External Hard drive Auto-sleep Disable

I have a problem with my external drive, a Seagate GoFlex 2TB. Basically the drive goes to sleep while I am transfering files and freezes up Finder. From what I have read, a possible solution would be to disable the auto sleep in the drive firmware but I am unable to find software that will allow me to do this. Using the seettings in Engery Preferences does not effect the external drive. It is appartent that I can change the sleep timer Using CHUD Ulitities, which is included in XCode in Lion, so I am waiting for XCode to download. I have no idea where to start with CHUD though, any suggestions as to another application that will help me out with this problem, or how to change the Sleep timer using CHUD?
Thanks

No, Energy Saver prefs have no effect on external drives.
CHUD is a simple GUI interface that lets you set the interval that each disk is pinged. It will keep the disk spinning but that's not always desireable, especially if the disk tends to run hot.
I used CHUD when I was having an issue with some chained FW disks and it did keep it spinning, although I feared more for the disk than the chain. It didn't really solve my issue, so I found another workaround. Hard disks spin down after about 15 minutes of inactivity for a reason.

Similar Messages

External Hard Drive not sleeping or waking

Hi I have a mac mini with Mac OS X Lion 10.7.2. I recently purchased a iomega 2 TB external hard drive that came pre loaded with Mac OS Extended (Journaled) pre formatted on it. I use 800 FireWire for the connection. I had no problems with the drive mounting and transferring files until I put my computer to sleep. I took me some time to figure out that the sleep function was the cause of the problem I was having. The drive would still be listed in finder after my computer woke but when accessed finder would freeze up and I would get the spinning cursor. Also when I left it to sleep over night I would find the drive off and an error that it had been ejected wrong.
I watched the drive when I put my computer to sleep get the sleep command and flash for a second and start to sleep but then come on again as if there was an error in the sleep command from my mac. If I wake my computer again to see the action of the drive it then goes to sleep when my computer is waking. I am guessing the command is the same to the drive from my mac. Wake or sleep, it just depends on the drives current state as to whether it sleeps or wakes.
My fix so far is to not let my computer sleep at all. As well I have to choose in system preferences to not allow the drives to sleep. Did notice after some time the external hard drive will sleep anyway from idle time but now my mac is not sleeping obviously. Or I have to eject the disk manually and then turn off the external hard drive then put my computer to sleep.
Am I missing something here? It's either a hard drive error or a software bug in Lion.

Hi,
Please post the HP product number for your PC. How to Find the HP Model Number and the HP Product Number or let HP automatically find your PC model number and HP network attached printers. This will allow others to review your issue, make suggestions and review your responses. This is usually the best way to get assistance.
HP DV9700, t9300, Nvidia 8600, 4GB, Crucial C300 128GB SSD
HP Photosmart Premium C309G, HP Photosmart 6520
HP Touchpad, HP Chromebook 11
Custom i7-4770k,Z-87, 8GB, Vertex 3 SSD, Samsung EVO SSD, Corsair HX650,GTX 760
Custom i7-4790k,Z-97, 16GB, Vertex 3 SSD, Plextor M.2 SSD, Samsung EVO SSD, Corsair HX650, GTX 660TI
Windows 7/8 UEFI/Legacy mode, MBR/GPT

Is there a way to use the time capsule as an external hard drive only and disable the wi-fi function ?

Is there a way to use the time capsule as an external hard drive only and disable the wi-fi function ?

Yes.
1) Connect an Ethernet cable from one of the LAN <--> ports on your existing wireless router to the WAN "O" port on the Time Capsule
2) Go through the standard configuration suggested by the setup "wizard"
3) Then manually turn off the wireless function using AirPort Utility

WD Elements External Hard Drive: No Sleep Issue

Hello,
I know this probably isn't the best place for this as it's not directly related to an iMac. But it works.
I have two WD Elements (http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=304&lang=en) external hard drives that I use for a Time Machine and for a Media drive. I've got them plugged into a Belkin Powered USB Hub (http://store.apple.com/us/product/TW306LL/A) which is then of course attatched to my iMac. My issue is that the two hard drives seem to continue to work at full power once I've shut my computer off.
Is there anyway I can have them go into sleep mode?
I was considering splicing a switch onto the power cord of the USB Hub so that I could easily turn it off once the computer is off. However that seems a bit silly?
Thank you for your time, and opinions,
Robin

Thanks for the suggestion. I can't believe I didn't think about that as I knew about it.
It seems to have helped when the computer is on. I can see that at some points they are working a lot less, which is great. So thank you.
Unfortunately they seem to be still working at full power them the computer is off. I figure this is because they are not directly attatched to the computer itself so nothing is telling them to "sleep."

