Seagate Enterprise Performance 10K HDD v8 Product Manual, Rev. A
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6.0
Physical/electrical specifications
This section provides information relating to the physical and electrical characteristics of the drive.
6.1
PowerChoice
TM
power management
Drives using the load/unload architecture provide programmable power management to tailor systems for performance and greater
energy efficiency.
The table below lists the supported PowerChoice modes. The further down in the table, the more power savings can be realized. For
example, Idle_B mode results in greater power savings than Idle_A mode. Standby modes results in the greatest power savings.
PowerChoice modes
PowerChoice
TM
can be invoked using one of these two methods:
• Power Condition mode page method—Enable and initialize the idle condition timers and/or the standby condition timers. The
timer values are based on the values set in the Power Condition mode page.
• START STOP UNIT command method—Use the START STOP UNIT command (OPERATION CODE 1Bh). This allows the host to
directly transition the drive to any supported PowerChoice mode.
If both the Power Condition mode page and START STOP UNIT command methods are used, the START STOP UNIT command request
takes precedence over the Power Condition mode page power control and may disable the idle condition and standby condition
timers. The REQUEST SENSE command reports the current PowerChoice state if active and also the method by which the drive
entered the PowerChoice state.
When the drive receives a command, all power condition timers are suspended if they were enabled via the Power Condition mode
page. Once all outstanding commands are processed, the power condition timers are reinitialized to the values defined in the Power
Condition mode page.
Mode
Description
Idle_A
Reduced electronics
Idle_B
Heads unloaded. Disks spinning at full RPM
Idle_C
Heads unloaded. Disks spinning at reduced RPM
Standby_Y
Heads unloaded. Disks spinning at reduced RPM
Standby_Z
Heads unloaded. Motor stopped (disks not spinning)
