http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/ Engadget Comments for http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/Dec 7th 2007 2:53PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/
Still, their e-mail response means I'll probably be looking elsewhere whenever it comes time to replace this drive. ]]>Dec 7th 2007 7:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/Dec 7th 2007 10:42PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/hmm]]>Dec 7th 2007 3:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://alienghic.livejournal.com/382903.html (Endless thanks to Diane Trout)
You need to turn off the STANDBY mode with sdparm:

sdparm --clear STANDBY -6 /dev/sdc
if it's already stopped, you have to start it before telling it to clear:
sdparm --command=start /dev/sdd
]]>Dec 7th 2007 2:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/Dec 7th 2007 2:59PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/Dec 7th 2007 3:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/Dec 7th 2007 3:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/
-s-

]]>Dec 7th 2007 3:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/>>>>Buy another brand. Money talks, you know.

Yeah mine is always saying "good-bye"

ReiG]]>Dec 7th 2007 4:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/Dec 7th 2007 4:36PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/Dec 7th 2007 6:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/Dec 7th 2007 4:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/Dec 7th 2007 11:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/
See:
http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/our_products/dish_hd/external_hd/index.shtml]]>Dec 8th 2007 4:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/Dec 7th 2007 3:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/Dec 7th 2007 3:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/Dec 7th 2007 4:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/
Avoid these new crap disks. Buy an enclosure with a power switch and drive separately instead.]]>Dec 7th 2007 4:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/
Runs out of the box, it uses NTFS as its file system though, so I understand the worries. ]]>Dec 7th 2007 4:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/Dec 7th 2007 4:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/
No problems whatsoever.]]>Dec 7th 2007 4:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/
Of course, I spent needless hours of trouble shooting drivers and settings prior to making this realization. Then, when the drive goes to sleep, it will not reconnect via eSATA unless I pull the plug on the eSATA and put it back. There are plenty of unhappy purchasers at CNET forums that have this drive. I'm thinking about cracking it open and ditching the 'external' part of this. I would stay away if you want to use the eSATA on one of these. ]]>Dec 7th 2007 5:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/
My solution was to pry open the FreeAgent case (not easy as it's very sharp sheet metal), and put the drive in a 3rd party eSATA case (with no USB bridge, so the PC thinks it's just another SATA drive inside the machine). Now Windows has no problem managing the spin-down behavior directly and I don't get any timeouts or errors.]]>Dec 7th 2007 5:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/Dec 7th 2007 5:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/Dec 7th 2007 11:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/Dec 8th 2007 4:21AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/Dec 7th 2007 7:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/Dec 7th 2007 8:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/
]]>Dec 7th 2007 9:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/
So you don't have the exact same drive pictured if you have a FreeAgent Pro.

-s-
]]>Dec 7th 2007 9:38PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/
That's all right, you didn't need my money anyway, right?]]>Dec 8th 2007 10:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/
Whoever bought that crappy thing should have checked system requirements before.]]>Dec 8th 2007 5:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/Dec 8th 2007 7:09AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/
echo 1 > /sys/block/sda/device/scsi_disk*/allow_restart

I placed this command to roots cronjob. It runs on every 5mins so it catches any plug ins while system running. But if your drive plugged in permanently, you can place this command to startup too.]]>Dec 8th 2007 7:31AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/Dec 8th 2007 11:58AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/I meant, "Now, the new one is not recognized by the PS3."

Sorry about that.]]>Dec 8th 2007 12:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/Feb 28th 2008 12:59PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/
See:
http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/our_products/dish_hd/external_hd/index.shtml


]]>Dec 8th 2007 4:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/Dec 8th 2007 4:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/Dec 8th 2007 5:38PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/Dec 10th 2007 4:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/
All Seagate and Maxtor branded external storage solutions feature a power management that places the drive into a sleep mode after 15 minutes of inactivity. Linux does have difficulty speaking to this and waking the drive up once it has gone into sleep mode. In order to read and write to the drive, the drive needs to return to full power mode, which can be done by simply disconnecting the USB connector and plugging it back into the system. There is a method to disable power management, but it will have to be done through a Windows system.

To disable the power management feature with a Windows system, please use the following:

Seagate FreeAgent Family
*Open the Seagate FreeAgent Tools application. Click Utilities in the Command panel.
*The Utilities window opens. Click Adjust Drive Sleep Interval.
*The Adjust Drive Sleep Interval window opens. Select an interval from the dropdown menu (Never)
*Click Apply to save the Drive Sleep Interval setting.
*The Adjust Drive Sleep Interval window confirms that the power setting for your drive has been changed. Click OK to return to the Utilities window.

Maxtor OneTouch 4 Family
*Double-click the Maxtor Manager icon on your Desktop. The Maxtor Manager Opens.

*Click on the Settings button. The Settings window opens.

*Click Adjust Power Setting Button. The Adjust Power Setting window opens.

*By default, an OneTouch 4 will spin down after 15 minutes of inactivity; the OneTouch 4 Mini will spin down after 5 minutes of inactivity. Click on the time field to select an inactivity period (set it to Never). Click Apply.

*A Window opens notifying you that the power setting has been changed. Click OK to return to the Settings window.

]]>Dec 10th 2007 6:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/
1 - It is supposed in this sample that the drive is attached to device /dev/sdc

2 - Check that the right drive is selected:
$ sudo sdparm -a /dev/sdc
/dev/sde: Seagate FreeAgent Pro 400A
Power condition mode page:
IDLE 0 [cha: n, def: 0, sav: 0]
STANDBY 1 [cha: y, def: 1, sav: 1]
ICT 0 [cha: n, def: 0, sav: 0]
SCT 9000 [cha: y, def:9000, sav:9000]

3 - Force restart the drive ( if the drive was in stanby mode):
$ sudo sdparm --command=start /dev/sdc

4 - Disable power management:
$ sudo sdparm --clear STANDBY -6 /dev/sdc

5 - Check the drive power management has been disabled:
$ sudo sdparm -a /dev/sdc
/dev/sde: Seagate FreeAgent Pro 400A
Power condition mode page:
IDLE 0 [cha: n, def: 0, sav: 0]
STANDBY 0 [cha: n, def: 1, sav: 0]
ICT 0 [cha: n, def: 0, sav: 0]
SCT 0 [cha: n, def:9000, sav: 0]
]]>Dec 10th 2007 7:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/07/seagate-freeagent-drives-not-down-with-linux/The only issue I have with it is that I have to plug the drive's USB cord into my computer before I plug it into the wall. The drive does spin down after significant idle time (read: greater than five minutes), but stays mounted.
When I go to access a file on it there's just a few second delay as the drive spins up again.
There is also no noticeable decrease in speed (granted, I am usually just watching a movie from it, not doing a hardcore data transfer).]]>Jan 6th 2008 10:11PM