MacBook Pro running Lion constantly spins up external hard drives while sleeping

My MacBook Pro 8,2 running Lion 10.7.2 constantly spins up its external hard drives (one Firewire 800 and two USB) while sleeping. Is there any way to prevent this? The drives will spin down for a minute or so and then spin back up, which is incredibly annoying. Have to shut the computer down to prevent this.
Thanks. I’m happy to provide more details if needed.

Might be Spotlight indexing... you can turn that off.
Turning Off Spotlight | Mac Tricks And Tips

Safely Eject External Hard Drive Before Sleep

After returning from a state of sleep, my computer always gives me this error message:
This is referring to the "unsafe ejection" of my external hard drive which I have hooked up to Time Machine for backups. I would think that the Mac has some sort of shutdown script it would run before going to sleep to safely eject the hard drives connected to the machine, but apparently it does not.
Does anyone know how I can avoid this message? In other words, is there a way to have my computer safely eject all drives before going to sleep?

In case anyone remembers the "good old days" - a few years back (mostly during OS 10.4 - Tiger), there were multiple problems reported with either USB and/or Firewire externals on wake-up; this included hard drives and hubs mostly. I was experiencing problems myself continuously with one of my hubs. Apple finally came out with one of their articles stating that the problems arose because, upon wake-up command, the computer would get confused momentarily as to what to start with first - internal HD, external HD, hub, or whatever and suggesting that you simply unmount (before sleep) whatever was causing the problem. The second suggestion was to unplug/plug in the USB or firewire cable after wakeup, which is what I had to do to get my keyboard and mouse working which were plugged into the hub. That was when I started to unmount and unplug my externals unless I actually needed them and I'm actually still doing that (habits!). I haven't had a problem with my hubs for a while now, but I'm wondering if it could be the same type of problem.

External hard drive wont sleep

Hi there
I have a a G-Drive mini for time machine backups on an brand new MacBook Pro 15" connected with Firewire 800. Time machine works well, but the hard drive never sleeps. I think it should, cause time machine only runs once an hours, whats ok. In the meantime it runs for nothing, using power and producing noise and hot air.
Thanks a lot for any helping comment!

System Preferences>Energy Saver. Click the box "Put the hard disks to sleep when possible."

Low power on USB port for external hard drive

Hi all!
I'm new here and I have some question about my brand new hybrid - HP Envy x2.
Couple days ago i found an issue that usb ports are powered by from motherboard even when tablet with dock is turned off or in hibernation mode. This is problematic when I leave device with plugged usb hub, external HD, speakers (powered from usb port) and mouse. After 8 hours in work when I go back home I saw that battery is about 10-15% lower than before leaving Envy x2. I disabled USB charge mode in BIOS, but after that I have problem with working of my external HD.
When I try to attach hard drive to computer and then I try to turn it on nothing happens - looks like system (Windows 8.1) can't boot. But after immediate unplugging HDD from USB system goes to procedure of starting. I also tried to plug Toshiba HD after turning on my Envy x2 and being in desktop, but nothing happens. Light on HD is blinking, I can hear from it sound like clicking (trying to start?). Also HD is visible in Device Manager but not in My Computer (as additional partition).
I have tried to change boot options in BIOS by positioning of devices (priority to boot from CD ROM, HDD, OS etc.) but did not fixed problem.
After couple of tests provided to found why my HD did not work properely in disabled USB charge mode I know that USB port did not give minimum value of power from supply. I found cable with one plug on one side, and with two plugs on other side (like "Y" type). Then i plugged one end into first USB port, then second end in second USB port and finally - last end of cable to m HD and booooom! It works!
Here is my question: Is there any ability to change that kind of power supply on USB ports? I want to power mu external hard drive from one USB port, not from two. I have USB hub but don't want to use two USB ports (on the opposite positions of docking station) and additional USB cable. I have the most recent BIOS (F12) and all fresh drivers installed on my computer.
Any solutions?

