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35 .Nd a program to manipulate ATA (IDE) devices and busses
46 allows a user or system administrator to issue commands to and otherwise
47 control devices which reside on standard IDE and ATA controllers, or
49 It is used by specifying a device or bus to manipulate,
50 the command to perform, and any arguments the command may require.
52 The following commands may be used on IDE and ATA devices.
53 Note that not all devices support all commands.
54 .Bl -tag -width setidleXX
56 Identify the specified device, displaying the device's vendor, product,
57 revision strings, and the device's capabilities.
59 Place the specified device into Idle mode.
60 This mode may consume less power than Active mode.
62 Place the specified device into Standby mode.
63 This mode will consume less power than Idle mode.
65 Place the specified device into Sleep mode.
66 This mode will consume less power than Standby mode,
67 but requires a device reset to resume operation.
70 driver performs this reset automatically,
71 but this should still be used with caution.
72 .It Cm setidle Ar idle-timer
73 Places the specified device into Idle mode,
74 and sets the Idle timer to
77 A value of 0 will disable the Idle timer.
78 .It Cm setstandby Ar standby-timer
79 Places the specified device into Standby mode,
80 and sets the Standby timer to
83 A value of 0 will disable the Standby timer.
85 Will print out if the device is in Active, Idle, or Standby power
87 .It Cm apm Bq Ar disable | set #
88 Controls the Advanced Power Management feature of the specified device.
89 Advanced Power Management is an optional feature used to specify a power
90 management level to balance between device performance and power consumption.
91 .Bl -tag -width selftestXlogXX
93 Disable the Advanced Power Management.
95 Enable the Advanced Power Management feature and set its level to the value #,
96 where # is an integer within the scale 0-253; being 0 the mode with the
97 lowest power consumption (and thus the worse performance) and 253 the mode
98 which provides the better performance at a cost of more power consumption.
100 It should be noted that the effect of the value need not be continous.
101 For example, a device might provide only two modes: one from 0 to 126
102 and other from 127 to 253.
103 Per the specification, values of 127 and higher do not permit the device
104 to spin down to save power.
106 .It Cm smart Bq Ar enable | disable | status | offline # | error-log | selftest-log
107 Controls SMART feature set of the specified device.
108 SMART stands for Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology.
109 It provides an early warning system by comparing subtle operation
110 characteristics to those determined in vendor testing
111 to precede device failures.
112 .Bl -tag -width selftestXlogXX
114 Enables access to SMART capabilities within the device.
115 Prior to being enabled, a SMART capable device neither
116 monitors nor saves SMART attribute values.
117 The state of SMART, either enabled or disabled, will
118 be preserved by the device across power cycles.
120 Disables access to SMART capabilities within the device.
121 Attribute values will be saved, and will no longer be monitored.
123 Reports whether SMART is supported by the device, and whether SMART is
124 enabled on the device (can only be determined on ATA6 or better devices).
125 If SMART is enabled, then a table of attribute information is printed.
126 Attributes are the specific performance or calibration parameters that
127 are used in analyzing the status of the device.
128 The specific set of attributes being used and the identity of
129 these attributes is vendor specific and proprietary.
131 Attribute values are used to represent the relative reliability of
132 individual performance or calibration parameters.
133 The valid range of attribute values is from 1 to 253 decimal.
134 Lower values indicate that the analysis algorithms being used by the device
135 are predicting a higher probability of a degrading or faulty condition.
137 Each attribute value has a corresponding threshold limit which is used for
138 direct comparison to the attribute value to indicate the existence of a
139 degrading or faulty condition.
140 The numerical value of the attribute thresholds are determined by the
141 device manufacturer through design and reliability testing and analysis.
142 Each attribute threshold represents the lowest limit to which its
143 corresponding attribute value can equal while still retaining a
144 positive reliability status.
148 then negative reliability of this attribute
149 predicts imminent data loss.
150 Otherwise it merely indicates that the intended design life period
151 of usage or age has been exceeded.
152 The collect field indicates whether this attribute is updated while the
154 The reliability field indicates whether the attribute
155 value is within the acceptable threshold.
157 Runs the numbered offline self-test on the drive.
159 Prints the error log.
161 Prints the self-test log.
163 .It Cm security Bq Ar freeze | status
166 (password protection) features of modern ATA drives.
167 The security commands are intended to be issued by low-level
168 software (firmware / BIOS) only.
169 Generally, the security status should be
171 before the operating system is started so that misbehaving or malicious
172 software cannot set or change a password.
173 Older and buggy BIOSes neglect to do so; in these cases it might make
176 command early in the boot process.
177 .Bl -tag -width freezeXX
179 freezes the drive's security status
181 displays the drive's security status
185 The following commands may be used on IDE and ATA busses.
186 Note that not all devices support all commands.
187 .Bl -tag -width resetXX
190 This will reset all ATA devices present on the bus.
191 Any ATAPI device with pending commands will also be reset.
201 command first appeared in
206 command was written by Ken Hornstein.
207 It was based heavily on the
209 command written by Jason R. Thorpe.
213 command is rather ugly.