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2012 Mac Mini / Yosemite still booting external HDD

danb1979

danb1979

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 5, 2015
687
976
Preston, Lancs - UK
Hi

New to these forums but have 'hovered' around them for ages... Thought I'd better sign up :D

My 2012 Mac Mini running Yosemite still has niggles when it comes to my external 3TB HDD (Seagate)

I use it as my TimeMachine and for general storage (MS Word & Excel files, email back-ups and iTunes stuff etc...). However the main iTunes account is on the Mini's own HDD

The external HDD every so often is booted even though the Mac Mini is asleep; I've already googled this many times and done the suggestions (turned off power saving et al)

I rarely shut my Mini down, just put it to sleep but I have bought & use Jettison which seems to work 90% of the time but still... The external HDD gets booted and when I switch on the Mini from sleep, it's not there and I have to unplug it/plug it back in to get it running again (not ideal I know)

Any further suggestions?! :)
 
grandM

grandM

macrumors 68000
Oct 14, 2013
1,508
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danb1979 said:
Hi

New to these forums but have 'hovered' around them for ages... Thought I'd better sign up :D

My 2012 Mac Mini running Yosemite still has niggles when it comes to my external 3TB HDD (Seagate)

I use it as my TimeMachine and for general storage (MS Word & Excel files, email back-ups and iTunes stuff etc...). However the main iTunes account is on the Mini's own HDD

The external HDD every so often is booted even though the Mac Mini is asleep; I've already googled this many times and done the suggestions (turned off power saving et al)

I rarely shut my Mini down, just put it to sleep but I have bought & use Jettison which seems to work 90% of the time but still... The external HDD gets booted and when I switch on the Mini from sleep, it's not there and I have to unplug it/plug it back in to get it running again (not ideal I know)

Any further suggestions?! :)
Click to expand...
I'm using Mavericks and a similar conduct and setup. Now and then my external HDD is not found either. Rebooting it solves it. You are not alone to paraphrase the nineties song.
 
danb1979

danb1979

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 5, 2015
687
976
Preston, Lancs - UK
Rekindling an old thread...

This is still happening! I've turned spotlight off and everything seemed fine, but I need it on so I can search files and my business email account...

So, any other suggestions?

Thanks! :)
 
B

BigMcGuire

Cancelled
Jan 10, 2012
9,832
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The only time I tried to put my Late 2014 Mac Mini to sleep (external SSD for OS) - it crashed and required a reboot. I filled out the error log with as much info as possible. Since then, I just leave it on and never sleep it (setting power settings to leave the screen on). It uses almost 0 power anyway. I have a script that locks the machine (screensaver with pw required) when I do CTRL+Command+L - so I do that whenever I walk away.

Coming from Windows Land (1989-now) sleep mode has not been something well supported so I just figured the same here.
 
danb1979

danb1979

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 5, 2015
687
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Preston, Lancs - UK
Yeah I'm thinking of just leaving it running overnight but knocking the screen off.

Just a pain that I can't use/trust the sleep function and certainly don't want it to risk corrupting my external HDD's!
 
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grcar

grcar

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Sep 28, 2014
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danb1979 said:
The external HDD every so often is booted even though the Mac Mini is asleep;
Click to expand...

Your question is unclear. Do you mean a sleeping mac runs from an external drive when awakened? It might be because the external drive is always spinning or spins up faster than the internal drive. It might be a "feature" of the OS to run from whatever drive is spinning. If so, then try connecting the external drive using USB rather than thunderbolt or firewire. Macs are supposed to not run from USB.
 
danb1979

danb1979

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Original poster
Feb 5, 2015
687
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Preston, Lancs - UK
NO, sorry

The external HDD is my general back-up and timemachine. The Mini still runs from its internal hard drive etc...

I know there's been a glitch with Yosemite with regard to this, but it's been happening for over a year now and the only way I've sorted it is by turning spotlight off, but that's not ideal as its restricts my usage of MS Outlook for Mac and searching my own computer for docs etc...
 
Fishrrman

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
28,346
12,464
OP:

I think there is some confusion here over the meaning of "boot".

Do you intend "boot" to mean "start up the computer", or when you use the word boot, is your meaning "gets 'booted off' the desktop", as in giving someone "the boot" out the door?
 
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danb1979

danb1979

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Original poster
Feb 5, 2015
687
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Preston, Lancs - UK
Boot as in the Mini boots from it's OEM internal HDD, nothing external

It ONLY backs-up to an external HDD for the TimeMachine and a general docs/iTunes back-up

It has issues when I use 'sleep' function, even when I eject/boot the external HDD, that it'll start up again on its own accord (generally overnight when I'm asleep) and I'll come down to it in the morning, it's running but the external HDD hasn't been recognised, so I have to pull the USB 3.0 lead and put it back in and then it's up and running as normal
 
Celerondon

Celerondon

macrumors 6502a
Oct 17, 2013
683
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Southern Cal
Fishrrman said:
OP:

I think there is some confusion here over the meaning of "boot".

Do you intend "boot" to mean "start up the computer", or when you use the word boot, is your meaning "gets 'booted off' the desktop", as in giving someone "the boot" out the door?
Click to expand...
Right Fisherman, this OP has used the verb boot incorrectly from the beginning. The words (and concepts) that danb1979 should use are mount and dismount.
In IT usage, to boot a computer means to load an operating system (OS or DOS) into RAM from storage. I think that the term is derived from "bootstrap" since a computer can start itself by loading an OS into memory and thus lift itself by its bootstraps. :rolleyes:
 
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danb1979

danb1979

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Original poster
Feb 5, 2015
687
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Preston, Lancs - UK
'Boot' in my language from where I'm from in the UK can mean all sorts of things; I may have 'incorrectly' used it for your terms, but it makes sense in my head haha ;)

The gist of it all is this...

  • The external HDD (TimeMachine & general back-up) is ejected safely using 'Jettison', the Mini is put into sleep mode
  • Sometimes the Mini (usually overnight when the Mini is sleeping) will turn itself on, but the external HDD isn't activated
  • I come down in the morning to my office to find my Mini up & running, but no HDD attached so I have to physically unplug the HDD from the Mini and re-connect it, then it's recognised again and runs as normal

I've Googled this issue and have read numerous posts it's an issue with Yosemite, but no Apple fix as of yet

I was advised to turn off Spotlight (using the link below), but in doing this limits my search facility of both the Mini itself (for various docs I have) and MS Outlook for Mac (when I'm trying to find a particular email/set of emails etc)

Link: http://osxdaily.com/2011/12/10/disable-or-enable-spotlight-in-mac-os-x-lion/
 
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Fishrrman

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
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Here's a suggestion that may solve the problem, although I don't think it's the one you're searching for:

Why not just power-down the Mini each night, and restart it each morning?

I've been running my Macs like this for 28 years now. Seems like a "fresh start in the morning" keeps them running with fewer problems.

My opinion only.
Others will disagree.
Some will disagree vehemently.
 
gixxerfool

gixxerfool

macrumors 65816
Jun 7, 2008
1,087
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I'm sure this isn't the case, but worth a shot. Under Power saving, do you have "Put drives to sleep when possible" checked? Could it be something with it being a spinner and not a SSD? I boot my machine from an external USB 3.0 enclosure with no sleep issues or wake issues the only difference being I have a SSD drive not an HDD. Just a thought.
 
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