I am not going to take credit for this. I had a similar problem, but all of my USB ports stopped working for EVERYTHING! You were right on track, and here is the final bit of information that you needed: Microsoft Surface tablet External USB hard drives auto-sleep in Windows 8.1 Posted on November 4, 2013 After upgraded from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 Pro, my SeaGate Expansion 2TB hard drive always runs to sleep mode automatically and then disappears if no file transfers occur. when I try to access its stored files, the File Explorer will be unresponsive. Changing the power options is not working. In Windows 8.1 the external USB hard drives and USB flash drives are configured with a low power state by default. That causes USB massstorage devices auto-sleep or file transfers stop unexpectedly. You could change the hardware ID of USB storage device in the registry to resolve the problem. * Updated to the latest firmware for the device to check if it is fine. * From Start screen, open the Search charm, type regedit, right-click the regedit icon from result, and select “Run as administrator“. * In the left pane of Registry Editor, navigate to the key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\usbstor * Right-click the “usbstor” and create a key with the following key name: apricorn (aegis padlock) 09840315 buffalo external hdd 500gb 04110105 cavalry dual bay dock 152d2352 diskgenie usb device 09840092 hitachi touro 3.0 4tb usb 3.0 49711015 kingston datatraveler hyperx 3.0 usb device 256gb (dthx30/256gb) 0951162b lacie 2tb usb drive 059f1018 mediasonic h82-su3s2 probox 152d0539 multi-drive enclosure connected 15200551 seagate expansion 2tb 0bc23320 seagate expansion desk 3tb 0bc23312 seagate fa goflex desk 2tb 0bc25071 verbatim store ‘n’ save superspeed 3tb 18a50400 western digital elements desktop 2tb 10581021 western digital my book 2to 10581140 * Now right-click the new key, create a DWORD entry named DeviceHackFlags with 400 hexadecimal value. * Make a reconnection for the device. RELATED POSTS How to Disable SkyDrive Integration in Windows 8.1 Install Windows 8.1 from USB flash drive Error Code 0xc1900104 Windows 8 gps receiver for Surface Pro Fix Stylus/Pen not working bug on Surface Pro Windows 8 app not sync with Google Apps calendar Create Windows 8.1 Bootable USB Flash Drive This entry was posted in Windows 8 and tagged issues, USB, Windows 8.1 by Windows 8 rt/pro. Bookmark the permalink.

External Hard Drive connected to AEBS does not auto mount

Just upgraded from Tiger 10.4.11 to Leopard 10.5.5. I have a AEBS running 5.3.2 airport utility with a LaCie HD connected to it.
In Tiger, my external hard drive would auto mount onto the desktop every time the computer turned on or woke up from sleeping etc.
In Leopard, my external drive will not auto mount. It does not show up in the sidebar under devices. It does not show up in the disk utility. To access it, I have to go the the finder sidebar, select my AEBS under shared, then select my HD. Also, I did check show connected servers and external disk on the desktop in the finder preferences. Also, not sure if this matters but the icon on my external drive on my desktop is the blue drive with three people holding hands and not the brighter blue one with the wireless signal logo.
In tiger my external HD basically acted like any other folder that was always there and not like a networked drive that I had to go and connect to. I want to go back to that. I heard this has to do with leopord no longer having the airdisk utility??
thanks

Try making an alias of one of the top-level folders in your external (AEBS-connected) drive, drag it to the desktop, and then put it in your Login Items.
--> System Preferences/Accounts/Login Items
You can simply drag the folder alias into the Login Items window.
When you next log in, the folder will be automatically opened. Alas, it doesn't give you instant access to the entire external drive, but you can back out a level to see the entire drive. It isn't quite what you had with Tiger, but perhaps it will suffice.
If you leave the aliased folder on your desktop, you have a skinny approximation to the mounted volume that you had with Tiger.

