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| Critical Design Flaw Found in WD Caviar Green HDDs | |
It has come to our attention that Western Digital's Caviar Green HDDs suffer from a critical design flaw caused by an aggressive power-saving feature. Western Digital has developed a new technology called Intellipark (aka Idle 3 mode) and it is designed to reduce power consumption, in part by positioning the HDD's heads in a park position and turning off unnecessary electronics after 8 seconds of inactivity.
According to an in-house investigation and user reports', some software and operating systems are incompatible with the Intellipark feature causing endless head parking movement as the HDD continuously goes in/out of idle mode. This abnormal behavior creates stress on the HDD and that could lead to the following issues:
• Loud clunking/clicking/buzzing noises every few seconds.
• Artificially increases the number of load-unload cycles in S.M.A.R.T.
• Possibly shortens life-time of the HDD.
• Possibly reduces performance of the HDD.
Western Digital posted a knowledge base article, where it claims that "The number of systems using such applications and utilities is limited", a statement which we believe is false and inaccurate. Sending an HDD to idle mode only after 8 seconds of activity is abnormal behavior, which much software doesn't like as they are constantly writing and reading data to/from the HDD.
According to Western Digital, the following models are affected: WD20EADS, WD20EARS, WD15EADS, WD15EARS, WD10EADS, WD10EARS, WD8000AARS, WD7500AADS, WD7500AARS, WD6400AADS, WD6400AARS, WD5000AADS, WD5000AARS, WD1000FYPS, WD7500AYPS and WD7501AYPS.
Western Digital has released a DOS-based utility to modify the behavior of the HDD to wait longer before invoking idle mode. However, since most of their latest HDDs still ship with the default setting of 8 seconds, we strongly recommend users with affected HDDs to use the utility and monitor S.M.A.R.T data immediately. How to Adjust Intellipark's Timer
1. Download the WDIDLE3 ISO image and burn it to a CD/DVD.
2. Ensure that your SATA controller is set to IDE mode from the BIOS.
3. Boot from the CD/DVD, it should take you into DOS.
4. In DOS prompt, type: "wdidle3 /S300" to change the default timer from 8 seconds to 300 seconds (5 minutes).
5. In DOS prompt, type: "wdidle3 /R" to verify the results.
We appreciate Western Digital's efforts to conserve energy and protect the environment, but the 8-second-overkill Intellipark feature could lead to opposite results as more HDDs will be produced to replace defective ones. We sent an email to Western Digital with a link to this article asking for a comment on this matter. We will update this story as soon when we hear back from them. Update #1: Daniel Mauerhofer, Head of EMEA PR in Western Digital has commented on this article. "This issue is far from critical, does not impair normal functionality or place data at risk, can be mitigated with a utility for the small percentage of systems affected, and is a well understood industry standard." Update #2: A user on Western Digital's forum claims that his Caviar Black HDD is affected as well. "WD2001FASS parks heads after 12.8 seconds. It will eventually kill itself doing this. I was getting around 1400 Load Cycle Count a day due it parking and waking up constantly."
Last edited by Regeneration; April 21st, 2011 at 06:06 PM.
| | | | 63 Comments | | | As WD6400AADS owner I must admit I never EVER experienced Quote: |
Loud clunking/clicking/buzzing noises every few seconds.
| Neither on Ubuntu nor on WinXP | | | | @Promilus How's the SMART data? | | | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Regeneration  @Promilus How's the SMART data? | 116k load-unload 
My drive is ~1yr old now and 291days ON. BOINC writes small portions of data constantly so I guess it might be worse without it running most time. | | | | isnt that SMART feature for IDE connections?
I always had it disabled on sata ... is it ok? | | | | according to a friend that thinks hes a cat, this is fixed in the EARS models. | | | | Quote:
Originally Posted by squall_leonhart according to a friend that thinks hes a cat, this is fixed in the EARS models. | I have 2 EARS models are they are both affected. Running Windows 7. | | | | Any idea what this would do to a raid-5 array, I'm assuming the until needs to run on single drives, so I'd probably have to break my array? I have 4 WD10EARS for nearline, and while I *could* recopy the data, I would prefer not to have to redo 2.6TB.
That said, I haven't heard any head noises, so maybe the array keeps all the drives busy enough as is. (Yes I know the drives aren't really meant for RAID since they don't do TLER, but I haven't had any problems.)
