Ubuntu Manpage: sg_start - send SCSI START STOP UNIT command: start, stop, load or eject medium

Provided by: sg3-utils_1.46-1ubuntu0.22.04.1_amd64

NAME

       sg_start - send SCSI START STOP UNIT command: start, stop, load or eject medium

SYNOPSIS

       sg_start  [0]  [1] [--eject] [--help] [--fl=FL] [--immed] [--load] [--loej] [--mod=PC_MOD]
       [--noflush] [--pc=PC] [--readonly] [--start] [--stop] [--verbose] [--version] DEVICE

       sg_start [--eject] [--fl=FL] [-i] [--imm=0|1] [--load] [--loej] [--mod=PC_MOD] [--noflush]
       [--pc=PC] [-r] [--start] [--stop] [-v] [-V] [0|1] DEVICE

DESCRIPTION

       sg_start sends a SCSI START STOP UNIT command to the DEVICE with the selected options. The
       most used options are --stop to spin down a disk and --start to  spin  up  a  disk.  Using
       --start  on a disk that is already spinning is harmless. There is also finer grain control
       with "power condition": active, idle or standby. This is set with the --pc=PC  option.  In
       some contexts the "stop" state can be considered an additional power condition.

       Devices that contain removable media such as cd/dvds can use the --loej option to load the
       medium  when  used  in  conjunction  with  --start  (i.e.  load  medium  then  spin   up).
       Alternatively  --loej may be used to eject the medium when used in conjunction with --stop
       (i.e. spin down then eject medium). More simply, the loading or ejecting  of  a  removable
       medium can be requested with the --load or --eject' option.

       If  no  option  or  argument  is  given  then  a --start is assumed; as the utility's name
       suggests.

       This utility supports two command line syntaxes, the preferred one is shown first  in  the
       synopsis  and  explained  in  this section. A later section on the old command line syntax
       outlines the second group of options.

OPTIONS

Arguments to long options are mandatory for short options as well.

0 same action as --stop.

1 same action as --start.

-e, --eject
stop the medium and eject it from the drive. Only appropriate for a device with
removable medium. Might be ignored (prevented), see below.

-h, --help
print out the usage message then exit.

-f, --fl=FL
sets the format layer number for the disc to "jump" to (defined in MMC-5). Values
of FL can be 0 to 3. When this option is chosen, the FL, LoEj and Start bits are
set in the cdb as required by MMC-5; thus the user does not need to set the --start
and/or --load options.

-i, --immed
sets the IMM bit on the START STOP UNIT command so this utility will return
immediately and not wait for the media to complete the requested action. The
default is to wait until the media to complete the requested action before
returning.

-l, --load
load the medium in the drive and start it. Only appropriate for a removable medium.

-L, --loej
sets the LOEJ bit on the START STOP UNIT command. This loads the media when the
unit is started or eject it when the unit is stopped (i.e. works in conjunction
with START bit in cdb). This option is ignored if 'pc > 0'. Default is off (i.e.
don't attempt to load or eject media). If a start/start indication is not given
(i.e. neither --start nor --stop) and this option is given then a load and start
action is assumed.

-m, --mod=PC_MOD
where PC_MOD is the 'power condition modifier' value. 0 to 15 (inclusive) are valid
and 0 is the default. This 'power condition modifier' field in the cdb was added
after sbc3r13.

-n, --noflush
do not perform a flush to media (e.g. like SYNCHRONIZE CACHE does) before a variant
of this utility that limits access to the media. Using the --stop option is an
example of something that limits access to the media. This 'noflush' field in the
cdb was added after sbc3r13.

-O, --old
Switch to older style options. Please use as first option.

-p, --pc=PC
where PC is the 'power conditions' value. 0 to 15 (inclusive) are valid. Default
value is 0. When '--pc=0' then --eject, --load, --loej, --start and --stop are
active. Some common values are 1 for the "active" power condition (SBC); 2 for the
idle power condition; 3 for the standby power condition; 5 for sleep power
condition (MMC); 7 for LU_CONTROL (SBC), 0xa (decimal 10) for FORCE_IDLE_0 (SBC)
and 0xb (decimal 11) for FORCE_STANDBY_0 (SBC). See recent SBC-3, MMC-5 and SAS
drafts at www.t10.org for more information.

-r, --readonly
open the DEVICE in read-only mode. Maybe required in Linux to stop a nuisance
spin-up if the DEVICE is an ATA disk. The nuisance spin-up may occur at the end of
this command negating the effect of the --stop option.

-s, --start
start (spin-up) the DEVICE. This sets the START bit in the cdb. Using this option
on an already started device is harmless. In the absence of other options, this
option defaults (i.e. set the START cdb bit).

-S, --stop
stop (spin-down) the DEVICE. This clears the START bit in the cdb.

-v, --verbose
increase the level of verbosity. Can be used multiple times.

-V, --version
print out version string then exit.

NOTES

To avoid confusion, only one of 0, 1 --eject, --load, --start and --stop should be given.

There is an associated "power condition" mode page (0x1a) in which timer values can be set
for transitioning to either idle or standby state after a period of inactivity. The sdparm
utility can be used to view the power condition mode page and if required change it. If a
DEVICE is in either idle or standby power condition state then a REQUEST SENSE command
(see the sg_requests utility) should yield a sense key of "no sense" and an additional
sense code of "Low power condition on" on recent SCSI devices.

