hdparm
gets and sets SATA/IDE hard drive parameters
TLDR
Get device identification
$ sudo hdparm -I /dev/sda
Get APM level$ sudo hdparm -B /dev/sda
Set APM value$ sudo hdparm -B 127 /dev/sda
Show power mode$ sudo hdparm -C /dev/sda
Enter standby mode$ sudo hdparm -y /dev/sda
Set idle timeout$ sudo hdparm -S 60 /dev/sda
Test read speed$ sudo hdparm -tT /dev/sda
SYNOPSIS
hdparm [OPTIONS] device
DESCRIPTION
hdparm gets and sets SATA/IDE hard drive parameters. It can display device information, configure power management settings, test performance, and enable or disable drive features.
PARAMETERS
-I
Display detailed device identification-i
Display kernel's cached identification info-B [value]
Get or set Advanced Power Management (1-254)-C
Display current power mode status-S value
Set standby timeout (0=off, 1-240=5s increments, 241-251=30m increments)-y
Force drive into standby mode-Y
Force drive into sleep mode (may require hard reset)-t
Test buffered read speed-T
Test cache read speed-g
Display drive geometry (cylinders, heads, sectors, size)-M [value]
Get or set Automatic Acoustic Management (0=off, 128=quiet, 254=fast)-W [value]
Get or set write-caching (0=off, 1=on)-F
Flush drive write cache--security-erase password
Secure erase the drive (WARNING: destroys all data)
CAVEATS
Some features require kernel and hardware support. APM values 1-127 allow spindown while 128-254 keep the drive spinning. Sleep mode (-Y) may require power cycling to recover. When no options are given, -acdgkmur is assumed.
HISTORY
hdparm has been the standard Linux tool for drive parameter control since the early days of IDE drives.
