hdparm Command Examples

Get and set SATA and IDE hard drive parameters. More information: https://manned.org/hdparm.

• Request the identification info of a given device:

sudo hdparm -I {{/dev/device}}

• Get the Advanced Power Management level:

sudo hdparm -B {{/dev/device}}

• Set the Advanced Power Management value (values 1-127 permit spin-down, and values 128-254 do not):

sudo hdparm -B {{1}} {{/dev/device}}

• Display the device's current power mode status:

sudo hdparm -C {{/dev/device}}

• Force a drive to immediately enter standby mode (usually causes a drive to spin down):

sudo hdparm -y {{/dev/device}}

• Put the drive into idle (low-power) mode, also setting its standby timeout:

sudo hdparm -S {{standby_timeout}} {{device}}

• Test the read speed of a specific device:

sudo hdparm -tT {{device}}