Ejection of removable media (e.g. 'sg_start --eject /dev/hdd' where the DEVICE is an ATAPI
cd/dvd drive) may be prevented by a prior SCSI PREVENT ALLOW MEDIUM REMOVAL command (see
sg_prevent). In this case this utility should fail with an error generated by the device:
illegal request / medium removal prevented. This can be overridden using sg_prevent or,
for example, 'sdparm --command=unlock /dev/hdd'.

The SCSI TEST UNIT READY command can be used to find out whether a DEVICE is ready to
transfer data. If rotating media is stopped or still coming up to speed, then the TEST
UNIT READY command will yield a "not ready" sense key and an more informative additional
sense code. See the sg_turs utility.

In the 2.4 series of Linux kernels the DEVICE must be a SCSI generic (sg) device. In the
2.6 series block devices (e.g. SCSI disks and DVD drives) can also be specified. For
example "sg_start 0 /dev/sda" will work in the 2.6 series kernels.

In the Linux 2.6 series, especially with ATA disks, using this utility to stop (spin down)
a disk may not be sufficient and other mechanisms will start the disk again some time
later. The user might additionally mark the disk as "offline" with 'echo offline >
/sys/block/sda/device/state' where sda is the block name of the disk. To restart the disk
"offline" can be replaced with "running". Note that once the 'state' is set to offline, no
SCSI commands can be sent to the device until it is set back to running. Also stopping a
disk via a pass-through interface (e.g. /dev/sg1 or /dev/bsg/1:0:0:0) may reduce unwanted
side effects (such as restarting it again when this utility completes).

EXIT STATUS

       The exit status of sg_start is 0 when it is successful. Otherwise see the sg3_utils(8) man
       page.

OLDER COMMAND LINE OPTIONS

The options in this section were the only ones available prior to sg3_utils version 1.23 .
Since then this utility defaults to the newer command line options which can be overridden
by using --old (or -O) as the first option. See the ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES section for
another way to force the use of these older command line options.

Note that the action of --loej is slightly different in the older interface: when neither
--start nor --stop (nor proxies for them) are given, --loej performs an eject operation.
In the same situation the newer interface will perform a load operation.

Earlier versions of sg_start had a '-s' option to perform a SYNCHRONIZE CACHE command
before the START STOP UNIT command was issued. According to recent SBC-2 drafts this is
done implicitly if required. Hence the '-s' option has been dropped.

All options, other than '-v' and '-V', can be given with a single "-". For example:
"sg_start -stop /dev/sda" and "sg_start --stop /dev/sda" are equivalent. The single "-"
form is for backward compatibility.

0 stop (spin-down) DEVICE.

1 start (spin-up) DEVICE.

--eject
stop the medium and eject it from the drive.

--fl=FL
sets the format layer number for the disc to "jump" to (defined in MMC-5).

-i sets the IMM bit on the START STOP UNIT command so this utility will return
immediately and not wait for the media to spin down. Same effect as '--imm=1'. The
default action (without this option or a '--imm=1' option) is to wait until the
media spins down before returning.

--imm=0|1
when the immediate bit is 1 then this utility returns immediately after the DEVICE
has received the command. When this option is 0 (the default) then the utility
returns once the command has completed its action (i.e. it waits until the device
is started or stopped).

--load load the medium in the drive and start it.

--loej sets the LOEJ bit in the START STOP UNIT cdb. When a "start" operation is
indicated, then a load and start is performed. When a "stop" operation is
indicated, then a stop and eject is performed. When neither a "start" or "stop"
operation is indicated does a stop and eject. [Note that the last action differs
from the new interface in which the option of this name defaults to load and
start.]

-N, --new
Switch to the newer style options.

--mod=PC_MOD
where PC_MOD is the 'power condition modifier' value. 0 to 15 (inclusive) are valid
and 0 is the default. This field was added after sbc3r13.

--noflush
do not perform a flush to media (e.g. like SYNCHRONIZE CACHE does) before a variant
of this utility that limits access to the media. Using the --stop option is an
example of something that limits access to the media. This field was added after
sbc3r13.

--pc=PC
where PC is the 'power condition' value (in hex). 0 to f (inclusive) are valid.
Default value is 0.

-r see the --readonly option above. May be useful for ATA disks.

--start
start (spin-up) DEVICE.

--stop stop (spin-down) DEVICE. Same meaning as "0" argument.

-v verbose: outputs SCSI command in hex to console before with executing it. '-vv' and
'-vvv' are also accepted yielding greater verbosity.

-V print out version string then exit.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       Since  sg3_utils  version  1.23  the environment variable SG3_UTILS_OLD_OPTS can be given.
       When it is present this utility will  expect  the  older  command  line  options.  So  the
       presence  of  this  environment variable is equivalent to using --old (or -O) as the first
       command line option.

AUTHOR

       Written by K. Garloff and D. Gilbert

REPORTING BUGS

       Report bugs to <dgilbert at interlog dot com>.

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright © 2002-2020 Kurt Garloff, Douglas Gilbert
       This software is distributed under the GPL version 2. There is NO warranty; not  even  for
       MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.