What's re-enabling SMART of my HDDs?

Whack · 6 May 2025 04:28

I stumbled upon this problem when diagnosing another problem.

The original problems (ignore this for now)

All HDDs spin up when opening or using Dolphin.
All HDDs spin up every 15 minutes (traced this back to udisks2 & SMART)

The current problem:
SMART keeps re-enabling itself for all my HDD’s

I turned SMART off manually by using
# smartctl --smart=off /dev/sda
# smartctl --smart=off /dev/sdb
# smartctl --smart=off /dev/sdc

This changes “SMART support” to “Disabled”

smartctl --info /dev/sda | grep 'SMART support is:'

SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Disabled

After 5-10 minutes, I notice the drives spin up again and for whatever reason, SMART is re-enabled.

smartctl --info /dev/sda | grep 'SMART support is:'

SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

Question:
Why is this happening? Which programs or settings could be on my system that re-enable SMART?
I want to turn this behavior off.

Thanks in advance for your time & help

Some logs or potentially useful info;

File indexers are disabled
Not using plasma-disks
Checked background activities - nothing here related to HDD control

systemctl status smartd.service

○ smartd.service - Self Monitoring and Reporting Technology (SMART) Daemon
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/smartd.service; disabled; preset: disabled)
     Active: inactive (dead)
       Docs: man:smartd(8)
             man:smartd.conf(5)

grep -v '^#' /etc/smartd.conf

DEVICESCAN

cat /etc/fstab

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a device; this may
# be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices that works even if
# disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system>                                   <mount point>  <type>  <options>  <dump>  <pass>
UUID=F9E6-F309                            /boot/efi      vfat    umask=0077 0 2
UUID=7aea8ba8-3b20-4594-b889-00213203a1dc /              ext4    defaults,noatime 0 1
tmpfs                                     /tmp           tmpfs   defaults,noatime,mode=1777 0 0

UUID=60DC604EDC602110                                     /disk/12       ntfs-3g uid=1000,gid=1000,umask=0022 0 0

UUID=005407915407891C                                     /disk/8        ntfs-3g uid=1000,gid=1000,umask=0022 0 0

UUID=081E27781E275DC6                                     /disk/4        ntfs-3g uid=1000,gid=1000,umask=0022 0 0

