OK it seems that sudo hdparm -S 240 /dev/sdc does work well in setting the drive to sleep after 20 minutes. and adding this did also spin down the drive after rebooting:
command_line {
hdparm -S 240 /dev/disk/by-uuid/eb4a0932-3430-4b04-b633-9d10458f73f2
}
…But then Ubuntu went through a few updates and now the drive will not sleep unless I enter the first code I listed manually. The edit I made is still in the .conf file. Can anyone explain how I might fix this issue?
Here is my /etc/hdparm.conf
## This is the default configuration for hdparm for Debian. It is a
## rather simple script, so please follow the following guidelines :)
## Any line that begins with a comment is ignored - add as many as you
## like. Note that an in-line comment is not supported. If a line
## consists of whitespace only (tabs, spaces, carriage return), it will be
## ignored, so you can space control fields as you like. ANYTHING ELSE
## IS PARSED!! This means that lines with stray characters or lines that
## use non # comment characters will be interpreted by the initscript.
## This has probably minor, but potentially serious, side effects for your
## hard drives, so please follow the guidelines. Patches to improve
## flexibilty welcome. Please read /usr/share/doc/hdparm/README.Debian for
## notes about known issues, especially if you have an MD array.
##
## Note that if the init script causes boot problems, you can pass 'nohdparm'
## on the kernel command line, and the script will not be run.
##
## Uncommenting the options below will cause them to be added to the DEFAULT
## string which is prepended to options listed in the blocks below.
##
## If an option is listed twice, the second instance replaces the first.
##
## /sbin/hdparm is not run unless a block of the form:
## DEV {
## option
## option
## ...
## }
## exists. This blocks will cause /sbin/hdparm OPTIONS DEV to be run.
## Where OPTIONS is the concatenation of all options previously defined
## outside of a block and all options defined with in the block.
# -q be quiet
quiet
# -a sector count for filesystem read-ahead
#read_ahead_sect = 12
# -A disable/enable the IDE drive's read-lookahead feature
#lookahead = on
# -b bus state
#bus = on
# -B apm setting
#apm = 255
# -B apm setting when on battery
#apm_battery = 127
# -c enable (E)IDE 32-bit I/O support - can be any of 0,1,3
#io32_support = 1
# -d disable/enable the "using_dma" flag for this drive
#dma = off
# -D enable/disable the on-drive defect management
#defect_mana = off
# -E cdrom speed
#cd_speed = 16
# -k disable/enable the "keep_settings_over_reset" flag for this drive
#keep_settings_over_reset = off
# -K disable/enable the drive's "keep_features_over_reset" flag
#keep_features_over_reset = on
# -m sector count for multiple sector I/O
#mult_sect_io = 32
# -P maximum sector count for the drive's internal prefetch mechanism
#prefetch_sect = 12
# -r read-only flag for device
#read_only = off
# -R Enable/Disable Write-Read-Verify, on to enable (R1), off to disable (R0)
# write_read_verify = off
# -s Turn on/off power on in standby mode
# poweron_standby = off
# -S standby (spindown) timeout for the drive
#spindown_time = 24
# -u interrupt-unmask flag for the drive
#interrupt_unmask = on
# -W Disable/enable the IDE drive's write-caching feature
#write_cache = off
# -X IDE transfer mode for newer (E)IDE/ATA2 drives
#transfer_mode = 34
# -y force to immediately enter the standby mode
#standby
# -Y force to immediately enter the sleep mode
#sleep
# -Z Disable the power-saving function of certain Seagate drives
#disable_seagate
# -M Set the acoustic management properties of a drive
#acoustic_management
# -p Set the chipset PIO mode
# chipset_pio_mode
# --security-freeze Freeze the drive's security status
# security_freeze
# --security-unlock Unlock the drive's security
# security_unlock = PWD
# --security-set-pass Set security password
# security_pass = password
# --security-disable Disable drive locking
# security_disable
# --user-master Select password to use
# user-master = u
# --security-mode Set the security mode
# security_mode = h
# Root file systems. Please see README.Debian for details
# ROOTFS = /dev/hda
## New note - you can use straight hdparm commands in this config file
## as well - the set up is ugly, but it keeps backwards compatibility
## Additionally, it should be noted that any blocks that begin with
## the keyword 'command_line' are not run until after the root filesystem
## is mounted. This is done to avoid running blocks twice. If you need
## to run hdparm to set parameters for your root disk, please use the
## standard format.
#Samples follow:
#First three are good for devfs systems, fourth one for systems that do
#not use devfs. The fifth example uses straight hdparm command line
#syntax. Any of the blocks that use command line syntax must begin with
#the keyword 'command_line', and no attempt is made to validate syntax.
#It is provided for those more comfortable with hdparm syntax.
#/dev/discs/disc0/disc {
# mult_sect_io = 16
# write_cache = off
# spindown_time = 240
#}
#/dev/discs/disc1/disc {
# mult_sect_io = 32
# spindown_time = 36
# write_cache = off
#}
#/dev/cdroms/cdrom0 {
# dma = on
# interrupt_unmask = on
# io32_support = 0
#}
#/dev/hda {
# mult_sect_io = 16
# write_cache = off
# dma = on
#}
command_line {
hdparm -S 240 /dev/disk/by-uuid/eb4a0932-3430-4b04-b633-9d10458f73f2
}
