External Hard drives spooling after display power down

When I shut off my MBP thats connected to a 27" thunderbolt display, the external hard drives that I've got connected to the display shut down, then spool back up after everything has been shut down. How can I get them to stay off?
Current set up: MBP-Thunderbolt display-USB hub-2 external drives
Thank you!

I decided to try KeepDriveSpinning for my issue and I found that 30 sec was the optimal time to stop my drive spinning up/down. I tried 35 sec and up to 60 and the issue kept occuring. You could try a different time setting if you haven't already.
It does sound like Mountain Lion is the issue in your case.
Sorry, I don't really have the technical skills to help you. I'm really just fumbling around.
On a related point I think my external drive is also the cause of my mac not automatically sleeping. I came across acommand that lists the things that are preventing the mac form sleeping. Maybe, [thats a big maybe], the command might help you with your issue
pmset -g assertions
and there is a related command that continually logs the things that prevent sleep
pmset -g assertionslog
If you ran the logging one and then slept the screen and tired accessing your drives it might log something that may help??? Its a long shot though.
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20120701234338952

Similar Messages

I had backed up my I-tunes files to an external hard drive but after my computer crashed when I try to reload from the hard drive the message comes up saying I-tunes library cannot be read because it was created by a newer version. Help please!

I had backed up my I-tunes files to an external hard drive but after my computer crashed and I restored it when I try to reload from the hard drive the message comes up ""I-tunes files cannot be read because it was created by a newer version of I-tunes". Help Please

Upgrade the version of itunes on the new computer
Itunes.com for free download.
Peace

WD Legacy External Hard Drive "Draws too much power from USB"

I have a nice MacBook Pro running Leopard, a year or so old and I've never had any issues with it. I used a WD Legacy 250GB External Hard Drive for Time Machine to back up all my stuff. It has its own power source, and the USB cable works fine because I use it with my printer all the time. However, even with both the laptop and the hard drive plugged in, my laptop automatically disconnects the hard drive because the "USB is drawing too much power".
It didn't happen when I initially backed stuff up on it, and it plugs in and works fine with a desktop. Is there any way to disable the automatic disconnect for drawing too much power through a USB? I don't understand how that's even possible because the external hard drive has its own power source, and I just want my stuff backed up. I could care less if it ***** the charge out of my laptop for a few minutes if that means it will work. I've considered getting a powered USB HUD, but wanted to get everyone else's opinion first. Thanks!

Contact the manufacturer. I think the power pack for the drive is not functioning properly.

Internal iMac hard drive keeps trying to power down without my consent

How do you stop an internal hard drive from shutting down when you didn't ask it to?
Background:
I use Missing Sync for Palm to sync my Palm handheld with my iMac. My Palm has a SD card slot it in and the sync software came with a program that allows me to mount the
SD card as an external drive on my iMac. From there, I can add podcasts, music or whatever I want directly to the card. I have used this software since March with no problems.
Also, when you put my computer to sleep or shut it down, there is a click and then the internal hard drive shuts down.
Last night, I activated the program to mount the SD card to my iMac and instead of it mounting, the iMac's internal hard drive started trying to shut down.
I have used this program many, many times to mount the SD card to my iMac with absolutely no problem. It was weird this time because I kept hearing that clicking noise. The computer became extremely sluggish. To me, it appeared that the internal hard drive was trying to shut down. After about 4-5 clicks, it succeeded and the computer froze.
Since that time, shortly after you turn the iMac on, you hear that clicking noise trying to power down the hard drive. Sometimes, it just takes a few clicks and the hard drive shuts off. Sometimes the computer will boot all the way up, I can log in and launch a program before it shuts off and the computer freezes. While I can't check the drive with First Aid or Diskwarrior because it shuts off before I can scan it, I assume the data and the drive are ok because I have been able to successfully boot from it and log into my account but shortly after I log in, the hard drive shuts down and the computer is stuck.
Any ideas? Any help would be wonderful!

