HDD sleep question

[lionheartednyhc]

I have two hard drives in my mac. The original HDD and a SSD.

The SSD is set as the boot drive with the OS and all apps on it.
The HDD has just my user folder.

I have the system set to sleep hard drive(s) whenever possible. My hope is to have the HDD sleeping most of the time to conserve power.

The problem is, it is always active.

Example: for the last 30 minutes, I have just been browsing the web. Adium and Safari are the only apps open. I have not saved any files. Yet the the HDD has been active the entire time.

I am curious why this is, and what I can do to get the HDD to sleep.

 

[GGJstudios]

There could be any number of apps that are using the HD, including Mac OS X (if you're paging, for example.) When you're browsing the web, you're constantly downloading temporary files to your cache, updating your history, etc. That will keep the HD humming.

 

[lionheartednyhc]

There could be any number of apps that are using the HD, including Mac OS X (if you're paging, for example.) When you're browsing the web, you're constantly downloading temporary files to your cache, updating your history, etc. That will keep the HD humming.

So I might be better of keeping the user directory on the SSD and just moving Music, etc to the HDD?

What directory do those write to?

 

[GGJstudios]

So I might be better of keeping the user directory on the SSD and just moving Music, etc to the HDD?

What directory do those write to?

If you're referring to iTunes music, it uses whatever folder you've chosen for your iTunes library, which can be found in iTunes > Preferences > Advanced > iTunes Media folder location

 

[lionheartednyhc]

If you're referring to iTunes music, it uses whatever folder you've chosen for your iTunes library, which can be found in iTunes > Preferences > Advanced > iTunes Media folder location

Sorry, I didn't mean that. Im trying to figure out what exactly is being written to the HDD (i.e. page outs, caches, etc) so I can move that directory back to the SSD.

 

[GGJstudios]

Sorry, I didn't mean that. Im trying to figure out what exactly is being written to the HDD (i.e. page outs, etc) so I can move that directory back to the SSD.

I think you're spending too much time worrying about something that will have very little impact on your system. If you want the HD to sleep more often, then only put on it those files that you use infrequently. Let the SSD be your primary drive where Mac OS X and most of your files reside.

 

[lionheartednyhc]

I think you're spending too much time worrying about something that will have very little impact on your system. If you want the HD to sleep more often, then only put on it those files that you use infrequently. Let the SSD be your primary drive where Mac OS X and most of your files reside.

Ok, So I ended up making a new account with everything, minus itunes, on the boot drive. The HDD is still not sleeping though (I have it set to 10 minutes).

Any ideas?

Thanks for your help