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External hard disks and sleep mode
- Thread starter sui.page
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It will eventually go to sleep as well. There is no need to eject them before shutting the clamshell or going to sleep.
If your Mac is in sleep mode, the drive won't be working, so it should spin down. If there is read/write activity, that indicates your Mac isn't in sleep mode.
For sleep issues, you may find some useful ideas here:
- Mac OS X: Why your Mac might not sleep or stay in sleep mode
- Determine why your Mac wakes up from sleep
- One sleep problem caused by printers - solved ... and another
- If your Mac isn't sleeping properly and you have gfxCardStatus installed, try uninstalling it.
It doesn't go to sleep at all. The lights been blinking for an hour still.
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I've noticed the light on the hard drive dims down and doesn't blink so im guessing it isn't active in sleep mode. I just thought that it the light would be completely off. I've uninstalled gfxcardStatus and it's still the same though...
The light probably indicates the drive is powered on, which is different than being idle. It doesn't hurt anything if the drive still has power, but isn't in use. Ejecting a drive doesn't power it down.
yea i have a question too, sometimes i use a usb powered cooling pad but i want the cooling pad to turn off when the macbook goes to sleep, is that possible?
sorry to highjack the thread but seems related.
sorry to highjack the thread but seems related.
I've got a Western Digital My Passport Essential that goes to sleep with my MacBook Pro, when it's sleeping the activity light blinks a bit faster then the MacBook Pro but pretty close to the same rhythm. When it's reading or writing the blinking is at a faster rhythm.
If something is bus-powered, the only way to turn it off is to unplug it, unless it has a power switch on it.
I use Jettison to unmount my external HDDs when my Mac goes into sleep mode:
http://www.macworld.com/article/1163496/jettison_automatically_unmounts_volumes_when_your_mac_sleeps.html.
http://www.macworld.com/article/1163496/jettison_automatically_unmounts_volumes_when_your_mac_sleeps.html.
I've just noticed even when i unmount the external hard drive it still drains a considerable amount of my battery. I guess my only option is to just unplug it. I also used the Jettison program suggested.
I've just been used to my Windows laptop. When i put it into the equivalent 'hibernate' mode the hard drive completely turns off.