Simple WDIDLE3.EXE Setup

[danielalvers]

I hope this information is of help to others. I had purchased a WD WD20EADS drive before I realised the LLC issues. After only a week the S.M.A.R.T interface on my DS110j had the load_cycle_count at over 30,000.

Of all the instructions to build a bootable CD and run WDIDLE3.EXE this site had the simplest approach. I used the WDIDLE3.EXE /S300 rather than disabling the function entirely. Since doing this I reduced the LCC from 85/hr to virtually zero. Just throught someone else my find the simple boot disk setup of an assistance.

http://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic ... 3&start=15

1. Downloaded FDOEMCD.builder.zip from http://www.fdos.org/bootdisks/.
2. Added wdidle3.exe to CDROOT folder. ( http://www.synology.com/support/faq_ima ... didle3.zip )
3. Executed MAKEISO.BAT to create new FDOEM.ISO CD image file.
4. Burned FDOEM.ISO to CD and viola - it will boot to DOS and allows wdidle3 to run.
5. Disabled wdidle3 timer on all discs (I'm actually using WD20EADS)

[csci1000]

danielalvers,

I purchased 1.5TB Green WD as well and following your instructions below.

what is "WDIDLE3.EXE /S300 " ? is that command in DOS after you rebooted? and what does S300 do? I read elsewhere that drive head gets parked after 8seconds of idle time. Does this change that timer?
What I issue wdidle3.exe comman after reboot, all it gives me is details for each drive and they are 8000 milliseconds. BUT how do I change it please?

can you help here pls?
thank you

[DarkDeveloper]

Yes, "WDIDLE3.EXE /S300" is the command to run. "/S300" sets the idle timer to it's new value.
I don't know how many seconds you will get with a value of 300 though. I ran the command with "/D" which disables the timer completely on old drives and sets it to 62 minutes with new ones.

[dewess]

Thank you Daniel!

Your setup worked perfectly for my WD20EADS-00S2B0

I used the command in DOS [WDIDLE3 /d] the "d" should disable the idle3 but...
I got the response [WDIDLE3 is enable to 62 minutes]

My load count is now gone. Happy new year

/Dan

[drognib]

I hope this information is of help to others. I had purchased a WD WD20EADS drive before I realised the LLC issues. After only a week the S.M.A.R.T interface on my DS110j had the load_cycle_count at over 30,000.

Of all the instructions to build a bootable CD and run WDIDLE3.EXE this site had the simplest approach. I used the WDIDLE3.EXE /S300 rather than disabling the function entirely. Since doing this I reduced the LCC from 85/hr to virtually zero. Just throught someone else my find the simple boot disk setup of an assistance.

http://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic ... 3&start=15

1. Downloaded FDOEMCD.builder.zip from http://www.fdos.org/bootdisks/.
2. Added wdidle3.exe to CDROOT folder. ( http://www.synology.com/support/faq_ima ... didle3.zip )
3. Executed MAKEISO.BAT to create new FDOEM.ISO CD image file.
4. Burned FDOEM.ISO to CD and viola - it will boot to DOS and allows wdidle3 to run.
5. Disabled wdidle3 timer on all discs (I'm actually using WD20EADS)

I've been googling like mad trying to fix this problem I only accidentally discovered I have with my (sigh) brand-new drive. I appreciate your detailed instructions even though I haven't been able to get them to work (not your fault). My drive is a WDC WD10EADS-00M. I installed dosbox, ran the command WDIDLE3 at the C prompt, and got this:

WDIDLE3 Version 1.03
Copyright (C) 2005-2008 Western Digital Corp.
Configure Idle3

No drives were detected. If hard drives are in the system, then perhaps the controller is not supported. Please contact your Western Digital Representative.

Does this mean I'm out of luck or is there something else I'm supposed to do that I haven't? I tried making the bootable CD but couldn't. Neither MAKEISO.BAT nor MAKEISO was recognized as a command. (Do your instructions assume that the user is running Windows?) Should it make any difference whether I'm booting from the CD or running a DOS emulator in Linux? I'm beginning to suspect that I'm just out the money I spent on this piece of crapware. From the remarks I'm seeing contacting "my Western Digital Representative" would be about as useful as stabbing myself in the butt with a fork. TIA for any insights you can offer.

[mfog]

How to address the LCC (load_cycle_count) issue with an Apple Macintosh setup?

Installed a WD20EADS (Wester Digital 2 TB harddrive with firmware 01.00A01) on my brand new Synology 110j (running DSM 2.3-1139, setup done by Synology Assistent 2.3-1134) less than 48 hours ago.

For several of these hours I've been filling the drive with data - so the drive hasn't been idle for much of that time. But already it has a LLC of 1000+ ...! When idle (or when it should be idle as there is no activity) the LLC increase by approx. 100/hour. That seems strange ...!

The WD hd (WD20EADS) is on Synology's compatibility list: http://www.synology.com/support/faq_sho ... 0&lang=enu

From WD support I learned that this issue is Unix/Linus OS not doing well with the WD hd's power saving features: http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg ... _topview=1

Could it really be that Unix/Linux isn't capable of taking advantage of the 'green' features of the WD hd's? Did buy the WD20EADS because of the power saving features!!!

