Hard Disk going to Sleep but I told it not to

In System Prefs | Energy Saver, I have "Put hard disk to
sleep when possible" UNchecked but it constantly
goes to sleep and has to be reawakened after only a few
minutes.
BTW: I have "Put the computer to sleep when it is inactive
after - 3 hrs."

I wrote a little script which worked in prior operating systems to avoid this issue. Not sure if it will work in the current since I never ran into the issue, but you can try it out:
http://www.macmaps.com/software.html
Disclaimer: Reference to links I make to my Macmaps.com website are a for your information only type reference. I do not get any profit from this page, and it is open to the public.

Similar Messages

Hard disk going to sleep without permission

The hard disk on my Mini spins down despite the fact that I have the "put hard disk(s) to sleep when possible option" shut off. Is anybody else experiencing this? This is before the system starts going into sleep mode.

I've never used it myself, so I'm not sure what happens to these manual settings if you use the Energy Saver System Preferences to change the settings again, but take a look at the "pmset" (modify power management settings) command. Type:
man pmset
...and then press "return" at a Terminal prompt to see the "manual" pages and all of the options. Remember to type a "q" when you're done to return to the prompt. Note, "The -a, -b, -c, -u flags determine whether the settings apply to battery (-b), charger (wall power) (-c), UPS (-u) or all (-a)." And the argument is "disksleep" and then the number of minutes. So, if you want the hard drive to spin down after 30 minutes of idle time only while you're using the battery, you type:
pmset -b disksleep 30
...and then press "return". If you want the hard drive to spin down after an hour of idle time no matter what power you're using, type:
pmset -a disksleep 60
...and then press "return". After using the "pmset -g disk" ("get" command), it appears that the setting to put the disk to sleep when possible sets it to ten minutes. After changing it to uncheck the option, mine was then set to zero when connected to AC power.
-Doug

Sleep Question when "Put the hard disk(s) to sleep" is unchecked

In the Energy Saver options, I unchecked the "Put the hard disks to sleep when possible" option ... what happens if I close the lid? Does that option get overridden and the hard drive goes to sleep?
Will I be safe to move my mbp around in my backpack when I travel? Or do I have to shut it down totally? I tried finding the answer but couldn't find a real response.
I just want to know if the laptop's drive stops spinning and I can move it around safely or if I should always turn off my mbp when I put it in my backpack. Thanks for any answers.
Mac OS X (10.4.8)

> what happens if I close the lid? Does that option get overridden and the hard drive goes to sleep?
Yes, it's over-ridden, the heads park and you can move it around happily
Make sure it does actually go to sleep and not hang up on some run-away (BootCamp) process or similar ... you can tell by the noise. If it's not silent within 10 seconds of the lid closing open it up again and check Activity Monitor.

HT1776 Hi, my iMac screen goes to sleep but the fan stays on 24hrs and never stops?

Hi, my iMac screen goes to sleep but the fan stays on 24hrs and never stops? You can hear it running all night.
Appreciate any advice.I'm using Lion. Many problems started since using Lion!

The temps are a bit higher than I'd expect under normal circumstances, and too high while playing games, but what is the room temp where it is?
I def. think its a temp thing now. but why does it only raise when im playing games or watching videos online?
Games tipically press the CPU, Video Card, RAM, and everything else much harder than most apps.
It may be a Fan not working properly, or just dust buildup.
Boot off your Install Disk while holding down the *d key*, (not c key), then run the extended Apple Hardware Test. Some disks require you to use the Option key at bootup to select AHT. Some models have a separate AHT CD.
Report any errors it finds.

Does "Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible) work with external drive

I have an external backup drive which I use for doing daily backups. I have set an iCal alarm daily to remind me to turn the hdd on at the right time.
When Time Machine comes along in a couple weeks, I am going to be leaving this drive on all the time while I'm working on my computer but was wondering if the energy savings mode of putting the hard drive to sleep applies to external USB drives as well? Would be nice to know that when I put my computer to sleep at the end of the day that my external drive also goes to sleep. I'm not sure if this has to be a function of the external box or if OS X can shut off the drive.
Any wisdom?

