RE: [t13] Question on IDLE UNLOAD

[Bellamy, Wayne]

Title: Message

If I may, respectfully, discuss this a bit....please...   A case could be made for supporting the current T13 ATA/ATAPI-7 specification relative to the IDLE IMMEDIATE UNLOAD versus STANDBY (staying in the standby mode) argument. (From your email I'm interpreting that you are suggesting just stay in standby mode.)    The host system may be controlling many ATA devices and prefers to keep the heads parked or retracted (for whatever reason?) with spinning-up the media in the drives. The host may have "just used" this command since it appeared to be preferential from the T13 specification. To "just stay in standby mode", i.e.,  ignore the transition from standby mode to idle mode is to possibly impose additional data access latency on the host (per drive). The host system tried to do the right thing according to the specification in this case. The host probably knew it could "just not issue a command" or "just issue an IDLE IMMEDIATE command." Whatever the case, since the command was issued, it seems that the rules as specified should be followed if there is a relationship between idle mode and media spinning.     If this was not the preferred situation (spinning-up the media) the host should have used a different command, or just not issued any command since the device was already in standby mode.    So, are you suggesting tha the device just ignore this command if in the standby mode?   What about the IDLE IMMEDIATE command?   Thank you for listening,   wayne       -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Curtis Stevens Sent: Friday, June 30, 2006 7:26 PM To: forum@t13.org Subject: [t13] Question on IDLE UNLOAD Currently ATA/ATAPI-7 requires the drive to transition from Standby to Idle when an IDLE IMMEDIATE is received.  However, the IDLE IMMEDIATE UNLOAD is really only for head retraction.  Does it make sense to require a media spin-up in this case?       ------------------------------------------------- Curtis E. Stevens 20511 Lake Forest Drive #C-214D Lake Forest, California 92630 Phone: 949-672-7933 Cell: 949-307-5050 E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]