External Hard drive not shutting down??

[eleven7]

When I put my macbook to sleep, my external hard drive goes to sleep also, i.e.- it spools down, and all lights go off. No problem there.

However, when I do a full shut down my macbook down, the external hard drive stays on, spooled up and powered?

Any ideas on why this is? What does sleep do that shut down doesn't? Or is it an issue with my external hard drive (Buffalo 1TB USB)

I rarely shut my macbook down so it's not usually and issue but still gets quite annoying when I need to do a full "shut down" for some reason and return hours/days later to find the external drive still whirring away.

 

[Morod]

This probably isn't any help to you as I use a 24" iMac and not a MacBook, but in Sleep mode or a full shutdown my external drive stays on. At least the front light stays on, it doesn't make enough noise (or I'm too deaf) to hear if it spools down.
Morod

 

[Fishtalk]

Ext HD are weird.... I had the same problem. well sort of...
When i boot from my Int. Hd the ext. turns off when I put it to sleep and when I shut down completly. BUT when its booted from the cloned ext. HD And i either put my Mac to sleep or shut it down the ext.HD stays on.. or at least the little blue light....but it seems NOT to be running as theres no noise.
I've no idea why.... i suppose if you want to totaly shut down your ext.hd you should eject it befor shutting down you Mac ?

 

[eleven7]

You're not wrong, they're weird. Even if I eject the hard drive, it still stays powered up. Even after I do a complete shut down.

If I want to make sure the external is powered down while I go to work, I have to eject it, then put the macbook to sleep. Then disconnect the USB cord. Strange...