External Hard Drive won't stop sleeping

This is really frustrating me. I have my settings unchecked to allow hard disk to sleep, also my computer is set to never sleep. However whenever I try to access my external drive, I always have to wait several seconds for it to spin up. It's as if OSX is ignoring my preferences and just putting it to sleep still. I don't understand. It's really annoying to have to deal with the lag of drive spin-up all the time. What do I have to do to get my external hard drive to NEVER sleep, so it's always immediately accessible? It's a Samsung Story 1.5gb external USB, not that it should make any difference...

jamesdstark2 wrote:
This is really frustrating me. I have my settings unchecked to allow hard disk to sleep
Some external HDs respond to that setting, some don't. Some won't respond unless you disable the built-in sleep (or "spin down") software. As Baltwo says, check with the maker.

How to stop my Time Machine external hard drive preventing iMac from sleeping?

I have a late 2012 iMac, and have discovered that sometimes (I haven't noticed a pattern of when it doesn/doesn't happen) the computer will immediately wake up after I set it to Sleep (Apple Menu>Sleep). Through elimination I have found that it is the the USB 3.0 external hard drive I use as a Time Machine back-up that is the culprit; unplugging it then allows the computer to sleep. If I unplug it, then plug it back in later on, this normally solves the problem for a while, but not forever. This same Hard Drive didn't cause the wake problem on my previous '08 iMac.
A big issue is that when the machine immediately wakes from sleep, the display stays off (until I move the mouse) - this is good from a power saving point of view, but means I don't know if/when the machine is immediately waking from sleep (I have to listen to the fan when setting it to Sleep mode to hear if it has actually woken back up).
I've searched the forums, but can't find another poster with the same problem as myself. Can anyone advise a course for me to pursue to prevent this from happening?
Thanks. Jamie

Hi Frank. Nope, I'm still having the same symptoms; the plugged in external drive (TIme Machine) will wake the machine up a couple of seconds after it winding down when put to into sleep mode. Ejecting the drive and then sleeping the machine works. After plugging it in again to do a Time machine backup, it will allow the computer to sleep soundly for the first few sessions (eg a few days of sleeping, waking, sleeping, waking, etc), but then it will then suddenly start preventing it from sleeping again after a while.
It seems I'm fortunate in my case that the display stays dark (or off?) when the machine has been woken from sleep, but this was actually preventing me from knowing the machine wasn't in fact asleep for quite some time; I only eventually cottoned on because there wasn't any delay when 'waking' my machine (which there normally is). I would then have to carefully listen to the spinning fans to know if in fact it had gone to sleep or not.
So, to summarise, unfortunately no, I haven't solved this yet. If anyone else has a solution, please let us know?
Also, I've noticed occasionally after waking that there is a relatively quiet 'crackle' sound (kind of electrical sounding) from the bottom-right area of the machine. This goes on every so often for about 30mins. I see this is also an issue with other people's late 2012 iMacs, but I've not seen if anyone has a solution to it?

External hard drive does not mount after sleep

I am using a brand new Seagate 2 TB external hard drive for my backup drive. More often than not, when the computer goes to sleep, the icon for the drive is gone from the desktop when the computer wakes up. I have to unplug it from the computer and reconnect it, then it mounts and works fine. I have it plugged directly into the computer's USB port. The drive uses USB3. As far as I can tell, it does not exceed the power requirements of the USB port. It is the only external hard drive I am using at the moment.
I should note that the same thing was happening with my last hard drive. That was a Western Digital 250 GB drive with an independant power source connected by firewire.
I am running OS 10.6.8 on an Intel circa 2009 iMac. My external drives worked fine for years, and it seems in the last year or so is when this started happening.

r_dizzle wrote:
Another point of note is that both the HD and the keyboard are connected to the iMac through a 7 port USB hub.
I think this might be the issue. If the iMac is waking back up, it will likely be waking up this HUB, but the HUB might not be re-initialising the connection between OS X and the external drive or the keyboard.
After waking the iMac, if you unplug the external drive from the HUB, then plug it back in again, does OS X pick it up again? Have you tried plugging the external drive directly into the iMac and then testing what the result is?
If you read back on what you've said, you pointed out that you have a USB mouse that you use to wake the iMac from sleep. Is this mouse directly connected to the iMac? If so, it surely can't be a coincidence that a directly connected USB device can wake the iMac from sleep, but any USB devices connected to the iMac via a USB HUB cannot.
I would suggest you test the drive as it is directly connected to the iMac. I would complete the same test with the keyboard too. I think you'll find it's the USB HUB.
I hope this helps.

