fc3 with kernel 2.6.10 stresses hard disk.

[walter neumann]

I bugzilla-ed the following hidden problem a few weeks ago. Others
might check if they are experiencing it or whether it is a glitch with
my hardware. If it is at all widespread, developers should know.

Since upgrading to the 2.6.10 kernels my hard disk started parking 2
to 3 times a minute, at which rate it will reach its advertised 'end
of life' engineering limit on the number of head parks in less than a
year. This is invisible in use: no unusual disk activity is noticable.
I discovered it by noticing that my drive's Load_Cycle_Count, as
reported by the smartctl, had increased as much in two weeks as in the
previous 9 months.

My current kernel is 2.6.10-1.766_FC3, but earlier 2.6.10 kernels did
the same. Booting back into a 2.6.9 kernel fixes the problem.

I fixed the problem for myself in 2.6.10 by adding "hdparm -B254
/dev/hda" to my startup scripts.

It is buzilla-ed at https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=146628

--walter