DEVKIT\-DISKS

Section: devkit-disks (1)
Updated: April 2008
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NAME

devkit-disks - DeviceKit-disks command line tool  

SYNOPSIS

devkit-disks [OPTIONS]
 

DESCRIPTION

devkit-disks

is a simple command line client for the DeviceKit-disks(7) system bus service.  

OPTIONS

--dump

Dump all information about all devices. Please include this when filing bugs.

--enumerate

Lists all object paths of devices know to the daemon.

--enumerate-device-files

Lists all device files of devices know to the daemon.

--monitor

Connect to the daemon and print a line every time an event happens.

--monitor-detail

Like --monitor but prints the full details of the device whenever an event happens.

--show-info device_file

Shows information about device_file.

--inhibit-polling device_file [-- program arg ...]

Inhibits polling on device_file. If no program is given, polling is inhibited until Ctrl+C is pressed. Otherwise the program is spawned and the polling is only inhibited until the program terminates.

--poll-for-media device_file

Polls device_file to perform media detection.

--inhibit-all-polling [-- program arg ...]

Inhibits polling on all devices. If no program is given, polling is inhibited until Ctrl+C is pressed. Otherwise the program is spawned and the polling is only inhibited until the program terminates.

--mount device_file [--mount-fstype fstype] [--mount-options options]

Mounts the device represented by device_file using the file system fstype and a comma-separated list of options.

--unmount device_file [--unmount-options options]

Unmounts the device represented by device_file using a comma-separated list of options.

--detach device_file [--detach-options options]

Detaches (e.g. powering down the physical port the device is connected to) the device represented by device_file using a comma-separated list of options.

--ata-smart-refresh device_file [--ata-smart-wakeup]

Refreshes ATA SMART data for device_file. If the disk is sleeping it will not be woken up unless --ata-smart-wakeup is passed. will be used.

--ata-smart-refresh device_file --ata-smart-simulate blob

Read ATA SMART data from blob for device_file. This can only be done by the super user and is typically used for testing that clients relying on the ATA SMART data provided by DeviceKit-disks behave correctly. The libatasmart git repository at m[blue]http://git.0pointer.de/?p=libatasmart.git;a=summarym[] contains a collection of blobs from failing disks.

--inhibit [-- program arg ...]

Inhibits clients from invoking methods on the daemon that require authorization (all methods will return the org.freedesktop.DeviceKit.Disks.Error.Inhibited error) if the caller is not the super user. This is typically used by OS installers and other programs that expects full control of the system, specifically to avoid automounting devices. Only the super user can do this.

If no program is given, the daemon is inhibited until Ctrl+C is pressed. Otherwise the program is spawned and the daemon is only inhibited until the program terminates.

--set-spindown device_file --spindown-timeout seconds [-- program arg ...]

Configures disk spindown timeout on device_file to seconds. See the section called lqSPINNING DOWN DISKSrq for important information before using this option.

If no program is given, the spindown time will be used until Ctrl+C is pressed. Otherwise the program is spawned and the the spindown timeout will only be used until the program terminates.

--set-spindown-all --spindown-timeout seconds [-- program arg ...]

Configures disk spindown timeout on all disks that can be spun down to seconds. See the section called lqSPINNING DOWN DISKSrq for important information before using this option.

If no program is given, the spindown time will be used until Ctrl+C is pressed. Otherwise the program is spawned and the the spindown timeout will only be used until the program terminates.

--help

Show help options.
 

SPINNING DOWN DISKS

Caution should be exercised when configuring disk spin down timeouts.

Note that every time a disk is spun down, the lqstart-stop-countrq ATA SMART attribute will increase by 1 and most disks are only good for a limited number (typically 50,000 but it varies by manufacturer and model). In addition, the drive may take as long as 30 seconds to respond to subsequent disk access - most drives are typically faster, see the lqspin-up-timerq ATA SMART attribute.

On the other hand, cautious use (e.g. using conservative timeouts) of the ability to spin down disks, can be a good way to trade power consumption (typically 8 vs 1 Watts for 3.5" drives) and heat emission for a slightly higher latency.  

AUTHOR

Written by David Zeuthen david@fubar.dk with a lot of help from many others.  

BUGS

Please send bug reports to either the distribution or the hal mailing list, see m[blue]http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/halm[] on how to subscribe.  

SEE ALSO

devkit-disks-daemon(8), DeviceKit-disks(7),