External hard drives ejecting after iMac wakes from sleep.

External hard drive keeps ejecting after iMac wakes from sleep. TM does not recognise, so have to unplug then re plug in Ext HD, only then TM will perform a back up. Not seamless backups. Help to resolve would be grand

Ive got the same problem with a Western Digital 500GB My Book Pro on my iMac Ive tried it on a few other machines and I think its happened on them, I say think because it was only when it had happened a couple of time that I started to take notice of circumstances etc and ive only had the drive a week, downloaded what may be a more uptodate "My Button manager" from the WD site still happened but Ive got this idea that it didnt happen on one machine which may not have had the MyButton thing on at that time, have you solved it yet I am using USB at the moment.
20" iMac 2.13Ghz Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Using Time Capsule as an external hard drive with ethernet cable, disabling airport, using wifi from laptop

Okay, first of all, I admit right off the bat that I should have bought an external hard drive. Now I am stuck with a 3TB Time Capsule that I want to tie to my laptop via ethernet cable, without having the Time Capsule disable my laptop's current wifi. So, I want to be able to back up my laptop (using the ethernet cable and Time Machine) to my Time Capsule drive and still be able to be surfing the internet as if I didn't have Time Capsule at all.
My MacBook Pro is OS 10.7.5.
Any thoughts are much appreciated.

This is not difficult.
You need to work out one issue beforehand..
What IP address range does the computer get from the wifi router.. ?
If you get 10.0.x.x then you will need to adjust the settings on the TC to a different IP range.. eg 192.168.1.1 for the TC.
Tell me what IP you get on wireless. I will assume for now you are getting 192.168.x.x
In the ethernet setup on the laptop, choose configure IPv4 Manually.
Give the computer an IP address say 10.0.1.10 with 255.255.255.0 subnet. Do not fill in router or dns values.
You can now find the ethernet linked TC and get internet via the airport.
On the TC itself, just leave it in router mode.. and ignore all the errors.. turn off the wireless.

External hard drive won't power back up when iMac wakes from sleep

I have the external hard drive connected via USB. I always put my iMac to sleep before going to bed and I wake it up when I come home from work. Except that when I do, the external hard drive doesn't power up. It still shows in Finder, but clicking on it's folders just opens them up as if they were empty. There's no access noise and the drive can't be ejected.I have to switch it's power off and turn it back on for it to spin back up.
At first I thought it was because I had Energy Saver set to power down the drives whenever possible, which works just fine when it's on, the drive powers on and off as needed just as long as the iMac doesn't go to sleep. I turned it off just to make sure and it made no difference. As soon as the iMac goes to sleep and the drives powers down, it will not come back on without a power cycle once the iMac wakes.
I've used this drive in an old Macbook for years without having this problem. The only difference is that the Macbook was on 10.6.8. I was thinking about buying a 4 bay USB enclosure and filling it up with hard drives, but I'm not about to do that if every time I put the iMac to sleep, the whole thing will not power back on without a power cycle.
Any help would be much appreciated.

Not sure if you managed to get this issue resolved yet Marcus, but I too have a similar problem:
Currently I'm upgrading from Leopard to Lion (via Snow Leopard) on both an iMac and MacBook Pro (both Intel), but before I proceed with the OSX upgrade I wanted to back everything up. Thus far I have partitioned an external firewire drive (G Drive - one that is bootable), and cloned each machine using Carbon Copy Cloner to it's own partition (both GUID). There is plenty of space left over on each partition.
The issue - I can boot the OS X from the external drive on the MacBook Pro but not on the iMac.
When I restart and hold down Option on the iMac the only drive that appears is the HDD, not the other two selectable drives that are visible if I boot up on the MacBook Pro. On the iMac in System Prefs > Startup Disc I can see all 3 drives but when I select it and restart, the machine freezes on the grey loading screen and goes no further.
Not that it should make a difference, but there is a 3rd partition on the external drive that is currently empty (for extra storage).
Any help is greatly appreciated - I can't find any relevant answers elsewhere. Thanks,
Dan

External Hard drive Auto-sleep Disable

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