You are right. It is failing. I took my Mac into the Apple Store and talked with a genius. Although the hard drive would not do what it had at home (typical when you're trying to get something diagnosed) I shut it down so he could hear the noise I do.
Sure enough, he said the noise I heard was the drive read head hitting its start position. When a hard drive shuts down, the drive head moves out of the way since the "hard disk" is actually a thin floppy magnetic disc. The noise I kept hearing was indeed the drive trying to shut down.
Fortunately, I did make a clone of my internal drive to that external drive 6 months ago so I was (eventually) able to copy over all the important files, update the external clone and boot off of it.
Sure enough, tonight, I opened Disk Utility and it said in plain red letters that the drive had reported a hardware failure and should be replaced.
Since my iMac is Summer 2001, the Mac Genius said they no longer carry parts for it so he gave me the name of a local place that would be glad to fix it up. I called them and luck would have it that they were completely out of the internal drives used by my model iMac. So I have to check next week to see if they have received more in yet.
The good news is I can get a slightly larger interal hard drive since I was down to 10GB of a 60GB factory drive. So far, I hear I can go as high as 160GB but the RPM must be lower since my iMac has no fans.
Thanks for your help! As much as I didn't want to believe it, you hit the problem right on.

WD External Hard Drive - Not Enough USB Power?

Hello, I have a Western Digital External Hard Drive that I've had for about 5 years. It plugs in/loads through the USB port. However, it hasn't worked when I plug it in to my MAC anymore. The red light comes on like it is getting power, but the blue light that typically comes on as well blinks a few times, then you hear the external hard drive shutting back down. Needless to say, it isn't loading anymore, and I can't access my files on the drive. I'm thinking/hoping that maybe (for some odd reason) it isn't getting enough power through my MAC's USB port anymore. Is this possible? If so, what can I do to solve this problem. Thanks for any help!

Depends on whether the drive's motor is functional and the drive can be mounted. In that case you could use recovery software if the drive isn't otherwise accessible. If it's dead and inaccessible then you would need to send it to an expensive data recovery service.
General File Recovery
If you stop using the drive it's possible to recover deleted files that have not been overwritten by using recovery software such as Data Rescue II, File Salvage or TechTool Pro. Each of the preceding come on bootable CDs to enable usage without risk of writing more data to the hard drive.
The longer the hard drive remains in use and data are written to it, the greater the risk your deleted files will be overwritten.
Also visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on Data Recovery.
You could consider getting a power supply for it. They usually aren't very expensive. Or you could try a different enclosure that supported Firewire (if your MB has a FW port.) You could also try it on a different computer.

External Hard Drive Fail After Waking from Sleep

Hi,
I've been having this issue for over a year (since upgrading to Lion, and now still persists after upgrading to Mountain Lion), and I haven't been able to find the exact answer I need after searching through the posts here, and on the internet.
I have a 2011 MBP, and after upgrading to Lion last year, I've noticed that my WD external hard drive for the Mac has issues to be recognized after the laptop wakes from sleep. The drive icons are still there on the desktop, and all the files are listed. However, I cannot open any of the files, and Time Machine backup automatically fails.I am able to eject the drives by dragging the icons into the trash can. However, nothing happens if I simply unplug the fire wire 800 cable and re-plug it into the computer after ejecting the drives. I need to reset the external drive by unplugging both the fire wire cable and the power supply, and replug everything.
Aside from being a hampering process after waking from sleep, this is also very stressful on the drive itself, so I would like to fix this. Does anyone know the issue behind this or have a solution? Thanks in advance!

Thanks for this, and apologies for delay in replying...in between seeing your post I backed up the ext hdd to another mac and used the disc utility to erase and repair and then re mounted the ext hdd. OK. I have then tested the ext hdd being recognised when waking from sleep mode a few times and everything appears to be fine. If this doesn't work (long term) I will follow the instructions as you have suggested....
I now have a new problem with my HP printer (Photosmart Plus) which is not being recognised by a new wireless router..Ok whilst the router is switch on and I have reconfigured the printer..but when the router is switched off overnight and then switched back on...I get a 'printer is not connected' message and have to go through the re configure routine all over. I am minded to think this is a router problem as the same issue is happening to my wifes Mac Book Pro (which is only a few weeks old)...any suggestions..