You can test this very easily:
The "Put the hard disk(S) to sleep when possible" default time is 10 minutes of inactivity.
Just leave your Mac alone for 10 minutes: you should hear both drives spinning down. If the external noise was not clear enough, you can then "wake it up" by double-clicking its icon on the desktop:
If it was spun down, you'll have to wait a couple of seconds or so, with the spinning colored beachball, while it is spinning up again.
Note that if you're performing a task that uses only you Mac's internal HD, the external should spin down while you're using your Mac. Then if double-clicking its icon shows the colored spinning beachball stalling, it's very clear it goes to sleep as intended.
Most of the external hard drives should be able to spin down, at least all my LaCie do it with no problem.

"put hard disk(s) to sleep when possible" setting - YES or NO?

I've searched.... but I can't find a definitive answer.
Is it a bad idea to NOT "sleep" my hard disk(s)?
(i.e. - uncheck the "hard disk(s) sleep" option)
I have a new macbook and I'm running Time Machine on an external (powered) drive. I have my computer set to "put hard disk(s) to sleep when possible" but I'm having problems with "improper device removal" warnings when I wake up the macbook. I would hate to shorten the life of my drives - but potentially corrupted
files on my Time Machine disk kind of defeats the purpose of back ups.
I realize that "sleeping" conserves battery life - but when the macbook is plugged in, what should I do?
thanks

the external hard drive is unmounting itself and I receive the "improper removal" warning. I've seen similar posts in the Time Machine discussions. It seems that it might be a sleep related issue. Macbook wakes - but doesn't wake external?
(Although one time it unmounted while the macbook wasn't sleeping)
At first I thought it was because the drive was bus powered -so I switched to a powered drive. Problem still happened - so I removed the drive from my usb hub and plugged straight into macbook usb port... but the problem is still occuring.
(Also.... wondering if verifying my back up drive will assure me that no data corruption occurred with improper removal...of should I do another complete backup?) thanks

"Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible": How to Exempt One Drive?

I have a Mac Pro with 4 internal hard drives, 2 external hard drives, the built-in SuperDrive, and a new Pioneer BDR-205 internal Blu-ray drive. Here's the problem: If the "Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible" option is enabled, when the system puts the BDR-205 to sleep, it will never wake up unless the computer is shut down and restarted. (Basically, it disappears from the System Profiler and can no longer be accessed.)
If I turn off the Energy Saver "Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible" option, then the BDR-205 never has a problem -- but then none of my other drives ever go to sleep, either.
Does anyone know of a way to exempt a specific drive (or drives) from being put to sleep by the "Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible" feature? I've found where the settings for this feature are stored, in \Library\Preferences\SystemConfiguration\com.apple.PowerManagement.plist (the setting is Disk Sleep Timer -- 0 = never sleep, any other number = how many minutes before a drive is put to sleep), but I can't find where there might be some undocumented option to allow us to say, "Don't put THIS drive to sleep". It seems silly that this option is an all-or-nothing proposition.
Anyone have any ideas? Thanks in advance.

I am having the same difficulty. A way to exempt a specific drive from sleep would be most useful.

HP OfficeJet Pro 8500 goes to sleep, but often wakes up when it shouldn't

HP OfficeJet Pro 8500 goes to sleep, but often wakes up when it shouldn't. This happens over and over. It used to sleep until I sent something to be printed. I now shut the printer down, but that takes a long time to start it up.

When you finally get around to looking at my post, never mind.
I reset the factory defaults on the printer and reauthorized my WiFi network.
Now it is working.

When my screen goes to sleep and then the hard drive goes to sleep why won't the screen wake up?

I can repeat this 100% of the time. If I let the screen go to sleep (or I manually put it to sleep) and I shut the computer so the hard drive goes to sleep (or if the hard drive simply goes to sleep on the timer), when I open the Macbook Pro the screen will not wake up, although I think the hard drive does as the back light on the keyboard turns on. Any ideas on why this is happening. My computer is 4 weeks old...a bit frustrating. The best answer I have gotten is get a new one for Apple...or completely re-install the OS.
Jared

The reason why it's happening is not obvious and can't be determined without more information. The fact that you can reproduce the problem makes it a lot more tractable.
As a first step, boot in safe mode (shift key down at startup.) Can you reproduce the problem now? If so, note the time, then reboot as usual (not in safe mode) and look in the system log for error messages at the time the screen failed to wake up.