I'm running 2008R2 EE btw. | | | | That feature isn't listed on WD's website | | | | well i did say he thinks he is a cat. | | | | WD15EARS working fine with only 1k start/stop count for 280days. | | | | | | Quote:
Originally Posted by dzap WD15EARS working fine with only 1k start/stop count for 280days. | I was not giving #4 (start/stop of disk which is under 300 for me) but #193 (number of returns to parking area) | | | | i had bought one of these in the 500 GB capacity but then i took it home, searched online and found it had a higher problem rate than other brands so got it replaced for a barracuda the very next day  | | | | heh, from bad to worse then. | | | | many thanks to the admin who sent me an email regarding this topic.
i have 2 WD20EARS in my pc, so far no problem with it as my os is installed in my 2 60GB SSD raid 0.
But however i do notice that every time i open the disk that has been left idle for a while(read it), i have to wait for 2~3 seconds before all the things come out. | | | | what about Caviar black?
can we take the post as it is? and be sure that only the Caviar Green are the ones with the issue? | | | | The black line does not have intellipark and so is not affected | | | | Have a 15EADS thats been running just a little over a year, and it's fine. I'm not planning on fixing what isn't broke. | | | | ohhh
didn't know that, was a long time when I read the features of 'em | | | | >300s seems to high to that app ... so I tried /D (disable idle timer) - unfortunately got BSoD after couple of minutes from logging in. Shit. Then after reboot drive was hard to recognize by BIOS (well, I didn't waited if it recognize it at all). Just power down makes it "bootable" again (but still BSoD). I set timer to 120s and I think that solved problems.
But, hell, it shouldn't happen. |
Last edited by Promilus; April 20th, 2011 at 09:46 PM..
| Quote | | | | | WD Black and Blue are the best for latency (when AAM is disabled)
Samsung Spinpoint F3/F4 are the best for Raw throughput
Hitachi....can be noisy.
Seagate make good door stops. | | | | Havent had much luck with Hitachi, my last one got the ping of death after a year or so, seagate also makes awesome paper weights.
Think I might grab a Samsung before they disappear from the market though | | | | It is a smear article for publicity.
The problem is not with advanced powersaving technology as this article wants you to believe -- it is with Linux distributions and some Windows applications that constantly write/flush data to disk thus bringing it out of standby every 10 seconds or so.
How can an author of this article say with a straight face that technology is to blame for not being properly supported by OS / apps is really beyond me.
Btw, I have two green drives (WD10EADS and WD5000AACS), and both are in stellar shape (load/unload counters are 200 and 171 respectively).
Solution is simple -- if your software doesn't support this feature, then just disable power management completely. I wonder how much Seagate is paying for such articles. | | | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered The problem is not with advanced powersaving technology as this article wants you to believe -- it is with Linux distributions and some Windows applications that constantly write/flush data to disk thus bringing it out of standby every 10 seconds or so. | Most of internet's servers run on Apache and Linux. I've experienced this issue with FileZilla FTP Server for Windows - the most popular open source FTP server software. So Perhaps WD should disable Intellipark automatically when it detects interruptions on a regular basis, or maybe WD shouldn't use such an aggressive idle timer. Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered I wonder how much Seagate is paying for such articles. | It is quite obvious you're not a regular reader of this site. We pretty much hate everyone equally. | | | | haha, obviously, else he'd know how much we push Quality products such as the Caviar Blacks and Blues, and the Samsung Spinpoint F# drives. | | | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Regeneration It is quite obvious you're not a regular reader of this site. We pretty much hate everyone equally. | ahaahhahaha, politically correct all the way. Like that episode of Southpark where kids carry the flag depicting a bunch of people of all colors hang a man. | | | | Are the My Book Essential 1TBs affected too? | | | | Quote:
Originally Posted by dzap WD15EARS working fine with only 1k start/stop count for 280days. | I'm not sure with your reading. I have a WD10EADS drive with 532 start/stop count for 9900 hours (~400 days) wich seems better, and I can hear a noise like "takatakatakata" some times, is not loud and don't happen every few seconds but every few minutes, and it don't sound like a clunking or clicking or buzzing noise but a fingering noise, but still I guest I have this problem.
Are somebody apply this fix? | | | | Quote:
Originally Posted by squall_leonhart WD Black and Blue are the best for latency (when AAM is disabled)
Samsung Spinpoint F3/F4 are the best for Raw throughput
Hitachi....can be noisy.
Seagate make good door stops. | YOU KNOW THATS RIGHT, SISTER! | | | | Quote:
Originally Posted by blindartist The black line does not have intellipark and so is not affected | Actually, according to the thread below, some black models DO have intellipark. According to the poster, his WD2001FASS parks the heads in about 13 seconds of idle time. But this doesn't affect all blacks (I have a WD1001FALS and it doesn't do this). http://community.wdc.com/t5/Desktop/...unt/td-p/91445 | | | | My WD 1 TB has failed a month ago after I use it about 2 years and I also have another one which I bought on August 2010. My question is should I use wdidle3 /D or /S300? | | | | Check out S.M.A.R.T data, if you have "Load Cycle Count" counts, disable Intellipark ASAP. | | | | I use DiskCheckup to check SMART info and here is the result.
