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G-Technology G-DRIVE

peixesloucos

peixesloucos

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 1, 2012
41
2
Brussels
Hello,

I have ordered G-Technology G-DRIVE (2TB) for using mainly for Time Machine backups with my Macbookpro 15 (Late 2011). It is connected via Firewire800 cable and stays under a Griffin stand, where my Macbook Pro is placed on my wood work table at home. I find the spinning of hard drive very noisy. Vibration is little bit increased because of my table but nevertheless compared to an old Lacie 500 gb drive it is really high.

My question is for people who use the same drive or any other 7200 rpm external drive.

1. Is this noise of drive spinning normal? I can describe the sound as fan although it is a fan-less drive.
2. The drive keeps spinning very long although it is not actively used. Is there a way to control this? On my power setting I have ticked the setting of putting hard drives to sleep when possible. I did not find any information about drive sleeping/restart times on G-Technology site.

Thank you in advance for your replies and comments.
 
Mr. Retrofire

Mr. Retrofire

macrumors 603
Mar 2, 2010
5,064
518
www.emiliana.cl/en
peixesloucos said:
My question is for people who use the same drive or any other 7200 rpm external drive.

1. Is this noise of drive spinning normal? I can describe the sound as fan although it is a fan-less drive.
Click to expand...
Yes it is normal. That is the reason why you use high capacity 5400 RPM drives, which have high transfer rates (120 MByte/s and more). Certainly much more than FW800 (80-90 MByte/s). And do not use 7200 RPM drives in passively cooled enclosures! Such drives can overheat, even in an aluminium enclosure. Use 5400 RPM drives like Western Digital RED or Western Digital Green drives. They run much cooler.

peixesloucos said:
2. The drive keeps spinning very long although it is not actively used. Is there a way to control this? On my power setting I have ticked the setting of putting hard drives to sleep when possible. I did not find any information about drive sleeping/restart times on G-Technology site.
Click to expand...
The newer firmware for the PLX (Oxford) chips disables the harddrive sleep, because it is incompatible with some computers. Normal sleep (if your Mac “sleeps”) should work. If you want faster Time Machine backups and a cooler Mac and a cooler drive, disable Spotlight for the backup volume (Spotlight preferences). Spotlight on a TM-drive costs unnecessary time & energy (for the CPU in your Mac and for the HDD, which contains the spotlight index (invisible)).
 
S

sraber

macrumors newbie
Jun 1, 2010
24
0
Los Angeles
peixesloucos said:
Hello,

I have ordered G-Technology G-DRIVE (2TB) for using mainly for Time Machine backups with my Macbookpro 15 (Late 2011). It is connected via Firewire800 cable and stays under a Griffin stand, where my Macbook Pro is placed on my wood work table at home. I find the spinning of hard drive very noisy. Vibration is little bit increased because of my table but nevertheless compared to an old Lacie 500 gb drive it is really high.

My question is for people who use the same drive or any other 7200 rpm external drive.

1. Is this noise of drive spinning normal? I can describe the sound as fan although it is a fan-less drive.
2. The drive keeps spinning very long although it is not actively used. Is there a way to control this? On my power setting I have ticked the setting of putting hard drives to sleep when possible. I did not find any information about drive sleeping/restart times on G-Technology site.

Thank you in advance for your replies and comments.
Click to expand...

I have the exact same drive and am using it for the same purpose as you. It is a little noisy and bothered me with the vibration on my wood table at first. I actually used an old mouse pad to quel the vibration at first. I'm over it now and it doesn't worry me at all. You will get used to it. :D
 
peixesloucos

peixesloucos

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 1, 2012
41
2
Brussels
sraber said:
I have the exact same drive and am using it for the same purpose as you. It is a little noisy and bothered me with the vibration on my wood table at first. I actually used an old mouse pad to quel the vibration at first. I'm over it now and it doesn't worry me at all. You will get used to it. :D
Click to expand...

Thank you for the reply. The drive, at least the case is cool even after I copied my photography (manual 2nd backup) to the first partition and also my initial time machine backup to the other partition. So I am happy with speed and robustness but spinning still worries me.
It is the second day, and I guess I will get used to it.