Disabling the WD Idle 3 timer (as suggested by both WD support - above - and by Synology support - http://www.synology.com/support/faq_sho ... 7&lang=enu) seems to be a 'ugly' workaround! AND running all macs I haven't neither the hardware nor the experience to run the WDIDLE3.EXE ...

Please provide a solution to this 'incompatibility' between the Unix/Linux OS on the DS110j and the power saving features of the WD20EADS that can be use through the Synology Assistant (running on Mac OS X)!

[Fralex]

The LLC on my WD20EARS was increasing at a rate of about 100 per hour.

Using the WDIDLE3 procedure with /S300 (giving 5 minutes instead of the default 8 secs) did work fine.

Strangely only the first WDIDLE3 command worked at the DOS prompt.
If I was first trying a WDIDLE3 to get the current value then a WDIDLE3 /S300, the second one was failling.
Doing WDIDLE3 /S300 as the first command did the trick.

Thanks!

[isiden]

Pls i need help...
i'm trying to do this procedure, but I'm running win 7 64bit, and the FDOEMCD makeiso.bat says it only rus under 32bit systems?
pls any suggestions to do the trick?

or could someone be so kind to upload or send me an already compiled FDOEMCD.ISO with wdile3 so that i can burn and use it?

thanks in advance

[isiden]

Thanks solved

[christof.k]

Hi,

now I'm searching for an hour for a solution to use wdidle3 on a laptop but can't find anything.
Does anybody know if there is a solution out there to use wdidle3 on a 3,5" HD without a PC?

Thanks
Christof

[cockbongo]

How to address the LCC (load_cycle_count) issue with an Apple Macintosh setup?

Installed a WD20EADS (Wester Digital 2 TB harddrive with firmware 01.00A01) on my brand new Synology 110j (running DSM 2.3-1139, setup done by Synology Assistent 2.3-1134) less than 48 hours ago.

For several of these hours I've been filling the drive with data - so the drive hasn't been idle for much of that time. But already it has a LLC of 1000+ ...! When idle (or when it should be idle as there is no activity) the LLC increase by approx. 100/hour. That seems strange ...!

The WD hd (WD20EADS) is on Synology's compatibility list: http://www.synology.com/support/faq_sho ... 0&lang=enu

From WD support I learned that this issue is Unix/Linus OS not doing well with the WD hd's power saving features: http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg ... _topview=1

Could it really be that Unix/Linux isn't capable of taking advantage of the 'green' features of the WD hd's? Did buy the WD20EADS because of the power saving features!!!

Disabling the WD Idle 3 timer (as suggested by both WD support - above - and by Synology support - http://www.synology.com/support/faq_sho ... 7&lang=enu) seems to be a 'ugly' workaround! AND running all macs I haven't neither the hardware nor the experience to run the WDIDLE3.EXE ...

Please provide a solution to this 'incompatibility' between the Unix/Linux OS on the DS110j and the power saving features of the WD20EADS that can be use through the Synology Assistant (running on Mac OS X)!

I'd like to agree 100% here - i have a MacOS setup and desparately need some support with this fix.

Can anyone help?

[nmakk]

I need a solution to this on Apple Mac as well. I bought the drive based on the compatibility list on synology page -- there was absolutely no mention on LCC issues with the WD EACS drives...

So, please could you offer some thoughts how to apply this workaround without having a PC?

thanks.

[Luc]

I hope this information is of help to others.
1. Downloaded FDOEMCD.builder.zip from http://www.fdos.org/bootdisks/.
2. Added wdidle3.exe to CDROOT folder. ( http://www.synology.com/support/faq_ima ... didle3.zip )
3. Executed MAKEISO.BAT to create new FDOEM.ISO CD image file.
4. Burned FDOEM.ISO to CD and viola - it will boot to DOS and allows wdidle3 to run.
5. Disabled wdidle3 timer on all discs (I'm actually using WD20EADS)

Thank you Daniel, Your solution worked perfect for me!
I tried before a couple of DOSxxx.iso files, but they all reported bad (CD?) drivers.
The isolinux boot version you mentioned worked fine.
I changed the idle timer from 8.0 s to 300 s and since then the Load_Cycle_Counts on my WDC WD15EARS-00S stayed the same.
(LCC=111581 after 14 months use; average: 11.3/h; that means each 5.3 s !!!).
Cheers, Luc

[Luc]

LCC=111581 after 14 months use; average: 11.3/h

I made a mistake: my DS209+II is 14 months old, but I bought my WD disks 1.5 months ago.
So the average LCC per hour is 106; that means a load/unload cycle each 34 s.
Cheers, Luc

[harpua]

Pls i need help...
i'm trying to do this procedure, but I'm running win 7 64bit, and the FDOEMCD makeiso.bat says it only rus under 32bit systems?
pls any suggestions to do the trick?

or could someone be so kind to upload or send me an already compiled FDOEMCD.ISO with wdile3 so that i can burn and use it?

thanks in advance

Hi all,

I have the same problem as in the above quote. I'm running W7 x64. Could someone please upload or otherwise make available an already complied FDOEMCD.ISO with wdidle3 so that I can burn it and use it to fix my WD 2TB EADS drive?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.