Ubuntu – SED (self encrpyting disk) is crashing on system resume

encryptionhard drivepower-managementspindownsuspend

I have asked this question before (here and here )

My problem is that my Self Encrypted Disk (SED) have to NOT spin down even on suspend!
I have tried this, but it did not work and the disk spin downs anyway !
The problem is that if the disk spins down, because it is on suspend, it does not show the "de encryption" prompt, and boots back up on RAM, but crashed due to IO error on the disk! (that's what the disk is suposed to do !)

Anyone on how to NOT (as in NEVER) spin down a HDD ? (yes this goes against all logic but this particular case)

Thanks a lot !

Would that be useful ? 

sudo hdparm -I /dev/sda
[sudo] password for xqua: 

/dev/sda:

ATA device, with non-removable media
    Model Number:       ST500LT015-9WU142                       
    Serial Number:      W0VBZQQ7
    Firmware Revision:  0001SDM7
    Transport:          Serial, ATA8-AST, SATA 1.0a, SATA II Extensions, SATA Rev 2.5, SATA Rev 2.6
Standards:
    Used: unknown (minor revision code 0x0029) 
    Supported: 8 7 6 5 
    Likely used: 8
Configuration:
    Logical     max current
    cylinders   16383   16383
    heads       16  16
    sectors/track   63  63
    --
    CHS current addressable sectors:   16514064
    LBA    user addressable sectors:  268435455
    LBA48  user addressable sectors:  976773168
    Logical  Sector size:                   512 bytes
    Physical Sector size:                  4096 bytes
    Logical Sector-0 offset:                  0 bytes
    device size with M = 1024*1024:      476940 MBytes
    device size with M = 1000*1000:      500107 MBytes (500 GB)
    cache/buffer size  = 16384 KBytes
    Form Factor: 2.5 inch
    Nominal Media Rotation Rate: 5400
Capabilities:
    LBA, IORDY(can be disabled)
    Queue depth: 32
    Standby timer values: spec'd by Standard, no device specific minimum
    R/W multiple sector transfer: Max = 1   Current = 1
    Advanced power management level: 254
    Recommended acoustic management value: 208, current value: 0
    DMA: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5 *udma6 
         Cycle time: min=120ns recommended=120ns
    PIO: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4 
         Cycle time: no flow control=120ns  IORDY flow control=120ns
Commands/features:
    Enabled Supported:
       *    SMART feature set
       *    Power Management feature set
       *    Write cache
       *    Look-ahead
       *    Host Protected Area feature set
       *    WRITE_BUFFER command
       *    READ_BUFFER command
       *    NOP cmd
       *    DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE
       *    Advanced Power Management feature set
            Power-Up In Standby feature set
       *    SET_FEATURES required to spinup after power up
            SET_MAX security extension
       *    48-bit Address feature set
       *    Device Configuration Overlay feature set
       *    Mandatory FLUSH_CACHE
       *    FLUSH_CACHE_EXT
       *    SMART error logging
       *    SMART self-test
       *    General Purpose Logging feature set
       *    WRITE_{DMA|MULTIPLE}_FUA_EXT
       *    64-bit World wide name
       *    IDLE_IMMEDIATE with UNLOAD
       *    Write-Read-Verify feature set
       *    WRITE_UNCORRECTABLE_EXT command
       *    {READ,WRITE}_DMA_EXT_GPL commands
       *    Segmented DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE
       *    Gen1 signaling speed (1.5Gb/s)
       *    Gen2 signaling speed (3.0Gb/s)
       *    Native Command Queueing (NCQ)
       *    Host-initiated interface power management
       *    Phy event counters
       *    Idle-Unload when NCQ is active
            Device-initiated interface power management
       *    Software settings preservation
       *    SMART Command Transport (SCT) feature set
       *    SCT Write Same (AC2)
       *    SCT Features Control (AC4)
       *    SCT Data Tables (AC5)
            unknown 206[12] (vendor specific)
       *    reserved 69[4]
       *    reserved 69[7]
Logical Unit WWN Device Identifier: 5000c5006a036439
    NAA     : 5
    IEEE OUI    : 000c50
    Unique ID   : 06a036439
Checksum: correct

Best Answer

According to,

http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Introduction-to-Self-Encrypting-Drives-SED-557/

In the case of SEDs, the main downside is that once the drive has been unlocked, it remains so until the power to the drive has been cut. In other words, if you simply reboot the computer or put it into sleep, the drive remains unlocked. It is not until you completely power off the computer that it will again require the Authentication Key to be entered.

And then goes on to talk about motherboards that support SED to go along with the drive.

Now when a system is normally put into suspend, the power to that bus is cut, which explains what's happening in your case as it's supposed to ask you for your password in that event. What the intent appears to be with SED drives is that a SED Motherboard has the smarts to keep the drive alive just enough to stop it from locking.

So given that information. I suspect that either your motherboard doesn't support SED or it's configured incorrectly.

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