seagate drives not sleeping..

[fisherking]

anyone know of a third-party app to 'sleep' external drives? i just got 2 usb 3.0 external seagate drives (the 'expansion' model). i formatted for mac, and all seemed ok. but the drives don't sleep, even after being ejected. the lights stay on and the drives keep spinning.

any ideas? or

 

[simonsi]

What does Seagate say? After being ejected they can't be accessed by an App anymore so hard to see how one could possibly force them to sleep. Their behaviour after ejection will be determined by the Seagate drive firmware.

 

[fisherking]

got a useless response, so contacted them again. am worried this is a mac-related issue with seagate, ie...they won't support it. we'll see...
2 solid and expensive paperweights perhaps?

 

[simonsi]

Do they spin down when you pull the USB cable after ejecting?

 

[cincygolfgrrl]

If I'm not mistaken, a light only indicates a drive is powered, not it's "connected" status. If it's plugged in, it's powered.

 

[fisherking]

in response to the previous 2 posts: drive spins even with usb disconnected, and when the power's on, the drives spin. my solution: plugging both drives into an ac adapter with an on-off switch...and i'll just leave them off until i need them. here's a fun quote from seagate support:
"...due to Apples requirements in testing, the cost of testing Mac drives put each drive at a loss on the expansion level."

 

[cincygolfgrrl]

my solution: plugging both drives into an ac adapter with an on-off switch...and i'll just leave them off until i need them.

OK, you just confused the hell out of me. Based on your original post I assumed you have some USB drives that you plug directly into your Mac, or you plug your USB drives into a USB hub that plugs directly into your Mac.

What happens when you click this symbol ⏏ next to a USB drive in Finder? Stupid question, I know, but I'm just trying to figure out what you're trying to do.

 

[fisherking]

OK, you just confused the hell out of me. Based on your original post I assumed you have some USB drives that you plug directly into your Mac, or you plug your USB drives into a USB hub that plugs directly into your Mac.

What happens when you click this symbol ⏏ next to a USB drive in Finder? Stupid question, I know, but I'm just trying to figure out what you're trying to do.

here's what's happening: the drives never sleep. if i eject them, after a bit, the lights come back on, and the drives are spinning. if i sleep my mac...same thing. so basically, the drives spin. all day. all the time. i uplugged them from usb, and...still spinning. so my solution (which i am fine with) will be to keep the power off (from a separate power switch) UNTIL i need to back up, or access files from them.

EDIT: when i eject them, they stay idle...UNTIL i put my macbook pro to sleep. THEN they wake, and spin continually. useless.

 

[gixxerfool]

Stupid question, did you select the Put Drives to Sleep when possible option?

 

[fisherking]

Stupid question, did you select the Put Drives to Sleep when possible option?

absolutely. and they do sleep when i eject them, and my macbook pro is ON. as soon as i sleep the mac, the drives awaken. and spin...and spin.... am getting a new mbp this month, will see if there's any difference (altho seems to be the drives that have the issue, not the mac)...

 

[gixxerfool]

absolutely. and they do sleep when i eject them, and my macbook pro is ON. as soon as i sleep the mac, the drives awaken. and spin...and spin.... am getting a new mbp this month, will see if there's any difference (altho seems to be the drives that have the issue, not the mac)...

Ok. My 2008 mini has two newer tech mini stacks on it. They sound like they're spinning when in fact they have spun down. I don't know what it is in the enclosure. But when my mac goes to sleep it spins them back up for a few minutes. I stopped this by not allowing the computer to sleep, it's my media server now, but I let the drives sleep when need be.

 

[fisherking]

Ok. My 2008 mini has two newer tech mini stacks on it. They sound like they're spinning when in fact they have spun down. I don't know what it is in the enclosure. But when my mac goes to sleep it spins them back up for a few minutes. I stopped this by not allowing the computer to sleep, it's my media server now, but I let the drives sleep when need be.

since i use one external for random backups (carbon copy cloner, not time machine), and the other for external storage...i don't need them on much. my solution (a power on-off switched ac adapter) works for me.

 

[gixxerfool]

since i use one external for random backups (carbon copy cloner, not time machine), and the other for external storage...i don't need them on much. my solution (a power on-off switched ac adapter) works for me.

You could always get fancy and get one of the iOS controlled wall adapters!