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2012 iMac USB 3.0 Drive That Doesn't Cause Computer to Freeze When Waking Up?

shenan1982

shenan1982

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Nov 23, 2011
3,641
80
So I have the 2012 (really 2013, hehe) and I bought the Seagate USB 3.0 flex drive. The problem this drive has, like many USB drives, is that it sleeps. I know, that saves energy and the life of the drive, but it also causes the computer to basically freeze when the drive springs back to life. Ordinarily it's not a big deal, but with time machine backing up every couple hours, it does pose an annoyance that web pages and everything else I'm doing pause for 3-5 seconds when the drive wakes up.

edit: it also does the 3-5 second "spin up" every time my computer wakes, delaying my ability to input my password. Very annoying.

Any suggestions for drives that don't suffer from this issue?
 
Last edited:
N

Nuke61

macrumors 6502
Jan 18, 2013
325
1
Columbia, SC
shenan1982 said:
edit: it also does the 3-5 second "spin up" every time my computer wakes, delaying my ability to input my password. Very annoying.

Any suggestions for drives that don't suffer from this issue?
Click to expand...
I think that's just an issue with it going to sleep and then waking up. I have a FirmTek 3.0 enclosure and I just tried the following:
1) Put Samsung 840 Pro in FirmTek and sleep iMac. Computer and FirmTek go to to sleep in <1 second. When waking, it takes about 1 second to get to the password prompt.

2) Put Samsung Spinpoint/Seagate Momentus HDD into FirmTek and sleep iMac. iMac and FirmTek take about 3 seconds to sleep. When waking, it takes about 3 seconds to get to the password prompt.

3) Eject FirmTek and unplug, plug in Buffalo USB 3.0 HDD and then sleep iMac. iMac and Buffalo take about 3 seconds to sleep. When waking, it takes about 3 seconds to get to the password prompt.

Personally, I think it's just a function of the amount of time to spin up the HDD. With an SSD in another Buffalo MiniStation, the FirmTek, or an OWC enclosure, sleep and wake is 1 second or less. With an HDD it's 3 seconds to wake.
 
shenan1982

shenan1982

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Nov 23, 2011
3,641
80
Nuke61 said:
Personally, I think it's just a function of the amount of time to spin up the HDD. With an SSD in another Buffalo MiniStation, the FirmTek, or an OWC enclosure, sleep and wake is 1 second or less. With an HDD it's 3 seconds to wake.
Click to expand...

Well ultimately it's THIS drive. I never had the issue with my 1GB WD drive. Maybe I need to go back to WD. This drives me nuts.
 
M

macalec

macrumors 6502
Mar 12, 2012
252
2
shenan1982 said:
So I have the 2012 (really 2013, hehe) and I bought the Seagate USB 3.0 flex drive. The problem this drive has, like many USB drives, is that it sleeps. I know, that saves energy and the life of the drive, but it also causes the computer to basically freeze when the drive springs back to life. Ordinarily it's not a big deal, but with time machine backing up every couple hours, it does pose an annoyance that web pages and everything else I'm doing pause for 3-5 seconds when the drive wakes up.

edit: it also does the 3-5 second "spin up" every time my computer wakes, delaying my ability to input my password. Very annoying.

Any suggestions for drives that don't suffer from this issue?
Click to expand...

I use the seagate usb 3.0 drive, and it does not have this issue. However I did have a 2010 imac with a usb 2.0 drive and it did have this issue with the spin. I am not sure there is a complete resolution for this. Has anyone tried a thunderbolt drive?
 
shenan1982

shenan1982

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Nov 23, 2011
3,641
80
macalec said:
I use the seagate usb 3.0 drive, and it does not have this issue. However I did have a 2010 imac with a usb 2.0 drive and it did have this issue with the spin. I am not sure there is a complete resolution for this. Has anyone tried a thunderbolt drive?
Click to expand...

Had a thunderbolt and fw800 and neither had this issue.
 
Lancer

Lancer

macrumors 68020
Jul 22, 2002
2,217
147
Australia
I've also got a Seagate (Backup Plus) for Time Machine and I've only noticed when playing games like CSR Racing, other than that it's not normally an issue. A bigger issue I've had is sometimes the HDDs at 'lost' when I wake up my iMac, prompting the 'you didn't eject your HDD correctly...' or words to that affect.