I will now try to examine the behavior of the drive when the computer is plugged and inactive. I think it keeps spinning for 8 minutes and then enters sleep but after 8 minutes back to spin again. I am trying to get information about this from G-Technology. Do you have any observations on this?

If there is no efficient sleep mechanism does it mean the drive will have short lifespan?
So I have to manually unmount and turn it off.
 
M

mafpolo

macrumors member
Feb 13, 2010
48
0
G-Tech told me...

They told me last night that I needed to unmount the drive, and turn it off when I put the Mac to sleep.

I don't like it a bit. After having G-Techs for so long that didn't require this, I am going to send this puppy back, and get something that doesn't require this extra step.

G-Tech...looks great, looks Mac, but I'm not so sure that they are great external drives. In my opinion, a good external drive should not have a problem with sleep and awake.
 
S

sraber

macrumors newbie
Jun 1, 2010
24
0
Los Angeles
peixesloucos said:
Thank you for the reply. The drive, at least the case is cool even after I copied my photography (manual 2nd backup) to the first partition and also my initial time machine backup to the other partition. So I am happy with speed and robustness but spinning still worries me.
It is the second day, and I guess I will get used to it.

I will now try to examine the behavior of the drive when the computer is plugged and inactive. I think it keeps spinning for 8 minutes and then enters sleep but after 8 minutes back to spin again. I am trying to get information about this from G-Technology. Do you have any observations on this?

If there is no efficient sleep mechanism does it mean the drive will have short lifespan?
So I have to manually unmount and turn it off.
Click to expand...

Your units behavior sounds exactly the same as mine. Try a foam pad under the base if it bothers you, although you will probably forget about it in a short time.
As for it's lifespan, mine has been working very close to two years as my Time Machine back up. It's still humming along. :)
 
peixesloucos

peixesloucos

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 1, 2012
41
2
Brussels
sraber said:
Your units behavior sounds exactly the same as mine. Try a foam pad under the base if it bothers you, although you will probably forget about it in a short time.
As for it's lifespan, mine has been working very close to two years as my Time Machine back up. It's still humming along. :)
Click to expand...

I have two drives connected to my macbook pro. Now I placed them in a corner under my table on top of the subwoofer, eventually on a wood and stable surface. This eliminates the vibration on my table, the sound compared to silent macbook pro is little disturbing if I am not listening any music.

What I am told from G-Technology staff is these drives are for high-performance so they are continuously connected and powered up.

If my Time Machine continues to work without problems I think I will keep it.

Nevertheless, G-Technology description about the G-Drive is not correct for the part on noise but I hope it will be correct for the life span:

"The drive is whisper quiet with an integrated fan-less cooling system that ensures reliable operation and long life."
 
S

sraber

macrumors newbie
Jun 1, 2010
24
0
Los Angeles
peixesloucos said:
I have two drives connected to my macbook pro. Now I placed them in a corner under my table on top of the subwoofer, eventually on a wood and stable surface. This eliminates the vibration on my table, the sound compared to silent macbook pro is little disturbing if I am not listening any music.

What I am told from G-Technology staff is these drives are for high-performance so they are continuously connected and powered up.

If my Time Machine continues to work without problems I think I will keep it.

Nevertheless, G-Technology description about the G-Drive is not correct for the part on noise but I hope it will be correct for the life span:

"The drive is whisper quiet with an integrated fan-less cooling system that ensures reliable operation and long life."
Click to expand...

Glad you found a better place for it. As another poster mentioned the 5400 RPM drives are much quieter but I always have to have the best, quickest, and most beautiful products even if they are a little finicky. Enjoy yours. ;)
 
M

mortfe

macrumors regular
May 31, 2008
136
0
No noise on my 1tb g-Drive. My problem is when I start my mac and click on the drive to access it, it hangs for at least 15 seconds before opening. After the 1st time, no problem but occasionally opening a window and getting nothing. Then everything will appear. Checked drive and comes up fine with no problems. Hour with Apple support and their conclusion was the mac doesn't seem to recrgnize the drive on startup.
 
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