sudo dmesg | tail -n 200

[ 3737.373203] sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] Stopping disk
[ 3748.532305] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Synchronizing SCSI cache
[ 3748.534022] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Stopping disk
[ 3750.034123] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Synchronizing SCSI cache
[ 3750.035529] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Stopping disk
[ 4205.404804] ata5: SATA link up 6.0 Gbps (SStatus 133 SControl 300)
[ 4205.406241] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/133
[ 4205.406351] ata5.00: Entering active power mode
[ 4213.973340] sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] Starting disk
[ 4213.973579] sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] Starting disk
[ 4213.977357] sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] Starting disk
[ 4214.477642] ata6: SATA link up 6.0 Gbps (SStatus 133 SControl 300)
[ 4214.478197] ata6.00: supports DRM functions and may not be fully accessible
[ 4224.388658] ata6.00: supports DRM functions and may not be fully accessible
[ 4224.398010] ata6.00: configured for UDMA/133
[ 4224.400850] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Starting disk
[ 4224.418851] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Starting disk
[ 4224.420368] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Starting disk
[ 4224.805736] ata7: SATA link up 6.0 Gbps (SStatus 133 SControl 300)
[ 4233.753549] ata7.00: configured for UDMA/133
[ 4233.756274] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Starting disk
[ 4233.778579] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Starting disk
[ 4233.784496] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Starting disk
[ 4234.158407] ata8: SATA link up 6.0 Gbps (SStatus 133 SControl 300)
[ 4234.160195] ata8.00: supports DRM functions and may not be fully accessible
[ 4234.160706] ata8.00: NCQ Send/Recv Log not supported
[ 4234.162295] ata8.00: supports DRM functions and may not be fully accessible
[ 4234.162641] ata8.00: NCQ Send/Recv Log not supported
[ 4234.163869] ata8.00: configured for UDMA/133
[ 4234.173998] ahci 0000:00:17.0: port does not support device sleep
[ 4234.174086] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Starting disk
[ 4234.174219] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Starting disk
[ 4234.179425] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Starting disk
[ 4298.774912] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Synchronizing SCSI cache
[ 4298.776713] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Stopping disk
[ 4301.938702] sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] Synchronizing SCSI cache
[ 4301.939764] sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] Stopping disk
[ 4305.363219] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Synchronizing SCSI cache
[ 4305.366634] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Stopping disk
[ 4365.812559] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Synchronizing SCSI cache
[ 4365.814089] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Stopping disk
[ 4376.477165] ata7: SATA link up 6.0 Gbps (SStatus 133 SControl 300)
[ 4384.983569] ata7.00: configured for UDMA/133
[ 4384.986240] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Starting disk
[ 4385.001817] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Starting disk
[ 4385.004930] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Starting disk
[ 4459.725205] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Synchronizing SCSI cache
[ 4459.726644] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Stopping disk
[ 4755.479808] ata8: SATA link up 6.0 Gbps (SStatus 133 SControl 300)
[ 4755.481409] ata8.00: supports DRM functions and may not be fully accessible
[ 4755.481781] ata8.00: NCQ Send/Recv Log not supported
[ 4755.483147] ata8.00: supports DRM functions and may not be fully accessible
[ 4755.483498] ata8.00: NCQ Send/Recv Log not supported
[ 4755.484713] ata8.00: configured for UDMA/133
[ 4755.494841] ahci 0000:00:17.0: port does not support device sleep
[ 4755.494965] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Starting disk
[ 4755.495108] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Starting disk
[ 4755.496456] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Starting disk
[ 4756.269857] ata5: SATA link up 6.0 Gbps (SStatus 133 SControl 300)
[ 4756.271359] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/133
[ 4756.271478] ata5.00: Entering active power mode
[ 4764.917346] sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] Starting disk
[ 4764.917473] sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] Starting disk
[ 4764.919503] sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] Starting disk
[ 4765.463473] ata6: SATA link up 6.0 Gbps (SStatus 133 SControl 300)
[ 4765.464230] ata6.00: supports DRM functions and may not be fully accessible
[ 4775.483837] ata6.00: supports DRM functions and may not be fully accessible
[ 4775.492289] ata6.00: configured for UDMA/133
[ 4775.495051] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Starting disk
[ 4775.506827] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Starting disk
[ 4775.513546] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Starting disk
[ 4776.015197] ata7: SATA link up 6.0 Gbps (SStatus 133 SControl 300)
[ 4785.035400] ata7.00: configured for UDMA/133
[ 4785.038145] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Starting disk
[ 4785.053209] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Starting disk
[ 4785.055668] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Starting disk
[ 4877.365923] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Synchronizing SCSI cache
[ 4877.369588] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Stopping disk
[ 4877.929234] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Synchronizing SCSI cache
[ 4877.930736] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Stopping disk
[ 4893.621957] sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] Synchronizing SCSI cache
[ 4893.623123] sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] Stopping disk
[ 4895.110856] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Synchronizing SCSI cache
[ 4895.112638] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Stopping disk
[ 5405.411897] ata5: SATA link up 6.0 Gbps (SStatus 133 SControl 300)
[ 5405.414106] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/133
[ 5405.414228] ata5.00: Entering active power mode
[ 5413.975727] sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] Starting disk
[ 5413.976017] sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] Starting disk
[ 5413.977537] sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] Starting disk
[ 5414.475885] ata6: SATA link up 6.0 Gbps (SStatus 133 SControl 300)
[ 5414.476540] ata6.00: supports DRM functions and may not be fully accessible
[ 5424.403618] ata6.00: supports DRM functions and may not be fully accessible
[ 5424.412102] ata6.00: configured for UDMA/133
[ 5424.414892] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Starting disk
[ 5424.435420] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Starting disk
[ 5424.437415] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Starting disk
[ 5424.819719] ata7: SATA link up 6.0 Gbps (SStatus 133 SControl 300)
[ 5433.808593] ata7.00: configured for UDMA/133
[ 5433.811281] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Starting disk
