility that can correct this. Thankfully though, they do make one, and its compatible. I just spent the last 15 minutes going through about 6 drives and disabling the IDLE3 timer completely. In a NAS we are testing, the Caviar Green 2TB models were racking up 500-1000 load cycles a day.

First Step

http://support.wdc.c...pid=609&sid=113

Download WDIDLE3

It didn't mention the drives I was working on being compatible, but it was.

Second Step

Make a bootable USB Key. The guide that was super simple for me to follow was here:

http://www.bay-wolf....usbmemstick.htm

Third Step
Now to actually use the program, follow the instructions on making the bootable drive, and once it is done you should have a fairly large partition to copy files onto. Grab the WDIDLE3.exe and copy it on over.

Final Step

Now for simplicity, I liked connecting only one drive at a time to my computer. The system should boot directly into the DOS prompt from that key you just made.

Type "WDIDLE.exe /R"

This will give you a readout of the drive model and serial number, as well as the current timer if the drive is supported. You can adjust the idle time, but if you are googling around enough to find this post, chances are you want nothing of it.

Type "WDIDLE.exe /D"

This will completely disable the timer. Verify the timer is disabled by typing "WDIDLE.exe /R", and if it still lists disabled, power off the system, or if you have other drives, disconnect the current drive and plug in another.

Hope this helps you guys out.

Also WD also offers a utility to adjust the spinup time on supported drives. It is linked below and follows the same steps:

http://support.wdc.c...sid=114&lang=en

[TSullivan]

fjf, on 22 November 2010 - 08:02 AM, said:

There have been a number of discussions about this (i.e. http://www.silentpcr...php?f=7&t=51401). The main point is that there is no agreement about the parking feature becoming a problem. WD argues that there are no drive failures because of it and that the number of cycles is essentially harmless. Maybe people worry too much?.

Well in the case of the 750GB Scorpio, it made the drive lag about 2-3 seconds after each head park before it could be used again. The Caviar Green 2TB drives were just plain annoying. So much clicking from the unloading feature. That is finally gone now

[Iqbal]

TSullivan, on 22 November 2010 - 12:49 AM, said:

Figured I would make a sticky about this, since we have had a number of drives in-house that were exhibiting excessive head parking. This includes the 750GB Scorpio Blue (head parked every 4 seconds), Caviar Green 2TB (8 sec), and the Caviar Green 3TB (8 sec). On each of these drives support pages, Western Digital makes no mention of a utility that can correct this. Thankfully though, they do make one, and its compatible. I just spent the last 15 minutes going through about 6 drives and disabling the IDLE3 timer completely. In a NAS we are testing, the Caviar Green 2TB models were racking up 500-1000 load cycles a day.

First Step

http://support.wdc.c...pid=609&sid=113

Download WDIDLE3

It didn't mention the drives I was working on being compatible, but it was.

Second Step

Make a bootable USB Key. The guide that was super simple for me to follow was here:

http://www.bay-wolf....usbmemstick.htm

Third Step
Now to actually use the program, follow the instructions on making the bootable drive, and once it is done you should have a fairly large partition to copy files onto. Grab the WDIDLE3.exe and copy it on over.

Final Step

Now for simplicity, I liked connecting only one drive at a time to my computer. The system should boot directly into the DOS prompt from that key you just made.

Type "WDIDLE.exe /R"

This will give you a readout of the drive model and serial number, as well as the current timer if the drive is supported. You can adjust the idle time, but if you are googling around enough to find this post, chances are you want nothing of it.

Type "WDIDLE.exe /D"

This will completely disable the timer. Verify the timer is disabled by typing "WDIDLE.exe /R", and if it still lists disabled, power off the system, or if you have other drives, disconnect the current drive and plug in another.

Hope this helps you guys out.

Also WD also offers a utility to adjust the spinup time on supported drives. It is linked below and follows the same steps:

http://support.wdc.c...sid=114&lang=en

Would this same method work with the WD20EARX?

[boshk]

fjf, on 22 November 2010 - 08:02 AM, said:

There have been a number of discussions about this (i.e. http://www.silentpcr...php?f=7&t=51401). The main point is that there is no agreement about the parking feature becoming a problem. WD argues that there are no drive failures because of it and that the number of cycles is essentially harmless. Maybe people worry too much?.

well, when i was attempting to upgrade my tivo series 3 to a new WD20EARX, my tivo would hang up on the powering up screen and never get past it. after disabling wdidle, the tivo booted up like a champ. so i disagree that it causes problems.

Iqbal, on 21 November 2012 - 10:25 PM, said:

Would this same method work with the WD20EARX?

yes. i just did it.

[[ETA]MrSpadge]

boshk, on 10 January 2013 - 09:54 PM, said:

so i disagree that it causes problems.

You mean "so i disagree that it causes no problems."?

MrS