hdparm

Hdparm is a computer program for reading and setting parameters for ATA drives under Linux and Windows. hdparm is under the BSD license and is thus free software.

Hdparm among others, the settings for DMA and tagged command queuing and the ATAPI transfer mode can be changed. In many cases, therefore EIDE hard drives as well as CD -ROM and DVD drives, the speed can be significantly increased, but hdparm commands can also lead to data loss and even damage disk drives and controllers. hdparm is invoked via the command line. For example, the user can

DMA enable for the first IDE device.

An often- used function is to switch off the power management for notebook hard drives with the " notebook hard drives - Bug".

Furthermore, benchmarks can be executed and the properties and current settings of the ATA drive even be read. Some of these settings can be changed using hdparm, for example, Automatic acoustic management (AAM ). These functions are also available in a Windows version of hdparm.

The program must run with root-/Administratorrechten, otherwise not permitted to access the Device / Device File.