SOLVED .....Hi there, I've had exactly the same drive spinning up and down issue and it's a new Monteray thing. I tried 2 different hard drives, a Lacie 12tb and now a WD Black series 12tb . After asking forums for help, the problem was solved by installing this App Store approved Amphetamine app and ie keeps your drive awake when you need it. PERFECT so far: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/amphetamine/id937984704?mt=12
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External USB Hard Drive spins up/down all the time
- Thread starter Auream
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Glad you've found satisfaction, but I'd class that as a "workaround" rather than "solved".
I have this problem on my Mac Mini M1 running Monterey 12.5.1 (and earlier Monterey versions). The problem NEVER occurs if I avoid letting my Mac sleep (display sleep is OK). Once the Mac has been to sleep, the problem shows up as soon as I wake it up and continues until I SHUT DOWN (not just restart) the Mac. Then everything is OK so long as I avoid putting the Mac to sleep (manually or automatically).
Needless to say, this work-around is not acceptable.
Needless to say, this work-around is not acceptable.
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Same problem with my M1 mbp 14. After I tried many possible solutions this worked for me:
I mainly use my mbp for professional editing in FCPX. I used to have an intel mbp and the external disks worked how is it supposed to... but with the new m1 it bacame so anoying that the disk goes to spleep every 3 or 5 minutes so the video reproduction was a nightmare, having to wait for the disk to respond over an over again.
Change Default Disk Sleep time from 10 Minutes to Maximum, So your External Drive keeps connecting, and your Mac won’t see the Message and Disconnecting the Drive.
- Open terminal on Mac.
- Enter the Command “sudo pmset -g” Hit the Return to run the command and Enter Mac login password to Run and see the Default Sleep disk Value in minutes.
- Next, Change it using the following terminal command.
- Run the new command “sudo pmset -a disksleep 1410065408” and hit the return to run.
- Again Check the Default Value is changed to “1410065408” using this command “sudo pmset -g“
- That's it.
I mainly use my mbp for professional editing in FCPX. I used to have an intel mbp and the external disks worked how is it supposed to... but with the new m1 it bacame so anoying that the disk goes to spleep every 3 or 5 minutes so the video reproduction was a nightmare, having to wait for the disk to respond over an over again.
I'll have to give this a try. My disksleep setting is set to 0 which means never put the disks to sleep but apparently that must be broken.
Unfortunately Alex's solution didn't work for me. In fact it made things a little worse because I got the disk sleep/wake cycling even if I kept to Mac awake after shutdown and boot. After setting the disksleep timer back to zero it reverted to the behavior I described in #54
Anyone have any input on trying to solve a similar, but not the same - issue. I'd just like my drives to remain ASLEEP. They go to sleep, and then wake up probably within 20 mins or so, all the darn time. Before I upgraded to Monterey this wasn't an issue, but it is now, and driving me bananas.
Any tips on keeping drives asleep, anyone?
Any tips on keeping drives asleep, anyone?
I have the same problem with a Lacie 8TB d2 Professional. It spins up&down all the time and I'm concerned about the longevity. I'm trying with Amphetamine, with just "Always keep drive alive" option. let's see if it works
I have this issue. For the sake of the environment and the hardware I don't want to keep the drives always spinning, and I don't want them to spin up for no reason.
I find that certain things I do on the Mac, which I believe shouldn't be accessing those drives, causes them to spin up. Invariably, when that happens, I experience delays until the disks have finished spinning up and the disk access is complete.
I don't believe my version of this problem is solvable without some software change. I suspect that some OS call is enumerating those drives. Either the software involved should be using a different call or the call shouldn't be accessing those drives.
Yep, it's a real problem. I wonder if MacOS Ventura will fix this, as it was never an issue before Monterey. I was quite happy with Big Sur, - probably should never have upgraded.
No it does not fix... drives me mad. I have a Lacie 14TB disk. It spins up like every minute and then spins down.
Edit: even if I set, never put disk to sleep. Does not make any difference.
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No, should I? I tried it before on a windows pc... there is no problems with it. It's a mac thing
It's a mac thing
That's an assumption until confirmed by Apple, even with all the evidence which was supplied. LaCie might say "its a known issue and we have filed a bug with Apple" which would likely confirm it. Or they might say "it's a known issue and we're working on it". No way to tell until you talk with them.
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I have the same problem with 5400 Samsung 1TB spinner. Even when sleep mode for drives is off in Power settings, it keeps to spin up and down. I think it maybe controller thing, the controller is in the enclosure and it supports auto-sleep feature as stated on the enclosure box, I just don't know how to turn it off if it's possible at all. I don't think that macOS has anything to do with it, I maybe wrong though.
Not sure... as mentioned seems I have that problem on the beta. But I also noticed when having the lid open, it seems it does not happen?
For me it's a problem with my Mac mini which never sleeps (I use it as a server), so if this solves the problem at least with an awake system, that would be progress!
I have a WD and used the WD software to turn off the built-in sleep, which decreased the frequency of the problem but didn't eliminate it.
I now have "put HDs to sleep when possible" deselected, which means it's running a lot longer but at least not spinning up and down as much.
Have had the exact same problem since Monterey. Just upgraded to Ventura hoping they'd have fixed it but nope, still broken. Even more broken for me now as well. Previously if I rebooted the computer with the drives plugged in they would work.
Now if I reboot with the drives plugged in my system goes directly to sleep mode if clamshell is closed and my monitor is plugged in. Then the monitor doesn't work until i unplug the drives and reboot. But then they keep powering off. Very frustrating. Amphetamine didn't work for me.
Now if I reboot with the drives plugged in my system goes directly to sleep mode if clamshell is closed and my monitor is plugged in. Then the monitor doesn't work until i unplug the drives and reboot. But then they keep powering off. Very frustrating. Amphetamine didn't work for me.
Having this same problem. On a Mac Studio M1 Ultra and two OWC 36TB Gemini drives that are for storage/ archiving only meaning I'm not editing off of them. All new equipment as of Sept, didn't seem to be a problem at first. Have been noticing the spin up spin down now for the past week or so. Might have been happening the whole time just didn't notice but it's pretty obvious/loud so I'm pretty sure it's only been happening recently. Starting to hear it in my sleep 😫 Leaving them ejected for now until needed but after reading this whole thread I'm assuming it can't be the drives because this is happening with all different manufacturers? Thanks for the help all!