Jürgen Hestermann wrote:
> > a big cache is wasted since it's emptied
> > every time we spin down the disk.
>
> Do all drives do this when spinning down?

I think so, since the purpose of spinning down is to save power. However it is not defined in the ATA specification, so theoretically different drives could differ in this aspect.

> If the cache could be saved it would prevent spin up for quite a long time
> and therefore save batterie drain. I think that disk manufacturers should
> have considered this kind of usage (especially for disks used in mobile
> environments).

2.5" disks are made for laptops, which generally don't spin down the disk until the computer is effectively idle. Therefore spending battery power on keeping the cache alive would likely have little real-world advantages.

-- 
Björn
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