To configure it, you can edit the /etc/config/hd-idle file and then autostart and run the hd-idle service service hd-idle enable & service hd-idle start.Disabling-Enabling USB Mass Storage Device Disabling-Enabling USB Mass Storage Device To install the CLI package (without LuCi): To configure it, use the “Services” menu of the LuCi web GUI of your device. Opkg update & opkg install luci-app-hd-idle To install the package that even has LuCi frontend integration:

Unlike the permanent spindown command from hdparm, a lot more USB2.0-SATA cases seem to support this “spindown-now” SATA command. Once the defined timeout counter reaches 0, it will send a “live” spindow SATA command to the disk. This is a service than runs in the background of the OpenWrt device and maintains its own idletimeout counter. The harddisk firmware itself manages the spindown timeout, not a OpenWrt service.Ģ. Depending on your harddisk, the value may be active until the next reset or permanently stored on the harddisk. Of course you can always change the timeout or disable auto-spindown again later on. to set a reasonable idle timeout of 20 minutes on the harddisk, use:Ģ41 to 251 specify from 1 to 11 units of 30 minutes, for timeouts from 30 minutes to 5.5 hours. But fortunately most USB3.0-SATA-cases seem to support the required SATA command.Į.g. Unfortunately many older USB2.0-PATA/SATA-adapters do not support the required SATA command, although even decade-old harddisks do support it.

So no OpenWrt service has to be run in the background for this and 'hdparm' could even be uninstalled after setting this parameter. Its actually just a command line interface for a built-in harddisk function. This tool permanently saves a spindown timer on the harddisk itself, using standardized SATA disk commands (the harddisk will then remember that spindown-timer value, even if turned off, even after a restart and even if attached to a different device). Both require installing optional packages on OpenWrt. There are different options, to automatically spin down the motor of the attached harddisk after a certain time of inactivity. when using a home-edition harddisk (instead of a 24×7-datacenter edition). Either because you want to have it quiet in your room during nighttime or to increase lifetime of the harddisk (e.g. If you want to use OpenWrt as a permanent NAS, you might want to spin down the harddisk motor during times of inactivity.

Uninstall the usb mass storage driver