Debian – High HDD Load-Count After Short SMART Test

debianhard drivehdparmsmartctl

I use an old laptop as a DIY NAS with Debian 9.6 with a HGST HTS541010B7E610 HDD.
The HDD had Power_On_Hours of more than 37k with a Load_Cycle_Count of only 380.
After doing a short smart test with smartctl the Load_Cycle_Count started to increase rather fast and within only a few hours it increased by approx. a 100.
The loading/unloading cause audible clicking also.
The constant loading/unloading stops only if I change the APM value with hdparm to 254. Originally it was set to 128.
I am not sure yet changing the APM value how much will increase the temperature but it would be better if it didn't.
Is there anything else I could try to stop the HDD constantly loading/unloading?
If it is possible I would rather avoid to restart the computer.

Edit:
The disk is approximately 4-5 years old.
Since changing the APM value the disk runs 3°C warmer.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x002f   200   200   051    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0027   192   190   021    Pre-fail  Always       -       1400
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       80
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   200   200   140    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x002e   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   049   049   000    Old_age   Always       -       37652
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0032   100   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
 11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032   100   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       80
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       56
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       489
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   109   099   000    Old_age   Always       -       34
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0030   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate   0x0008   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0

Best Answer

Wikipedia S.M.A.R.T. says this about Load_Cycle_Count :

Some laptop drives and "green power" desktop drives are programmed to unload the heads whenever there has not been any activity for a short period, to save power. Operating systems often access the file system a few times a minute in the background, causing 100 or more load cycles per hour if the heads unload: the load cycle rating may be exceeded in less than a year.

Evidently your drive decided to become "greener" and is parking the heads many times per hour. As the OS asks about the status of the disks frequently, this causes each time the heads to unpark themselves.

Your solution of setting the APM value with hdparm to 254 is the most-used one, although it raises the temperature a bit.

I can see that your disk temperature is 34 degrees. For comparison, my own HDD is currently running at 37 degrees. In general, any temperature below 50 degrees is counted as acceptable.

I would say that you have nothing to worry about and your disk is running well.

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