hdparm
Get and set SATA/IDE hard drive parameters
TLDR
Get device identification info
$ sudo hdparm -I [/dev/sda]
Test buffered and cached read speed$ sudo hdparm -tT [/dev/sda]
Get or set write-caching$ sudo hdparm -W [1] [/dev/sda]
Show current power mode status$ sudo hdparm -C [/dev/sda]
Set Advanced Power Management level (1-127 allow spindown, 128-254 keep spinning)$ sudo hdparm -B [127] [/dev/sda]
Set standby timeout (value in 5-second increments, 0 to disable)$ sudo hdparm -S [60] [/dev/sda]
Force drive into standby mode$ sudo hdparm -y [/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)
INSTALL
sudo apt install hdparm
sudo dnf install hdparm
sudo pacman -S hdparm
sudo apk add hdparm
sudo zypper install hdparm
nix profile install nixpkgs#hdparm
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.