Status : OK
Value : 187
Worst : 187
Threshold : 0
Raw value : 39621
T.E.C : N.A.
Should I use "wdidle3 /d" then? | | | | So, I check my hard drive again using HD Tune. The "load cycle count" counts seems too high compared to my other HDD. What should I do then? | | | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered Actually, according to the thread below, some black models DO have intellipark. According to the poster, his WD2001FASS parks the heads in about 13 seconds of idle time. But this doesn't affect all blacks (I have a WD1001FALS and it doesn't do this). http://community.wdc.com/t5/Desktop/...unt/td-p/91445 | and in a RAID array how can we check IF has this feature so it can be disable? any ideas?
or does it break the array if we set the drives to IDE just for the setup of that thing we are talking about? |
Last edited by Christoph; April 22nd, 2011 at 05:37 AM..
| Quote | | | | | i own one WDC WD20EARS and sometimes i hears 'click', but i'm not sure if its from my HDD. | | | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Roaster i own one WDC WD20EARS and sometimes i hears 'click', but i'm not sure if its from my HDD. | mmm from the mice? JK
sometimes the optical drives do that, but you wanna check what it is to be sure, perhaps your HDD is dying | | | | Before I have this readings:
[4] Start/Stop Count: 532
[9] Power-On Hours: 9.951
[12] Power Cycle Count: 524
[193] Load Cycle Count: 532
And now (I don't apply fix yet):
[4] Start/Stop Count: 532
[9] Power-On Hours: 9.990
[12] Power Cycle Count: 524
[193] Load Cycle Count: 532
Star/stop count has not moved after 40 hours, then I guess i don't need apply this fix. But still I can hear a sound like a fingertip knocking from disk each few minutes when PC is working (when PC is idle I can't hear anything). | | | | the click is the head moving into place. | | | | Code: WDC WD5000AAKS-22YGA0 (WD-WCAS87505419) (3+ years old)
ID Attribute Description Threshold Value Worst Data Status
C1 Load/Unload Cycle Count 0 200 200 1483 OK: Always passes
WDC WD1001FALS-00J7B1 (WD-WMATV1437028) (2 years old)
ID Attribute Description Threshold Value Worst Data Status
C1 Load/Unload Cycle Count 0 200 200 455 OK: Always passes
SAMSUNG HD103SJ (S246J9FZ910959) (a few months old)
ID Attribute Description Threshold Value Worst Data Status
E1 Load/Unload Cycle Count 0 100 100 14 OK: Always passes
ST9500325AS (5VE3LHLL) old? :P (i think the value is wrong)
ID Attribute Description Threshold Value Worst Data Status
C1 Load/Unload Cycle Count 0 1 1 484043 OK: Always passes | | | | When are they going to learn to stop messing with things in the name of "saving power". Just make the damn drive the way you've always done it and let it eat all the power it needs to run well. Damn tree huggers and green/power saving technology. How about this guys, lets just all walk the earth, how'd that be? No cars, no engines, nothing, lets all just save power and walk. | | | | Thats taking it a little far man, maybe you like breathing smog and shit but I dont, we do need to reduce our consumption and/or further develop and implement cleaner energy sources and more energy efficient designs but I agree silly features like this have such a negligible impact on the energy consumption that ultimately they only serve to hinder the performance and functionality of the device
People just need to learn to pick their battles and trying to save .1 watts/hour at the cost of a devices potential isnt one of them, instead of trying to reduce energy usage by turning things off they need to make more efficient motos that convert less energy to heat | | | | hdd power management attributes little to smog.
also smog is car and heavy industry related, most power generation in developed countries use charcoal filters on the smoke stacks. | | | | I was talking about his overall message not about HDD's, and I dont mean just smog but pollution in general aka harmful gasses (sulfur dioxide, notrogen oxide), heavy metals, and these filters dont stop nearly as much as I think you think they do not to mention that only about half the worlds plants have them implemented let alone implemented properly. All this even regardless of how many resources were used to mine, refine and transport the coal.
I know your all pro pollution and if we preted it doesnt exist maybe it will go away but seriously dude. |
Last edited by blindartist; April 25th, 2011 at 04:06 PM..
| Quote | | | | | I can also confirm the 8 sec. spin down on the following drives...