Improperly ejected external hard drive is not displaying on computer...not even in Disk Utility

My external hard drive has been repeatedly ejected improperly and now it is not displaying on my computer, not even in disk utility. How do I re-mount this external hard drive? In the past when this has happened, all I had to do was go to Disk Utility or use DiskWarrior to fix the issue but now it won't even show up in either of these apps.
Any help would be appreciated
2008 MacBook Pro 10.9.3, WD My Studio 1 TB External HD

From the menu bar, select
 ▹ System Preferences ▹ Energy Saver ▹ Power Adapter
and uncheck the box labeled Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible, if it's checked.
If the drive has more than one interface (USB, FireWire, Thunderbolt, eSATA), try one of the other interfaces.
Check that the data cable is securely inserted at both ends.
Try a different cable.
If you're connecting the drive through a hub, connect it directly to a built-in port on the Mac.
If you're connecting it directly, try a different port.
Disconnect all other devices on the bus, or as many as possible.
Test the drive with another Mac. Test another drive with this Mac.
If the drive is bus-powered, but has an AC adapter, connect the adapter.
Start up in Recovery mode and launch Disk Utility. Is the drive recognized?
Start up in Safe Mode and test.
Reset the NVRAM.
Reset the System Management Controller.
If the drive doesn't work under any of the above conditions, and if another drive does work with the same Mac, then the drive has failed. You may be able to salvage the mechanism by removing it from the enclosure and installing it in another one, or in a drive dock.

My Time Machine stalls during initial backup on external hard drive even after several hours.

We have been using Time Machine and an external hard drive to back up our MacBook for almost a year now. Recently, the hard drive (using a USB) was removed without ejecting it properly. After that, the auto backups began stalling. We tried setting up Time Machine all over again but the initial back up stalls at different places (like 6MB of 87GB) even if it's left for several hours overnight. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this? If not, can anyone suggest another inexpensive way of backing up our files from our MacBook?
Thanks!
Shane

It might have created a new user and loaded under that.. new user being the old user. But if you have issues do it again, only this time pick where the backup will go.
http://pondini.org/TM/16.html
The other questions might also be relevant as a new hard disk will make the Mac appear to the TM backup as a new computer.
See 14-18 for restore info.

How can I move my iTunes movies from my computer to an external hard drive? After I copy them to the drive, do I just delete them from my computer? How will I be able to watch them again?

Hi,
I have a MacBook Air (July 2013) with the latest Mavericks OS X. I also have the lastest version of iTunes.
My computer has very little memory left, so I wanted to free some up. When I looked, movies were taking up a considerable amount of space. I want to move them from my computer, but still be able to watch them if I want to later. I haven't purchased an external drive yet, because I didn't know what size to get. I also have a lot of Photoshop files that are taking up a lot of memory, so I might put some of those on too. Would you recommend a 1 TB one or bigger?
Can you take me through the exact process of moving my iTunes movies to the external drive? I understand where to find the files (My Name<Music<iTunes Media<Movies), but am stuck from there. Do I simply drag them to the external drive and then delete them? Will this delete them from my iTunes library? How will I go about watching them again? I assumed that I would just plug the external hard drive in, click in the movie and watch. Is it this simple? I only want to move my movies, otherwise I would follow tutorials for backing up the library. Once you back up the movies, can you delete them from your computer?
Thanks,
Molly

iTunes does not have provision for automatically storing one kind of media on a separate drive, so you have some basic decisions to make first. Do you want these movies to still appear in your iTunes library, or are you content with browsing filenames on a drive in Finder when you want to look for one? The second's the easiest thing because then you don't have to have an external drive permanently turned on and attached to your computer (wired or wireless). To do that you literelly only need to drag your movies folder to an archive drive and delete movies from iTunes. To watch them again you can add it back to iTunes while holding down the option key so the movie is used from its location on the external drive.
There's ways to move the movies to an external drive while keeping them in iTunes but the external drive iwll always have to be turned on and connected to the computer or you will see a bunch of broken link exclamation marks.
Realize what you are talking about is not "backup". Backup (which you should do) is putting a second or more copy of items on external drives for the day when your internal drive fails and everything on it is lost, inclduing all your home photos and perhaps things that have been pulled from the iTunes Store and can no longer be re-downloaded.