Hard Drive Goes To Sleep - Always

The hard drive in my Mac Pro spins down every few minutes. I am constantly interrupted when working on it to wait for the hard drive to spin up. I do mean constantly.
This is not an Energy Saver control panel setting. Everything is set to never sleep, no how, no way. Still the HD sleeps every few minutes.
Is there a way in the Terminal to reset the hard drive's setting directly or some utility to set the drive to never spin down? Or even to have it only spin down when the control panel calls for it to spin down?
Thanks

I have this issue too. I own two identical MacPro units running 10.4.10. They are set for the CPU to sleep after 1 hr, display after 15 mins. The "Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible" option in Energy Saver is OFF.
Despite the latter, after a certain length of time (not much more than 15mins), at least one hard drive(s) spin down (one machine has 3 drives, the other 2), stopping with a click (presumably head-locking). A few minutes later they do it again, adn so on indefinitely.
I am not disturbed by this so much as worrying that the drive(s) will suffer more wear by being spun up and down every few minutes than if they stayed either on or off. I would therefore like them to stay in one state or the other, and I feel that this should be determined by the Energy Saver setting of "Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible", which is currently apparently IGNORED. ie this appears to be a bug.
The response I get on one machine to the instruction "pmset -g" is :
Active Profiles:
AC Power -1*
Currently in use:
disksleep 180
hibernatemode 0
displaysleep 15
powerbutton 1
womp 1
sleep 60
autorestart 0
hibernatefile /var/vm/sleepimage
Hope this helps.
Has this been reported as a bug?
Drive in Bay 1 is the original WD2500JS (Macintosh HD)
Drive in Bay 2 is a third-party ST3500641AS
I can't tell you which one(s) I hear spinning down. It is rather hard to tell.
Thanks,
--Richard E

Macbook goes to sleep but does not wake-up

Hello, my Macbook is 3 years old and I am now having trouble with it. Whenever it goes to sleep, it does not wake up. This includes if I close the screen and then when reopening, it will not come back on. I am on version 10.4.11
Below is the power settings on the machine in case it is something to do with the battery/power source.
Thankyou so much if anyone could help fix the problem or point me in the right direction to resolving the issue.
System Power Settings:
AC Power:
System Sleep Timer (Minutes): 180
Disk Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
Display Sleep Timer (Minutes): 180
Automatic Restart On Power Loss: No
Wake On AC Change: No
Wake On Clamshell Open: Yes
Wake On LAN: Yes
Display Sleep Uses Dim: Yes
Battery Power:
System Sleep Timer (Minutes): 180
Disk Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
Display Sleep Timer (Minutes): 180
Wake On AC Change: No
Wake On Clamshell Open: Yes
Display Sleep Uses Dim: Yes
Reduce Brightness: No
Battery Information:
Battery Installed: Yes
First low level warning: No
Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 4990
Remaining Capacity (mAh): 4980
Amperage (mA): -1112
Voltage (mV): 12389
Cycle Count: 231
AC Charger Information:
Connected: Yes
Charging: No
Hardware Configuration:
UPS Installed: No

Hmm... I've had this macbook for a while now (?? a year maybe ??) and about 2 months ago I started having this exact issue, close lid to sleep returning it would not wake and a hard reset (hold power for 5+ seconds) is required.
I too discovered such links as this and also the older (also unanswered):
http://discussions.info.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=8690782
But as others have said there doesn't appear to be a solution?
RESET THE SMC (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964) does appear to work, however the issue returns again after a few days or weeks... I cannot find anything that guarantees to return the issue it just starts happening again after a while.
The battery appears to be in okay condition, although I think it might run down a little faster now days than when I first bought it, but I assume this is to be expected.
I also had suffered from what sounds like an issue with wifi weirdness - signal would drop to 0% suddenly, no longer "see" the wifi hub that it has been using forever (although it still, randomly, sees other nearby hubs) for no apparent reason, and that kind of thing - all these times the only solutions that have worked have been to stuff around with the wifi hub turing off extas, flipping from "Auto" to a specific Number (1 to 13) and turning on (OR OFF!) Mixed B/G to just B OR G... very strange... and random.
The only things I've changed recently are, upgraded to snow leopard (from leopard) and got an external display. But I cannot say if the incidents coincided or not, as I didn't realise the sleep/wake issue was an issue for a while, as the first few times I just thougth "Oh, something weirds happened... Reset..." and didnt' really think too much about it until it happened for the 3rd or 4th time and I could see there was a pattern...
The external monitor via minidisplay port adaptor i got from teh apple store.
I don't use it with the machine closed or external keyboard/mouse, although I've heard you can do this, I use the monitor as a secondary display when I'm at the desk, the rest of the time I just use it as I have always done.
I would love to see a solution to this, I guess I could try warranty, but I dunno if the issue is warranty "level"...?
Message was edited by: smerlon
Message was edited by: smerlon

