Why are my Seagates spinning?

[Heyes]

Aware of the soft whine (akin to a burglar alarm several streets away) of spinning hdd beneath my desk, I ejected all my drives...

The noise increased (similar to Macs when they had fans) - and I'm wondering why, and which is the culprit.

Having crawled under the desk to check, it's one or both of the Seagates (they're next to each other, and I'm reluctant to move a spinning unit).

Ah... they've stopped the more aggressive spinning, and returned to 'burglar alarm decibels' - both of 'em.

I had the same issue during the night, and the Mac was soundly asleep.

They're all excluded from Spotlight.

The drives? Desktop 8TB STGY8000400.
I've had 'em for three days.

Suggestions appreciated - please and thankyou.

A thought... perhaps it's designed to 'spin forever' - less wear/tear etcetera than starting/stopping.
If so, I'll have to consider whether the noise and constant power usage is ok for me.

My other drives - WD My Books have always been silent when not in use.

Also now seems to randomly increase spin despite not being used.

 

[Fishrrman]

Platter-based drives?
With internal fans, also?
Then... they're going to spin and generate some noise.
That's just what they... do.

Want them quiet at night?
Do they have power switches?
Have you considered ejecting them and turning them off at night?
Have you considered shutting everything down (Mac, also) at night?

Alternate course of action:
Get "Semulov".
It's a tiny, free utility app.
It lives in the menu bar.
It will eject drives with a click, and keep them ejected untl you remount them with another click.
Try it and see for yourself:

Release v2.6 · kainjow/Semulov

Fix Eject All keyboard shortcut not working Fix menubar button not highlighting correctly in newer macOS versions Experimental support for Apple Silicon Requires macOS 10.10 or greater

github.com

(it affects nothing else, if you don't like it, just delete it)

 

[Heyes]

Platter-based drives?
With internal fans, also?
Then... they're going to spin and generate some noise.
That's just what they... do.

Thanks.
Platter.
No fans.
My WD units don't spin when the Mac is asleep - until today, I didn't know that some units do.

Want them quiet at night?
Do they have power switches?
Have you considered ejecting them and turning them off at night?
Have you considered shutting everything down (Mac, also) at night?

Alternate course of action:
Get "Semulov".
It's a tiny, free utility app.
It lives in the menu bar.
It will eject drives with a click, and keep them ejected untl you remount them with another click.
Try it and see for yourself:

Release v2.6 · kainjow/Semulov

Fix Eject All keyboard shortcut not working Fix menubar button not highlighting correctly in newer macOS versions Experimental support for Apple Silicon Requires macOS 10.10 or greater

github.com

(it affects nothing else, if you don't like it, just delete it)

I also want them quiet in the day when not being used.
No power switches.
Already ejected, but plugged in.
I don't want to shut down the Mac when not using.

I already use 'Jettison' to eject/unmount.

Thanks, though - I appreciate your effort.

 

[Heyes]

Let's close this thread...

I've now learned that not all hdds behave similarly.

All of my previous AC-powered units have been WD My Books - which are silent and genuinely idle (except for perhaps a tiny blue light) until required.

These Seagates (and apparently some other brands/models too) aren't - they spin constantly, in some kind of low-power mode even when ejected/unmounted and the Mac is asleep.

And, when the Mac is awake they relatively frequently spin up (presumably for airflow to aid cooling?) for a few minutes and then back down again.

It's not a fault with the Mac or the Seagates - it's a feature of them.

The noise is an annoyance, and the power usage - though small - is a waste.