Dear David!
First of all I would like to thank you for answer and recommendation!
I tested my USB-harddrives with sg_start utility. Thank you for hint, I did not know about SCSI utilities before.
I made such tests under Ubuntu 12.04.4, Fedora 20 and OpenSuSe 13.1 with all installed updates.
* Ubuntu 12.04.4 does not have udisks2, it has udisks 1.0.4-5ubuntu2.1, sg3-utils 1.33-1.
* Fedora 20 has udisks-1.0.4-12.fc20.i686, udisks2-2.1.2-1.fc20.i686, sg3_utils-1.37-2.fc20.i686.
* OpenSuSe 13.1 has udisks-1.0.4-13.1.3.i586, udisks2-2.1.1-2.1.3.i586, sg3_utils-1.36-3.1.2.i586.
My test results are the following:
1. For my USB-HDD (Seagate ST9750420A in USB 2.0 Tsunami e-data 2500 enclosure,
lsusb - 04fc:0c25 Sunplus Technology Co., Ltd SATALink SPIF225A)
1.1. command “sg_start --stop /dev/sdX” really spin-downs my drive (sometimes on 2nd or 3rd attempt - I don’t know why), device remains in system and spin-up again only on my demand.
1.2. command “udisks --detach /dev/sdX” spin-downs my drive (always on 1st attempt), device is completely removed from system after detach.
2. For my USB 3.0 WD My Passport Ultra (WD WD20NMVW,
lsusb - 1058:0743 Western Digital Technologies, Inc.)
2.1. command “sg_start --stop /dev/sdX” is ignored by this HDD (it make one click, but does not spin-down). Maybe it is because of proprietary/non-fully-compliant ATA-command set in WD’s controller.
2.2. command “udisks --detach /dev/sdX” spin-downs my drive (on 1st attempt always), device is completely removed from system after detach.
So the results are identical for all three distros.
For me it seems, that “udisks --detach” works better and in 100% (on all distros and with proprietary WD HDD-controller).
So if you have time, please, do deeper comparison between udisks v.1, udisks v.2 and sg_start.
I'm ready to do more testing if you send me concrete instruction, but I am not expert and I do not know how to debug/trace/log ATA and udisks.
Dear David!
First of all I would like to thank you for answer and recommendation!
I tested my USB-harddrives with sg_start utility. Thank you for hint, I did not know about SCSI utilities before.
I made such tests under Ubuntu 12.04.4, Fedora 20 and OpenSuSe 13.1 with all installed updates. 1.0.4-12. fc20.i686, udisks2- 2.1.2-1. fc20.i686, sg3_utils- 1.37-2. fc20.i686. 1.0.4-13. 1.3.i586, udisks2- 2.1.1-2. 1.3.i586, sg3_utils- 1.36-3. 1.2.i586.
* Ubuntu 12.04.4 does not have udisks2, it has udisks 1.0.4-5ubuntu2.1, sg3-utils 1.33-1.
* Fedora 20 has udisks-
* OpenSuSe 13.1 has udisks-
For more adequate results I disabled auto-mount feature in GNOME with dconf-editor (as recommended here - https:/ /help.ubuntu. com/community/ Mount/USB# Configuring_ Automounting).
My test results are the following:
1. For my USB-HDD (Seagate ST9750420A in USB 2.0 Tsunami e-data 2500 enclosure,
lsusb - 04fc:0c25 Sunplus Technology Co., Ltd SATALink SPIF225A)
1.1. command “sg_start --stop /dev/sdX” really spin-downs my drive (sometimes on 2nd or 3rd attempt - I don’t know why), device remains in system and spin-up again only on my demand.
1.2. command “udisks --detach /dev/sdX” spin-downs my drive (always on 1st attempt), device is completely removed from system after detach.
2. For my USB 3.0 WD My Passport Ultra (WD WD20NMVW, non-fully- compliant ATA-command set in WD’s controller.
lsusb - 1058:0743 Western Digital Technologies, Inc.)
2.1. command “sg_start --stop /dev/sdX” is ignored by this HDD (it make one click, but does not spin-down). Maybe it is because of proprietary/
2.2. command “udisks --detach /dev/sdX” spin-downs my drive (on 1st attempt always), device is completely removed from system after detach.
So the results are identical for all three distros.
For me it seems, that “udisks --detach” works better and in 100% (on all distros and with proprietary WD HDD-controller).
So if you have time, please, do deeper comparison between udisks v.1, udisks v.2 and sg_start.
I'm ready to do more testing if you send me concrete instruction, but I am not expert and I do not know how to debug/trace/log ATA and udisks.