hdparm | Cheatsheet¶

Get/set fs readahead¶

hdparm -a /dev/sdb

Get/set the drive look-ahead flag (0/1)¶

hdparm -A  /dev/sdb

Get/set bus state (0 == off, 1 == on, 2 == tristate)¶

hdparm -b /dev/sdb

Set Advanced Power Management setting (1-255)¶

hdparm -B /dev/sdb

Get/set IDE 32-bit IO setting¶

hdparm -c /dev/sdb

Check drive power mode status¶

hdparm -C /dev/sdb

Get/set using_dma flag¶

hdparm -d /dev/sdb

Enable/disable drive defect management¶

hdparm -D /dev/sdb

Set cd/dvd drive speed¶

hdparm -E /dev/sdb

Flush buffer cache for device on exit¶

hdparm -f /dev/sdb

Flush drive write cache¶

hdparm -F /dev/sdb

Display drive geometry¶

hdparm -g /dev/sdb

Display terse usage information¶

hdparm -h /dev/sdb

Read temperature from drive (Hitachi only)¶

hdparm -H /dev/sdb

Display drive identification¶

hdparm -i /dev/sdb

Detailed/current information directly from drive¶

hdparm -I /dev/sdb

Get/set Western DIgital "Idle3" timeout for a WDC "Green" drive (DANGEROUS)¶

hdparm -J /dev/sdb

Get/set keep_settings_over_reset flag (0/1)¶

hdparm -k /dev/sdb

Set drive keep_features_over_reset flag (0/1)¶

hdparm -K /dev/sdb

Set drive doorlock (0/1) (removable harddisks only)¶

hdparm -L /dev/sdb

Get/set multiple sector count¶

hdparm -m /dev/sdb

Get/set acoustic management (0-254, 128: quiet, 254: fast)¶

hdparm -M /dev/sdb

Get/set ignore-write-errors flag (0/1)¶

hdparm -n /dev/sdb

Get/set max visible number of sectors (HPA) (VERY DANGEROUS)¶

hdparm -N /dev/sdb

Set PIO mode on IDE interface chipset (0,1,2,3,4,...)¶

hdparm -p /dev/sdb

Set drive prefetch count¶

hdparm -P /dev/sdb

Change next setting quietly¶

hdparm -q /dev/sdb

Get/set DMA queue_depth (if supported)¶

hdparm -Q /dev/sdb

Get/set device readonly flag (DANGEROUS to set)¶

hdparm -r /dev/sdb

Get/set device write-read-verify flag¶

hdparm -R /dev/sdb

Set power-up in standby flag (0/1) (DANGEROUS)¶

hdparm -s /dev/sdb

Set standby (spindown) timeout¶

hdparm -S /dev/sdb

Perform device read timings¶

hdparm -t /dev/sdb

Perform cache read timings¶

hdparm -T /dev/sdb

Get/set unmaskirq flag (0/1)¶

hdparm -u /dev/sdb

Obsolete¶

hdparm -U /dev/sdb

Use defaults; same as -acdgkmur for IDE drives¶

hdparm -v /dev/sdb

Display program version and exit immediately¶

hdparm -V /dev/sdb

Perform device reset (DANGEROUS)¶

hdparm -w /dev/sdb

Get/set drive write-caching flag (0/1)¶

hdparm -W /dev/sdb

Obsolote¶

hdparm -x /dev/sdb

Set IDE xfer mode (DANGEROUS)¶

hdparm -X /dev/sdb

Put drive in standby mode¶

hdparm -y /dev/sdb

Put drive to sleep¶

hdparm -Y /dev/sdb

Re-read partition table¶

hdparm -z /dev/sdb

Disable Seagate auto-powersaving mode¶

hdparm -Z /dev/sdb

Perform device read timings¶

hdparm -t /dev/sda

Perform cache read timings¶

hdparm -T /dev/sda

Check read speeds¶

hdparm -tT /dev/sda

Check drive power mode status¶

hdparm -C /dev/sda 2> /dev/null|grep state

Freeze/lock current device configuration until next power cycle¶

hdparm --dco-freeze /dev/sdb

Read/dump device configuration identify data¶

hdparm --dco-identify /dev/sdb

Reset device configuration back to factory defaults¶