Solution, for the last week I've not put the iMac to sleep, with fusion its whisper quite and the screen goes off after an hour of non use.
 
shenan1982

shenan1982

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Nov 23, 2011
3,641
80
Lancer said:
Solution, for the last week I've not put the iMac to sleep, with fusion its whisper quite and the screen goes off after an hour of non use.
Click to expand...

Hmm, and letting the screen shut off but keeping the power going won't significantly hurt the computer will it?

Also, anyone have any oponion on WD for Mac 4GB USB 3.0 vs Seagate Plus 4GB USB 3.0? I want to upgrade from my 3GB to a 4GB
 
Lancer

Lancer

macrumors 68020
Jul 22, 2002
2,217
147
Australia
shenan1982 said:
Hmm, and letting the screen shut off but keeping the power going won't significantly hurt the computer will it?
Click to expand...

I don't plan on doing it long term, might put the iMac to sleep tonight. Usually the 'missing' HDD is not missing when I look at the Finder or reappears within seconds of waking up.

Also, anyone have any oponion on WD for Mac 4GB USB 3.0 vs Seagate Plus 4GB USB 3.0? I want to upgrade from my 3GB to a 4GB
Click to expand...

Don't you mean Tb?
 
P

passey

macrumors member
Mar 28, 2013
89
0
I use a thermal take usb 3.0 drive and have no problems at all.

Using a Samsung 840 256gb ssd in it running the os.

I put it to sleep every day and have no problems with it waking up every
 
shenan1982

shenan1982

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Nov 23, 2011
3,641
80
passey said:
I use a thermal take usb 3.0 drive and have no problems at all.

Using a Samsung 840 256gb ssd in it running the os.

I put it to sleep every day and have no problems with it waking up every
Click to expand...

Well that's great that you and your 256gb drive are happy. I'd have that filled in 30 seconds.

----------
Lancer said:
Don't you mean Tb?
Click to expand...

Obviously a typo
 
Tumbleweed666

Tumbleweed666

macrumors 68000
Mar 20, 2009
1,761
141
Near London, UK.
I've got a Seagate which had that function/problem, and after some searching I found a program from Seagate which switches that sleep function off.

Search for "seagate sleep override utility".

It doesn't seem to work for everyone , but it worked for my (somewhat old) USB 2 drive.

You just run it once, it does its thing, that's it. Back your drive up first :)
 
N

ncrashb

macrumors newbie
Jul 25, 2013
2
0
I have this same issue. I run the latest iMac (2012/2013) with a Seagate Backup Plus 2TB USB3 harddrive. I leave it plugged in with USB3 always and powered on. It will go to sleep and wake up somewhat often for Time Machine. When it wakes up/spins up, my computer freezes for 2-4 seconds. No good when importing photos or editing video. Anything that is in RAM is fine (music keeps playing fine, just can't click or issue any new commands).

I don't want to force the drive to never sleep, however I don't want my iMac freezing either.

Any suggestions/hope?
 
shenan1982

shenan1982

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Nov 23, 2011
3,641
80
ncrashb said:
I have this same issue. I run the latest iMac (2012/2013) with a Seagate Backup Plus 2TB USB3 harddrive. I leave it plugged in with USB3 always and powered on. It will go to sleep and wake up somewhat often for Time Machine. When it wakes up/spins up, my computer freezes for 2-4 seconds. No good when importing photos or editing video. Anything that is in RAM is fine (music keeps playing fine, just can't click or issue any new commands).

I don't want to force the drive to never sleep, however I don't want my iMac freezing either.

Any suggestions/hope?
Click to expand...

I just disabled the computer from sleeping. That was the main issue causing it to spin down. Now no issues. So I use an extra 50 cents of power per month, no biggie.
 
N

ncrashb

macrumors newbie
Jul 25, 2013
2
0
shenan1982 said:
I just disabled the computer from sleeping. That was the main issue causing it to spin down. Now no issues. So I use an extra 50 cents of power per month, no biggie.
Click to expand...

I have tried this also and it helps, but the drive still spins up & down and freezes the Mac sometimes while I'm using the Mac too (usually when Time Machine starts or if I open Finder or something else that access the filesystem).

I recently got the Thunderbolt dock for my drive and use the Thunderbolt connection too the iMac with Apple's cable, and it seems to help a bit. It freezes less often, and the freezing periods are shorter. Sometimes it even spins up without freezing anything.
 
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