WD5000BEVT (500GB WD Caviar Blue 2.5")
WD2500BEAS (250GB WD Scorpio 2.5")
If you have any of these drives - give them a check... | | | | So you need SMART enabled for this powersaving to work? what if i don't have it enabled, guess i wont be affected? | | | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered So you need SMART enabled for this powersaving to work? what if i don't have it enabled, guess i wont be affected? | SMART has nothing to do with power-saving. SMART just displays your HDD health status, etc. | | | | I got a WD20eads , on 24/7 as a data drive(swap file too) on vista x64. Has been working for 1.5 years now with load/unload@ 103000~. No issues/noise/clicks. So if we calculate with max load/unload@300000, drive can "live" for ~4 years. Should I be bothered with the load/unload count and alter the timer to 5 mins? | | | | No... most problems are with Linux systems. I do use PC some 60-75% of day while running 2/3 WinXP and 1/3 Ubuntu AMD64 - so if I ran Linux whole time my load counter could already reach 300.000 or more! If you use Win-only don't touch it! | | | | ASUS U56E-BBL5 has this problem. Returned it, the second one had the same problem when I went to return it again, Best Buy technitian said he couldn't hear anything, that was nothing to worry about. I guess I shouldn't trust him. The model is no longer available in Best Buy, I wonder why since this model was released on July 2011... | | | | Western Digital Scorpio Blue SATA 320GB (WD3200BPVT)
Under Ubuntu heads are parked after 3 seconds idle time | | | | I purchased a WD15EARS drive 2 days ago and ran the WDIDLE3.ISO and can confirm that the idle time is set to 8 seconds. I disabled the idle time completely by booting the WDIDLE3.ISO and running this command "wdidle3 /d" . On some WD drives running the command "wdidle3 /d" will actually set an idle time of 62 mins, but on WD15EARS drives it seems to disable idle time altogether. | | | | everyone should just realise that these spindowns are more about selling more hdd's (because of spindle failure) than being eco. | | | | wd3200bpvt anyone know more about this drive??
on linux i had to do hdparm =B 254 for my drive this solved the problem
but i wanted a more perminent solution so i tried wdidle3
my drive is wd3200bpvt the wd site does not offer the tool for it but i
used wdidle3 anyways and it claimed the drive was set to 3 sec!!!!
I changed to value 300 is 5 min
i have not tested enough to know if it works but after boot (i should have checked reload value but was tired and already spend too much time on it)
it sounded like it did not help so i am still using the apm setting fix with hdparm -B 254 just in case
should we still need it?
by the way hdparm -S gives bad no value
i do not know if this also was before i used wdidle | | | | This power saving isn't just bad for startstops
it also causes massive lag when the hdd spins down and an emulator that uses disk images ahs to spin the drive back up. | | | | Lately I've been using a few Western Digital 1TB SATA3 64M IntelliPowe CaviarGreen WD10EZRX for my customers systems.
It seems that these drives are not in the list of models affected.
Should I still continue to buy them?
BTW I buy these drives because they are cheaper than all other brands.
My profit on building PCs are getting smaller & smaller since laptops are getting so cheap and 99.9% of my customers are NOT GAMERS so they prefer laptops!  | | | | WD5000AACS-00G8B1 is also set to 8 second idle3 timer. | | | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Uapp Lately I've been using a few Western Digital 1TB SATA3 64M IntelliPowe CaviarGreen WD10EZRX for my customers systems.
It seems that these drives are not in the list of models affected.
Should I still continue to buy them?
BTW I buy these drives because they are cheaper than all other brands.
My profit on building PCs are getting smaller & smaller since laptops are getting so cheap and 99.9% of my customers are NOT GAMERS so they prefer laptops! | i noticed the EZRX drives are a shit tonne faster at bootup than the EARS drives (in reviews) | | | | This solution did not work for me. First of all my timer was 12.8 seconds.
Then I change to 300 seconds and the problem remain.
I changed in BIOS to IDE to make this modification but then I had to change back to AHCI, otherwise I get blue screen of death and cannot boot my system.
Maybe that is the issue? Should I change to IDE and reinstall windows?
I do have an SSD Corsair 120Gb installed with the WD10.
Thank you in advance for the help. | | | | I'll put out a warning here
DO NOT USE THE /D SWITCH ON A BOOT DRIVE
i noticed an immediate increase in the time it takes the windows animation to appear and took so long to boot to the login screen i hit reset and did the change back to /s300 immediately | | | | hey ref, does that image use 1.05? | | | | The wdidle3.iso image does not have wdidle3.exe on it. Waste of time to download, burn, and boot it only to find the exe is missing. What gives? | | | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Justin The wdidle3.iso image does not have wdidle3.exe on it. Waste of time to download, burn, and boot it only to find the exe is missing. What gives? | It is a bootable FreeDOS image. Everything is there, just make sure to burn it with proper burning software.
And yes, it is v1.05. | |
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