Hard drive goes to sleep in 2 minutes when hooked up to my Airport Extreme?

I have a usb hard drive hooked up to my airport extreme as a network drive and it works great, I use it for all my movies and music and all my computers on my network can access the drive, but if I am not accessing a file it goes to sleep really quickly and then when I do want to access a file I haft to wait for the drive to spin up again. As long as a video or music is playing off it it continues to run as you would expect, just wondered if any one knows why it goes to sleep so quickly and is there away to extend the sleep time.
Thanks

I don't know the exact reason but I've tried different externals and internal drive in the TC or usb attached to TC or the Extreme and some drives don't sleep and its annoying that these would use unneccassary power.

Pavilion G2-b27SA Laptop Won't Boot - Fan Whirs and Hard Disk Light Comes On but Nothing Else

Hi
My Pavilion G2-b27SA laptop won't boot. The fan whirs, the hard disk and wirless lights come on but nothing happens on-screen and the fan goes quiet after a couple of seconds (to a low whir).
I've gone through and tried the solutions in this thread - http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-e-g-Windows-8/Laptop-will-not-turn-on/td-p/102825 - with no luck. Specifically, I've tried a hard reset and hitting F10 when the laptop tries to boot. Neither has had any effect.
Is there anything else I can try to get the computer working again? If I take it to a laptop repair shop (I'm out of warranty) will they be able to do anything, or is it effectively dead now?
Thanks in advance for your help.

The laptop can always be fixed if you have a bottomless wallet. On a no-start with flashing lights it is likely the motherboard and a motherboard replacement if you have the shop buy the board and bill you for labor will be about $300 give or take 25%. Before we give up, it could be bad memory or a few other less expensive things. Assuming they do not charge too much just to diagnose it; take it to the shop.

Hard Disk Crash, Have Backup but still problems - Help!

Hello,
My mother board, power supply and hard disk crashed, but I had my iTunes backed up using Norton Ghost. After installing a new system board, power supply and hard disk, I installed the OS, installed iTunes 7 and then restored the library from backup.
Problem is that now I have a whole bunch of songs that have a ! icon. When I try to play them, iTunes says that it cannot locate the song.
Any ideas???
Also, I have not hooked my iPod up to this machine. Will iTunes have issues with this iPod or will it recognize it since the library I restored is from that iPod?
Thanks, John

X-((I'v come to talk to myself.
It apears that it might be cuased by some software?
But y when i get some errors in memtest :-/, I dont know if i should rma or replace my ram.
Still looking for suggestions.

External Hard Drives going to sleep.

Is there a way to set an external drive to NEVER sleep. I have several externals (Lacies and Seagates running USB2.0) and they go to sleep if not accessed regularly.
Which is a problem with a documentary timeline as if I'm in a viewing it freezes when I get to a part later on in the TL that has gone to sleep....for a viewing to go smoothly I have to export a QT, which quite frankly is a pain.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Cheers,
Susan.

To force your drives to never sleep:
Launch the Terminal application (Applications>Utilities>Terminal) and type:
sudo pmset spindown X
type your password when it asks for it.
X=the number of minutes that you want till your drive spins down.
0 (zero) is never
And note that this is a more 'controlled' way of checking "Put the hard disk to sleep when possible" than in system preferences/energy saver/sleep In there, checked means 10 minutes and unchecked means 180 minutes (not never).
More info on using pmset here:
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/man1/pmset.1. html
And this text was found here
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/sbbod.html
x

Hard Disk going to Sleep but I told it not to

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for