hdparm --dco-restore /dev/sdb

Use DCO to set maximum addressable sectors¶

hdparm --dco-setmax /dev/sdb

Use O_DIRECT to bypass page cache for timings¶

hdparm --direct /dev/sdb

Crash system with a "stuck DRQ" error (VERY DANGEROUS)¶

hdparm --drq-hsm-error /dev/sdb

Create a file without writing data to disk¶

hdparm --fallocate /dev/sdb

Show device extents (and fragmentation) for a file¶

hdparm --fibmap /dev/sdb

Download firmware file to drive (EXTREMELY DANGEROUS)¶

hdparm --fwdownload /dev/sdb

Download firmware using min-size segments (EXTREMELY DANGEROUS)¶

hdparm --fwdownload-mode3 /dev/sdb

Download firmware using max-size segments (EXTREMELY DANGEROUS)¶

hdparm --fwdownload-mode3-max /dev/sdb

Download firmware using a single segment (EXTREMELY DANGEROUS)¶

hdparm --fwdownload-mode7 /dev/sdb

Download firmware using mode E (min-size segments) (EXTREMELY DANGEROUS)¶

hdparm --fwdownload-modee /dev/sdb

Download firmware using mode E (max-size segments) (EXTREMELY DANGEROUS)¶

hdparm --fwdownload-modee-max /dev/sdb

Idle drive immediately¶

hdparm --idle-immediate /dev/sdb

Idle immediately and unload heads¶

hdparm --idle-unload /dev/sdb

Write raw binary identify data to the specfied file¶

hdparm --Iraw filename /dev/sdb

Read identify data from stdin as ASCII hex¶

hdparm --Istdin /dev/sdb

Write identify data to stdout as ASCII hex¶

hdparm --Istdout /dev/sdb

Deliberately corrupt a sector directly on the media (VERY DANGEROUS)¶

hdparm --make-bad-sector /dev/sdb

use with -t, to begin timings at given offset (in GiB) from start of drive¶

hdparm --offset /dev/sdb

Use 12-byte (instead of 16-byte) SAT commands when possible¶

hdparm --prefer-ata12 /dev/sdb

Read and dump (in hex) a sector directly from the media¶

hdparm --read-sector /dev/sdb

Alias for the --write-sector option (VERY DANGEROUS)¶

hdparm --repair-sector /dev/sdb

Block sanitize-freeze-lock command until next power cycle¶

hdparm --sanitize-antifreeze-lock /dev/sdb

Start block erase operation¶

hdparm --sanitize-block-erase /dev/sdb

Change the internal encryption keys that used for used¶

hdparm --sanitize-crypto-scramble /dev/sdb

Lock drive's sanitize features until next power cycle¶

hdparm --sanitize-freeze-lock  /dev/sdb

Overwrite the internal media with constant PATTERN¶

hdparm --sanitize-overwrite PATTERN /dev/sdb

Number of overwrite passes from 0 to 7, default 0 means 16 passes¶

hdparm --sanitize-overwrite-passes COUNT /dev/sdb  

Show sanitize status information¶

hdparm --sanitize-status /dev/sdb          

Display help for ATA security commands¶

hdparm --security-help /dev/sdb             

Change logical sector size of drive¶

hdparm --set-sector-size /dev/sdb          

Tell SSD firmware to discard unneeded data sectors:¶

hdparm --trim-sector-ranges /dev/sdb       

Same as above, but reads lba:count pairs from stdin¶

hdparm --trim-sector-ranges-stdin /dev/sdb  

Display extra diagnostics from some commands¶

hdparm --verbose /dev/sdb        

Repair/overwrite a (possibly bad) sector directly on the media (VERY DANGEROUS)¶

hdparm --write-sector /dev/sdb