[ 5433.825700] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Starting disk
[ 5433.828573] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Starting disk
[ 5434.171106] ata8: SATA link up 6.0 Gbps (SStatus 133 SControl 300)
[ 5434.172838] ata8.00: supports DRM functions and may not be fully accessible
[ 5434.173246] ata8.00: NCQ Send/Recv Log not supported
[ 5434.174914] ata8.00: supports DRM functions and may not be fully accessible
[ 5434.175259] ata8.00: NCQ Send/Recv Log not supported
[ 5434.176471] ata8.00: configured for UDMA/133
[ 5434.186581] ahci 0000:00:17.0: port does not support device sleep
[ 5434.186653] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Starting disk
[ 5434.186778] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Starting disk
[ 5434.193433] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Starting disk
[ 5488.976617] sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] Synchronizing SCSI cache
[ 5488.977833] sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] Stopping disk
[ 5499.426764] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Synchronizing SCSI cache
[ 5499.428940] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Stopping disk
[ 5505.368456] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Synchronizing SCSI cache
[ 5505.369926] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Stopping disk
[ 5508.982866] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Synchronizing SCSI cache
[ 5508.986301] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Stopping disk
[ 5654.431569] HDR SB:01 1a 02 00 a9 86 52 3b 1d 2f 9e 8b 6b 1c a3 0b
[ 5654.431582] HDR SB:3a 3d 47 40 f8 00 00 00 f8 00 f8 00 00 00 00 00
[ 5654.432184] HDR SB:01 1a 02 00 a9 86 52 3b 1d 2f 9e 8b 6b 1c a3 0b
[ 5654.432190] HDR SB:3a 3d 47 40 f8 00 00 00 f8 00 f8 00 00 00 00 00
[ 5654.436801] HDR SB:01 1a 02 00 a9 86 52 3b 1d 2f 9e 8b 6b 1c a3 0b
[ 5654.436813] HDR SB:3a 3d 47 40 f8 00 00 00 f8 00 f8 00 00 00 00 00
[ 5660.344428] HDR SB:01 1a 02 00 a9 86 52 3b 1d 2f 9e 8b 6b 1c a3 0b
[ 5660.344445] HDR SB:3a 3d 47 40 f8 00 00 00 f8 00 f8 00 00 00 00 00
[ 5984.484571] ata7: SATA link up 6.0 Gbps (SStatus 133 SControl 300)
[ 5993.488189] ata7.00: configured for UDMA/133
[ 5993.490968] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Starting disk
[ 5993.506425] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Starting disk
[ 5993.507946] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Starting disk
[ 6005.389390] ata5: SATA link up 6.0 Gbps (SStatus 133 SControl 300)
[ 6005.391206] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/133
[ 6005.391319] ata5.00: Entering active power mode
[ 6013.937127] sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] Starting disk
[ 6013.937325] sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] Starting disk
[ 6013.942059] sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] Starting disk
[ 6014.372763] ata6: SATA link up 6.0 Gbps (SStatus 133 SControl 300)
[ 6014.373220] ata6.00: supports DRM functions and may not be fully accessible
[ 6024.335648] ata6.00: supports DRM functions and may not be fully accessible
[ 6024.344433] ata6.00: configured for UDMA/133
[ 6024.347219] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Starting disk
[ 6024.368857] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Starting disk
[ 6024.373235] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Starting disk
[ 6024.733529] ata8: SATA link up 6.0 Gbps (SStatus 133 SControl 300)
[ 6024.735255] ata8.00: supports DRM functions and may not be fully accessible
[ 6024.735798] ata8.00: NCQ Send/Recv Log not supported
[ 6024.737286] ata8.00: supports DRM functions and may not be fully accessible
[ 6024.737631] ata8.00: NCQ Send/Recv Log not supported
[ 6024.738869] ata8.00: configured for UDMA/133
[ 6024.748983] ahci 0000:00:17.0: port does not support device sleep
[ 6024.749109] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Starting disk
[ 6024.749299] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Starting disk
[ 6024.754161] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Starting disk
[ 6097.465742] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Synchronizing SCSI cache
[ 6097.467288] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Stopping disk
[ 6099.182359] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Synchronizing SCSI cache
[ 6099.182392] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Synchronizing SCSI cache
[ 6099.185902] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Stopping disk
[ 6099.186983] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Stopping disk
[ 6105.371248] sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] Synchronizing SCSI cache
[ 6105.372453] sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] Stopping disk
[ 6605.344165] ata5: SATA link up 6.0 Gbps (SStatus 133 SControl 300)
[ 6605.345987] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/133
[ 6605.346107] ata5.00: Entering active power mode
[ 6613.893671] sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] Starting disk
[ 6613.893881] sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] Starting disk
[ 6613.898876] sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] Starting disk
[ 6614.343943] ata6: SATA link up 6.0 Gbps (SStatus 133 SControl 300)
[ 6614.344523] ata6.00: supports DRM functions and may not be fully accessible
[ 6624.238330] ata6.00: supports DRM functions and may not be fully accessible
[ 6624.246819] ata6.00: configured for UDMA/133
[ 6624.249586] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Starting disk
[ 6624.266347] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Starting disk
[ 6624.267880] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Starting disk
[ 6624.613183] ata7: SATA link up 6.0 Gbps (SStatus 133 SControl 300)
[ 6633.607888] ata7.00: configured for UDMA/133
[ 6633.610539] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Starting disk
[ 6633.625915] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Starting disk
[ 6633.632912] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Starting disk
[ 6633.966726] ata8: SATA link up 6.0 Gbps (SStatus 133 SControl 300)
[ 6633.968344] ata8.00: supports DRM functions and may not be fully accessible
[ 6633.968731] ata8.00: NCQ Send/Recv Log not supported
[ 6633.970124] ata8.00: supports DRM functions and may not be fully accessible
[ 6633.970443] ata8.00: NCQ Send/Recv Log not supported
[ 6633.971626] ata8.00: configured for UDMA/133
[ 6633.981736] ahci 0000:00:17.0: port does not support device sleep
[ 6633.981794] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Starting disk
[ 6633.982331] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Starting disk
[ 6633.982905] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Starting disk
[ 6685.501900] sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] Synchronizing SCSI cache
[ 6685.503115] sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] Stopping disk
[ 6699.266144] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Synchronizing SCSI cache
[ 6699.268128] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Stopping disk
[ 6708.626168] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Synchronizing SCSI cache
[ 6708.627599] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Stopping disk
[ 6708.807077] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Synchronizing SCSI cache
[ 6708.810652] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Stopping disk
``

