My disks don't stop working (General Noob Question)

CTMS

Cadet
Joined
Dec 5, 2019
Messages
7
So, hi and sorry if I missed this via the search:
I'm using the latest FreeNAS build which I installed in late 2019. Working with NASs is absolutely new to me and I've only used Video or Forum guides to achieve what I needed.
I run a RaidZ2 with 4 NAS drives and use it as a PLEX server and general storage.

I noticed that the drives always seemed to be working. I haven't used HDDs for ages, but from what I can remember, one can differentiate 3 states of a HDD by hearing:
Offline
Spinning
Working

Now I know, that NAS drives shouldn't be spun down, but they can atleast stop "working" and fall back to just spinning, right?
So why the hell are my drives working all the time and how or should I disable that?
In my mind, the mechanical parts of a drive will wear down with usage, so if the heads are constantly moving back and forth, that can't be good.

I disabled the PLEX service, as I thought the plugin was doing things, but no.
Also no one is connected to the NAS, nor is it mounted on any user.
 

blueether

Patron
Joined
Aug 6, 2018
Messages
259
from what i gave read and obsereved: when you create the first pool, freenas moved the system DB to it. this get accessed every 5 seconds
 

CTMS

Cadet
Joined
Dec 5, 2019
Messages
7
from what i gave read and obsereved: when you create the first pool, freenas moved the system DB to it. this get accessed every 5 seconds
What's it accessed for? Are you saying it is perfectly normal and I shouldn't be at all concerned with the longevity of my drives when their heads move around all the time?
 

no_connection

Patron
Joined
Dec 15, 2013
Messages
480
Logs and performance data has to be written somewhere, you can have a separate SSD for that if you feel the need to.
But many of us have run FN for many many years with no problem, a drive is built to be used. Sure constant 100% thrashing might be bad but moving the head every 5 sec isn't that big of a deal. It's always floating above the spinning disk regardless if sitting stationary or not. If it's failing due to that use then it wasn't good to begin with, IMO of course.
 

CTMS

Cadet
Joined
Dec 5, 2019
Messages
7
I forgot to mention that I have the FreeNas OS installed on a separate SSD.
Thank you for your answers.
 
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