[SOLVED] Option Spin down HDD in Kodi not working on Rpi3

[Roy Terhaar]

Software
XBian version: XBian 1.0 (knockout) (kernel: 4.4.6+)
XBMC/Kodi version: 16.0 Git:2016-03-11-a3eb4fa
Overclock settings: none (default installation settings)

Hardware
Device type and model: RPi3
Power supply rating: Standard original Rpi power supply
SD card size and make/type: 16GB
Network (Ethernet or wireless): KODI configured to use Ethernet
Connected devices (TV, USB, network storage, ...): Yamaha RX-773 receiver (to TV), 2 harddisks on USB ports Hitachi 2GB, Seagate 4Gb.

Log files
Link to logfile(s): -

Problem description:
Concerns the option 'Spin down HDD' (System -> Xbian -> XBMC)
If this option is ticked (enabled) and the confirmation question to save the setting is confirmed,
the system displays the messgae that the setting is saved, but it is not saved.
Also the two HDD's are not actually spinning down as well.
After re-entering the same menu option (also after reboot) the option shows unticked (disabled).

The spin down option did work previously in my same setup using Rpi B+ which I have now replaced with the Rpi3.

How to reproduce:
As in problem description, I can reproduce this issue.

[IriDium]

Just tested on RPi2 with latest upgrades and the spin down option stays there on rentering the menu and a reboot.

However, if the value in mins is set to "0" zero. The option is lost.

Setting it to 1 minute, should allow it to function as intended. Please retest and advise.

[Roy Terhaar]

(6th Apr, 2016 10:03 PM)IriDium Wrote:  Just tested on RPi2 with latest upgrades and the spin down option stays there on rentering the menu and a reboot.

However, if the value in mins is set to "0" zero. The option is lost.

Setting it to 1 minute, should allow it to function as intended. Please retest and advise.

Hi, I have tried to follow your solution.
I am not sure if I understand correctly, but I followed this:
https://github.com/xbianonpi/xbian/issues/699
Changing the file /etc/usbmount/usbmount.cfg file setting "spindown=1"
The option in the menu seems to be magically set now, as it is probably reading the usbmount.cfg file.
But still the harddisks are not spinning down after 1 minute as expected.
I don't think that there are other processes accessing the disks at the moment, so I don't know how to proceed from here.
But thanks for your help anyway.

[Nachteule]

Nothing has been changed since months. So I suppose that there is a process accessing this disk permanently.

You could watch file /proc/diskstats if there are any r/w operations

For example:

Terminal

cat /proc/diskstats | grep sda
8 0 sda 215763 2413 51477370 1340940 7516 668 7457608 3913710 0 1017580 5252710
8 1 sda1 215573 2411 51473410 1288560 7232 668 7457608 3913160 0 982210 5232440

shows you the stats of disk sda

See also here

[Roy Terhaar]

(7th Apr, 2016 07:24 PM)Nachteule Wrote:  Nothing has been changed since months. So I suppose that there is a process accessing this disk permanently.

You could watch file /proc/diskstats if there are any r/w operations

For example:

Terminal

cat /proc/diskstats | grep sda
8 0 sda 215763 2413 51477370 1340940 7516 668 7457608 3913710 0 1017580 5252710
8 1 sda1 215573 2411 51473410 1288560 7232 668 7457608 3913160 0 982210 5232440

shows you the stats of disk sda

See also here

This is the output for both harddisks:
xbian@xbian ~ $ cat /proc/diskstats | grep sda
8 0 sda 2382 0 246101 15146 0 0 0 0 0 4572 15142
8 1 sda1 178 0 3120 576 0 0 0 0 0 562 576
8 2 sda2 2079 0 242432 13996 0 0 0 0 0 4316 13992
xbian@xbian ~ $ cat /proc/diskstats | grep sdb
8 16 sdb 1608 0 129432 8118 0 0 0 0 0 3370 8114
8 17 sdb1 1554 0 128136 7782 0 0 0 0 0 3216 7778

Column 12 is showing 0 (no current IO).
I also did reboot but no change noticable; harddisks keep spinning.

I also noticed that the menu is showing the configured delay time (-delay (min)) of 1 minute now.
Isn't it a design miss that you have to edit the usbmount.conf file first manualy before you can actually use the menu option?

[Nachteule]

(7th Apr, 2016 08:25 PM)Roy Terhaar Wrote:  Column 12 is showing 0 (no current IO).
I also did reboot but no change noticable; harddisks keep spinning.

Column 6 (sectors read) and 10 (sectors written) are the importants
You have to monitor if those value are increasing

Quote:I also noticed that the menu is showing the configured delay time (-delay (min)) of 1 minute now.
Isn't it a design miss that you have to edit the usbmount.conf file first manualy before you can actually use the menu option?

What menu? XBian settings within Kodi?

Agree, seems to be an issue

Btw, never used this feature, because my 2.5" disks does not support spin down by external command

[Roy Terhaar]

(7th Apr, 2016 08:44 PM)Nachteule Wrote:  What menu? XBian settings within Kodi?

Agree, seems to be an issue

Btw, never used this feature, because my 2.5" disks does not support spin down by external command

Yes it's the XBian settings menu within Kodi.
In the mean time I noticed that one of the harddisks was actually spinning up when I tried to access it on my laptop via SMB, so for now I assume there is no problem with the spinning down functionality once it is set correctly. Maybe SMB is screwing up the spinning down, so I will retest without my laptop interfering
via SMB and hope both disks will spindown. Thanks for the help.

Besides the configuration issue, I think we can consider this case closed

[Nachteule]

(7th Apr, 2016 09:08 PM)Roy Terhaar Wrote:  Besides the configuration issue, I think we can consider this case closed

Just tested setting with an absolutely fresh installation and latest RPi3 image.

Activating spindown and setting time to 10s were successful, no error message appeared. So, finally looked into /etc/usbmount/usbmount.conf and this value was there.

Conclusion: this also works correctly

[Roy Terhaar]

Great!

[Roy Terhaar]

I have resolved the issue for my setup. I have made two changes:
1. In xbian-config -> XBMC -> Spin Down HDD - delay(min) is now set to 10 minutes.
I found out that this value works with both brands harddrives.
2. I have set the APM (Advanced Power Management) value of both harddrives to 127 using hdparm with the -B option.

[Nachteule]

Thanks for reporting

Marked thread as solved