View Single Post
  #4  
Old October 15th 06, 03:54 PM posted to comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage
bxf
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 18
Default Western Digital "My Book" - Questions

Andreas Keppler wrote:
"bxf" wrote:


I canīt find any information about the standby-mode of the Western
Digital My Book - harddrive!


I could only find a lot of reviews talking about a standby-mode after 5
minutes!

But I donīt want to turn of the HDīs motor! (for a longer life of the
HD)


For what it's worth, WD says that although spinning up and down
repeatedly DOES present the drive with greater wear and tear than if
it's continuously spinning, this is true only up to a point, and the
drive's design is such that it is expected to spin down several times a
day. I think I saw this somewhere in the WD FAQ.


First of all, thank you for your explanations!

Its good to hear that the spinning up and down doesnt harm the HD but
I think that there is a standard HD inside the mybook!


It's not that I expect some "special" HD in the MYBOOK, its just that
WD are expressing their philosophy about wear and tear, to alleviate
concerns users may have.

(Do you know how to open the plastic case?)


I haven't tried.


Yesterday I bought the 250GB-MyBook with USB2.0 and Firewire400 and
connected it via Firewire.

I am very satisfied with everything but I cant understand why WD
doesnt deliver a tool with which users can prevent the standbye-mode
or change the time for this mode!


I think we are supposed to view this feature as a benefit, so there
would be no reason for us to turn it off. If you're concerned about the
drive spinning up and down repeatedly, and if you don't use the drive
except during specific activities, why not simply REMOVE it?

Do you know a tool which sends (reads) a command to the HD every one
minute so it doesnt go in standby?


Firstly, the drive goes into STANDBY after 10 minutes, so you wouldn't
have to access it every minute. You can use Control Panel Schedule
Tasks to invoke, every 9 minutes, a dummy script that resides on your
MYBOOK. Although at first it looks as if one can't schedule a task to
run every n minutes, it can in fact be done, and on XP you will have
the opportunity to specify the interval as you define the task. Also,
you can look here (works on XP too):

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/226795/EN-US/

I've just done the above, and my dummy script is in fact an empty file
I've named Dummy Access.bat. The only unpleasant side-effect is the
flashing of the Command Prompt screen every time the task is executed.
There may be a way to prevent this, but I don't know of one yet. Also,
you'll want to clear C:\Windows\SchedLgU.txt once in awhile (you'll
have to STOP the Task Scheduler to do this, and then restart it).


One more question: Do you know how the read the S.M.A.R.T.-Status via
Firewire/USB2.0? It seems that this isnīt possible! :-(


My MYBOOK included WD Diagnostics software, which enables me to view
the SMART data on the WD drive as well as my fixed HDD. Your drive is
"higher level" than mine (mine is the Essential, whereas you have the
Premium (USB & FW), I believe), so I'd be surprised if your package did
not include this software. In any event, I think it's available for
download from the WD site.