Franklinstein
Well-known member
Does anybody know any software for Classic Mac OS (System 7.5-9.1, HFS+ format) that will unload the hard drive heads on shutdown? A good number of Macs (PowerBook 5300, 2300, 1400, 3400, TAM) don't automatically unload the heads on shutdown, mostly because ramp-loading hard drives weren't a concern in the mid-90s. For drives up through to the late '90s, this wasn't a problem because hard drives would park automatically when power was removed, and they were all designed to do so unmanaged without damage. For newer drives, especially laptop drives, they will not automatically park at power-off; they rely on the host system to tell the drive to park the heads, then wait until the drive responds affirmatively before the system powers off. If the system does not include this routine, instead the drives do an emergency retract that flings the heads off the media and onto the loading ramp with excessive force. Emergency retracts significantly shorten the life expectancy of a ramp-loading hard drive (for example, a drive may be rated for 250k normal load cycles but only 50k emergency unloads).
Old versions of LaCie Silver Lining (v5.31) had an option to park the hard drive's heads automatically when the system went for shutdown, which was especially useful for old stepper motor-based drives such as the 20MB MiniScribe unit in the Mac SE that would leave the heads in random spots if not told to park. This version of Silver Lining supports neither IDE or HFS+ so it's not really a choice. Newer versions of Silver Lining do not have an option for parking the hard drive, so I'm looking for an alternative for newer computers.
Old versions of LaCie Silver Lining (v5.31) had an option to park the hard drive's heads automatically when the system went for shutdown, which was especially useful for old stepper motor-based drives such as the 20MB MiniScribe unit in the Mac SE that would leave the heads in random spots if not told to park. This version of Silver Lining supports neither IDE or HFS+ so it's not really a choice. Newer versions of Silver Lining do not have an option for parking the hard drive, so I'm looking for an alternative for newer computers.