eSATA enclosures and sleep mode

[ahavriluk]

I have this eSATA enclosure:
http://www.sansdigital.com/towerraid/tr4m.html

and this eSATA adapter:
http://www.sansdigital.com/esata-port-multiplier/ha-san-2espcie.html

All based on Silicon Image chips.
It seems to work fine with the latest drivers from Silicon Image, except when computer goes to sleep. The drives in enclosure shuts down and when computer wakes up they don't. I can't bring them up no matter what I do. Actually there is not much I can do. I had this enclosure connected to PC and I had the same issue. But I could bring them up by going to Silicon Image control panel applet, which was triggering hard drives to spin. Under OS X there is nothing like that.

So, my questions are:
1. What enclosure/eSATA adapter card do you use and if you have any issues with sleep mode?
2. Do you know if NewerTech MAXPower 6G PCIe eSATA RAID Controller card from OWC has any issues with sleep mode.
3. Do you know if is it an enclosure problem or controller card? Would replacing a controller card help, or I would need to replace enclosure as well?

Thank you.
Alex

 

[philipma1957]

I have this eSATA enclosure:
http://www.sansdigital.com/towerraid/tr4m.html

and this eSATA adapter:
http://www.sansdigital.com/esata-port-multiplier/ha-san-2espcie.html

All based on Silicon Image chips.
It seems to work fine with the latest drivers from Silicon Image, except when computer goes to sleep. The drives in enclosure shuts down and when computer wakes up they don't. I can't bring them up no matter what I do. Actually there is not much I can do. I had this enclosure connected to PC and I had the same issue. But I could bring them up by going to Silicon Image control panel applet, which was triggering hard drives to spin. Under OS X there is nothing like that.

So, my questions are:
1. What enclosure/eSATA adapter card do you use and if you have any issues with sleep mode?
2. Do you know if NewerTech MAXPower 6G PCIe eSATA RAID Controller card from OWC has any issues with sleep mode.
3. Do you know if is it an enclosure problem or controller card? Would replacing a controller card help, or I would need to replace enclosure as well?

Thank you.
Alex

what hdds do you use?

 

[alphaod]

I think they do that. My USB expansion did that as well.

 

[ahavriluk]

what hdds do you use?

Seagate

 

[philipma1957]

Seagate

I know the green caviar from wd and the slower hitachi's were having spin down problems like yours. Maybe you have an energy saver seagate drive.

 

[tomllama]

I have a SeriTek eSATA card and SeriTek PM 5-drive tower. I've used both WD Black and Green drives in the tower. When the computer sleeps or is powered down, the drives stay 'on' and there are no issues when the computer is booted or brought back up from sleep (both in OSX with a MP 1,1 or 4,1 and Windows Home Server with an HP MediaSmart Server). I'd love to find a combination where the enclosure and drives sleep when the computer sleeps or is powered down (and come back after a 'wake on LAN').

 

[nanofrog]

Generally speaking, RAID and Sleep have always been "hit and miss".

So the one solution that can solve your problem, is to disable sleep. At least you won't have to do a restart to regain access to anything connected to the card.

Sucks, but it solves the problem. I do keep the monitor's functionality active, and if I'm going to be away from the system for any real length of time (say 8+ hrs), and there's no scheduled operations (or they won't actually be needed), I'll shut it down to save power.

 

[gameface]

So, my questions are:
1. What enclosure/eSATA adapter card do you use and if you have any issues with sleep mode?
2. Do you know if NewerTech MAXPower 6G PCIe eSATA RAID Controller card from OWC has any issues with sleep mode.
3. Do you know if is it an enclosure problem or controller card? Would replacing a controller card help, or I would need to replace enclosure as well?

1. I use a Qx2 over eSata and on a couple of occasions came back to my RAID not being on my desktop after waking it from sleep. This however has only happened a couple of times and is not an every time thing.
2. That is the card I use.
3. Well since I have a different enclosure and different controller I would say it is just life. But my setup does seem to be working slightly better than yours if it happens every single time your comp gets woken up. grumpy lil' bastich!

 

[philipma1957]

I am waiting on my card from owc and i will be running 4 2tb hitachi hdds with the OWC qx2 and the new tech card. In fact I have a second qx2 unit on ebay right now i will only need one unit with the mac pro.

 

[PenguinMac]

I have the NewerTech card and OWC Elite-AL Pro Quad Interface enclosures with WD Green 2TB drives that I use for backup. While I'm not constantly using them like you're using your eSATA enclosures, I do find them asleep often during the backup process (the "process" being I walk away for a few hours then come back to see if everything was copied), and they come right back up with the Mac Pro. I previously had Icy Dock enclosures with WD Black 2TB drives on my Dell with Windows 7, and also had no problems waking them from sleep.