Whack · 6 May 2025 05:08

Update:
Disabling udisks2 stopped SMART from being re-enabled after x minutes.

sudo systemctl mask udisks2

I do lose mounting drives in Dolphin because of this.

EDIT: Not sure if I should mark this solved? I don’t know whether it’s udisks2 doing this by itself or if it’s another program is calling for udisks2.
I dove into the udisks man pages but can’t find anything useful that describes this behavior.

EDIT #2: It appears issues related to this behavior has been going on for very long. Leading back to aggressive SMART checking/housekeeping.

2011 - Bug #638765 “udisks wakes up unmounted drives from standby with ...” : Bugs : udisks package : Ubuntu
2014 - https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/udisks2/+bug/1281588
2017 - Please let me configure the housekeeping interval or otherwise unbreak externally configured spindown · Issue #407 · storaged-project/udisks · GitHub
2020 - Bug #1899361 “udisk prevent disk from standby, standby timer is ...” : Bugs : udisks2 package : Ubuntu

EDIT #3:
Possible workarounds:

github.com/storaged-project/udisks

Please let me configure the housekeeping interval or otherwise unbreak externally configured spindown

opened 05:52AM - 17 Sep 17 UTC

anordal

enhancement config

Let's solve [this issue](https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/udisks2/+bug/…1281588). I have 2 old Western Digital IDE harddisks that won't spin down when udisksd is running (unless I set their spindown timeout really short). I've had to: sudo kill -SIGSTOP udisksd and sudo kill -SIGCONT udisksd in order to hang/unhang the daemon as needed. I tested modifying usisksd to set its housekeeping timeout really high (way outside the configurable spindown timeout for good measure) and that works for me: ```diff --- a/src/udiskslinuxprovider.c +++ b/src/udiskslinuxprovider.c @@ -660,7 +660,7 @@ udisks_linux_provider_start (UDisksProvider *_provider) udisks_info ("Initialization complete"); /* schedule housekeeping for every 10 minutes */ - provider->housekeeping_timeout = g_timeout_add_seconds (10*60, + provider->housekeeping_timeout = g_timeout_add_seconds (13*60*60, on_housekeeping_timeout, provider); ``` A less hardcoded solution would be highly appreciated, so I don't have to run a custom version of udsiksd. Maybe some sort of blacklist of disks not to poll too often, as a configuration file.

system · 9 May 2025 05:08

This topic was automatically closed 3 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.