External hard-drive disappeared after dragging into Spotlight

Dear users,
My external hard-drive under devices disappeared after I dragged it into Spotlight to reindex it to make it searchable.
There was a cloud puff animation when i dragged it from the devices icon on the left of folders to the spotlight privacy box window.
Please help. Thank you!

Hi there,
did you find out what the problem was or how to re-map the ext. HDD?
I have the same problem.
thank you.

Backed library onto external hard drive, but after transfer, playlists, playcounts ect haven't saved?

On my old laptop I backed up my music on to an external hard drive ready to transfer over to my new laptop.
After copying the folder from my external to the new laptops' own drive, I duly followed instructions to restore the library.
I thought all was well and good but I noticed that it only copied the songs.. no song history or playlists. I added a new album to the library (an annoying experience after the new update in Feb) and noticed that when I went to sync my ipod (classic), all it did was charge my ipod.
So basically all my itunes is, is just a brand new library with my songs pasted in. Theres no history of song playcounts or playlists.
Needless to say im very irritated, as I have had no problems in the past and seem to have lost over EIGHT YEARS of history :/
The old laptop has been reformatted and wiped so I can't even go back and start again. Is there any way of moving my info from the ipod itself to the laptop?!! Any help would be appreciated, thank you.

Ah sorted it. Basically I had renamed my iTunes folder in the hard drive, so when I transfered to My music there were two folders. I have since renamed and deleted the original iTunes folder and it works now. Thank you

External hard drive corrupted after trying to fix it, in macbook Disk utilities

hello,
After fixing my macbook internal drive with disk utilities, i put to verify my WD external hard drive,that acuse me some errors.
Well i don´t no why but i put the disk utility run for de WD external drive. A few time later , shows up a message that the disk couln't fixed, to format them.
After that my external WD wasn't recognize by any computer, i think the modules of the disk was corruped.
Does any one knows how can i invert ou fix the problem, without formating?
Thank you

Balibaleia wrote:
Does any one knows how can i invert ou fix the problem, without formating?
I assume your asking because you have data on that drive to recover first.
Your going to need to install something like Data Rescue on your computer's boot drive, then connect the problem drive and another external drive with enough space to send all the recovered files too.
Data Rescue takes a long time, it reads the 1's and 0's of the files themselves off the drive, not listening to anything else, it will cost you $100, but that's the going price for software like this.
The option if that doesn't work is to take the internal hard drive out of the external case and use a SATA to USB adapter cable $40, then try the above Data Rescue method again.
If you don't care about any data on the drive, then just toss it. Drives are cheap.

Help! Photos Library copied to external hard drive, but after preparing the library I can NOT see any pictures.

I am having a tough time and searched, but have not found an answer that works. Last night I copied my iPhoto Library to an external hard drive because when I initially attempted to set up Photos, I got an error that said I needed 88 GB of space for the transfer. I got the iPhoto Library onto the hard drive and reopened the app and it prepared the library. It was talking forever, so I went to bed. This morning, I have this screen...
There are NO pictures in the actual app. I went to the external hard drive and see that the Photos Library exists...
I have tried to hold command and option and restart Photos and I did get a prompt that it was repairing; however, this was unsuccessful. Please help! I know the photos are there because when I show package contents, I see them all in my Masters/Old Masters folders.
Thank you!

Agree with baltwo, though even if you have saved the install app I wouldn't use it unless its been used to install a known good copy of the OS already.
In your case, that probably means start fresh:
Restart the computer, holding down 'command' and 'r'. When the recovery disk window shows, choose 'Reinstall Mac OS X'.

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)

How to back up iTunes Library on external hard drive & computer, after purchasing new music?

I keep my iTunes library on my computer's hard drive and also backed up on an external hard drive. I have added more music to my library since my previous back up, and I want to back up the new music to my external drive.
What's the best way to do this?

The first time I backed up my iTunes on an external drive, it took a 1 hour +. Do I basically need to start over on my external hard drive? Or is there an easier/faster way?
Yes there is a faster way.
Check this out -> Backup your iTunes for Windows library with SyncToy
Don't change the library location or hold Option to update the backup on the external.

External Hard drives spooling after display power down

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for