Motherboard Stand-by

[luismartin]

I think a standby mode for the motherboard like Windows has, would be a good idea for people who use the NAS for just one person.

[MikeZhang]

The standby mode you mentioned, similar to Windows, is currently somewhat difficult to achieve, but we will record this requirement for discussion at the next product meeting.

Why can Windows do it while TOS cannot?

Different hardware design goals:
Windows PC: Designed for personal use, requiring frequent standby/wake-up to save power.
NAS (such as TOS): Designed as servers, expecting 24/7 online service, therefore not designed with a full-system standby mode.

Power management standard support:
Windows PCs: Fully support ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) S1-S4 states.
TOS motherboards: Typically only implement S5 (complete shutdown) and some S3 states.

Wake-up mechanism:
Windows: Direct wake-up via hardware interrupts (keyboard, mouse, network, timers).
TOS: Only RTC timed wake-up and physical power button trigger.

If you want TOS to achieve a "low-power fast recovery" similar to Windows, it is currently not supported by hardware. The closest solution is:
Enable disk hibernation
Set up scheduled power-on.

[Felix]

Thank you for your suggestion. NAS hardware is designed for 24/7 continuous operation, employing low-power chips and efficient power supplies. The idle power consumption of the entire unit is only 5W to 8W, resulting in extremely low annual electricity costs. The marginal energy savings from motherboard standby are negligible.

More importantly, mechanical hard drives are designed for continuous operation. Frequent start-stop cycles cause motor wear far exceeding that of constant rotation, significantly shortening hard drive lifespan and increasing data risk. Furthermore, background backup and indexing tasks can easily trigger a "sleep-wake" loop, further exacerbating wear and tear.

If you have extreme requirements for quiet operation and energy efficiency, and the device does not require remote access or automated services, we recommend considering our DAS product. DAS operates with the computer's power on and off, with no background load, perfectly suited for single-user local storage scenarios. The core value of a NAS lies in its 24/7 online presence and data protection.

[nikk]

Yes, sometimes the NAS is used for rare data access and spends most of its time powered on with no read or write activity. Sure, HDDs can be put to sleep after a period of inactivity, but the power consumption can still be around 15 Watts, which can cost a lot in areas with high electricity prices.

Powering on and off is a solution, but it takes time. Using the command systemctl suspend to put the NAS into sleep mode.

Here's is question: Is it safe to use "systemctl suspend" on TOS 7 on 425 series assuming its runs with UPS?

[TMzethar]

Yes, sometimes the NAS is used for rare data access and spends most of its time powered on with no read or write activity. Sure, HDDs can be put to sleep after a period of inactivity, but the power consumption can still be around 15 Watts, which can cost a lot in areas with high electricity prices.

Powering on and off is a solution, but it takes time. Using the command systemctl suspend to put the NAS into sleep mode.

Here's is question: Is it safe to use "systemctl suspend" on TOS 7 on 425 series assuming its runs with UPS?

Generally speaking, the UPS does not affect the behavior of this command.

If you feel that the current performance is sufficient, you may consider entering the BIOS and appropriately reducing the CPU power consumption.

[nikk]

I appreciate your input on this.
How correctly reduce the CPU power consumption, what setting I should change?
And to circle back, my original question was: Is it safe to use "systemctl suspend" on TOS 7 ? Or users should avoid using it?

[Gremlin]

A further question: If 'suspend' (or any of it's variants) is used, how do you wake up a remote machine (ie no immediate user access)? I have tested suspend which works ok provided you have access to the machine. But, "Wake on Lan" does not wake the machine up. The motherboard in suspend mode should be able to wake the machine if WOL is enabled, but it seems TOS does not provide the correct configuration to the ethernet ports/controller(s) to provide this function.
What needs to be changed {particularly if bonded ethernet channels are employed}?

[TMzethar]

We need some time to research and discuss the feasibility of this feature and the possible wake-up methods related to it. Thank you for sharing your ideas with us. We will update this thread once we have a conclusion.