2018 Mac Mini Thunderbolt Ports and External Drive

[cyborg0_3]

I have a new mac mini 2018 with an external raid hard drive connected by Thunderbolt 3 . The drive worked fine on my old IMac 2011 and would sleep when the mac was not in use. On my new mini the drive is always running. If I sleep the mini the drive shuts down for a second then spins up again and continues to run all the time.
Is there something I can do to allow the external drive to sleep? I don't want it running all the time and it is getting a bit warm.

 

[dia3olik]

yeah same problem here...check this thread and write there

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...p-settings-drives-remain-powered-on.2176155/#

 

[cyborg0_3]

Should the thunderbolt attached drive appear in the Disk Utility? I have the thunderbolt drive and a USB drive on the mini and neither of them appear in Disk Utility.

 

[macdos]

It is better for the drive to be running all the time. And you don't have to wait for it to spin up when you need it.

I don't want it running all the time and it is getting a bit warm.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

I just ordered a base Mini from Amazon. Is the Samsung T5 500GB for $91 a good option? Is it fast enough to boot the OS from? I decided not to upgrade my 2012 Mini and instead put the money towards a new Mini.