[RPi4] Constant access on external drives

    Hello,

    i have a issue with LibreElec. For cleaning a mess under TV i moved my RPi4 to new case (Argon One V2), and my drive to new external box (EE35-XA3) and added second external drive with same box. I installed new LE 12.2 to mSD card, then i used a system backup from old card.

    When i do all of this together, i have problem with drive sleeping mode. For first i thinked is something wrong with sleep function. I created a hdparm autorun.sh script to set drive sleeping, nothing happened, until i set sleep time to 1 (5 seconds). Then drives start sleeping corretly, but after few seconds then spin again, sleep again an go on. So its never issue with drive sleeping, but system constantly trying to wake up drives with accessing to them. And i dont know why. All others devices home i shut off to prevent some samba access to drives, but alone LE still waking up drives.

    Before i havent issue with this. I changed a box, and SATA/USB conventer. Before i using some Axagon external conventer, now it is integrated in Axagon box.

    Drives are formatted to exFAT, because i need copy data from Windows machine. I know, ext4 is be better for Linux based OS, but i have exFAT before too, and i have no issues with that.

    So now i writing here, do have anybody a idea, what could be wrong? Can i found in LE, which component trying almost constantly access to drives?

    Thank you.

    Hi, first I would to try a fresh, minimal install on a spare SDcard. With default skin and without any addons. And if the drives going well to sleep, would try to add modifications, step by step. That could work if the drive sleep issue coming from an additional app.

    Ok, will try a bare LE installation. But im using very small number of addons. Only new addon, which i installed after change was for ArgonOne case support (power button, LED, FAN and IR). But i think im not only user, which using this case, and ask i know i don´t found any complaints.

    But i will prepare a new SD with bare OS, if drives will have sleep properly on default config.

    Code
    lsof | grep /media/USBDRIVE

    This ^ will tell you the processes that are interacting with the disk (at the time you run the command). It might just show Kodi which is not helpful, but might also show you something else on the system that's keeping it awake.

    Quote from chewitt
    Code
    lsof | grep /media/USBDRIVE

    This ^ will tell you the processes that are interacting with the disk (at the time you run the command). It might just show Kodi which is not helpful, but might also show you something else on the system that's keeping it awake.

    Ok, i will try this. I will see, what it show me. Thank you.

    OK, so i tested both. First, new clean OS - when i used hdparm command, drives stopped and stayed in this state. When i came back to my OS, when i set 5 seconds sleep time, drives go to sleep, but after cca 10 seconds they spin up again.

    Second, i tried code from chewitt, but this code responsed to me back absolutelly nothing. It immediatelly jumped back to command line.

    The lsof command is a snapshot point in time, not a continuous historical view. So if the process accesing the drives is something that runs/stops/runs/stops you might need to run it a few times to catch/observe the process that accesses the drives.

    NB: I'd expect something like 5-seconds shutdown to be ineffective. Try using a longer value like 30/60/90 seconds.

    Quote from ajne

    First, new clean OS - when i used hdparm command, drives stopped and stayed in this state.

    In that case probably some kind of addon, settings, present in your original LE setup, doesn't let the HDD to stay in sleep. You should continue to add your stuffs, and check the HDD. Isn't impossible to have at the end a setup without that issue. Sometimes after upgrade or updates can remain some "old" settings or files that can lead to strange effects.

    Quote from chewitt

    The lsof command is a snapshot point in time, not a continuous historical view. So if the process accesing the drives is something that runs/stops/runs/stops you might need to run it a few times to catch/observe the process that accesses the drives.

    NB: I'd expect something like 5-seconds shutdown to be ineffective. Try using a longer value like 30/60/90 seconds.

    I tried it run for lot ot times, newer get any response.

    As VLouis told, it will be probably case for more tinkering with it. Damn, i hoped it will work flawlesly, i dont have lot of time to chasing ghost. I will probably try to install clear OS again and again load backup.

    It´s possible to load only Kodi database, not system? I can set up system again, but i don´t want to set all things in Kodi database again.

    Do you have already tried to disable the "Argon ONE Control" add-on? This could rule out if the integrated support for catching the HDD/SSD temperature triggers the spin up.

    Quote from HarryH

    Do you have already tried to disable the "Argon ONE Control" add-on? This could rule out if the integrated support for catching the HDD/SSD temperature triggers the spin up.

    Not yet, but yes, i fear it possible it can do this addon (even if HDD/SSD temp is disabled to control fan). I will try it. This will be issue, because if it is issue with this addon, case is almost useless, because it stopped working Power Button, IR, Fan control...

    But i will try disable this addon, if it change this behaviour.

    Damn, OK. So this Argon One script is issue. When i disable it, drives went to sleep mode correctly. Damn, what now? I Will have a endlessly spinning drives or almost useless box. I will try to Google it, if somebody have same issue, And contact author.

    I bought their remote And case, So i Dont want to. Only issue Is with this Argon One script which waking up drives. I Wait what author of script answer me. If its possible to fix.

    So but if script is disabled, IR and power still work fine. So now probably only fan is not working now, which is no big issue. Cooling in this case is great, so is no problem to live with passive cooling for some time. But i will see, if script can be fixed to full function.

    Edited once, last by ajne: Merged a post created by ajne into this post. (September 12, 2025 at 3:32 PM).

    Argon itself providing their own script for fan control. Their script is only terminal based, and this script use only CPU temp. Argon One Script in LE extensions is extented for GPU and HDD temperature, which last thing probably causing this issue. But i will see, HarryH reaction in this topic Is probably right, and as i found out today, He Is author of script (i overlooked it before). I will see if he can solve it.