Extremely annoying external HDD lag

[MasterPride]

I have a 500Gb seagate free agent external hard-drive, and whenever i am playing music or editing on FCP, the sound or video will lag, sometimes for a second and sometimes for 10 seconds, and it happens every few minutes or so. Having this happen while editing or listening to music is very annoying.

If anyone has any information on how to make this stop i will appreciate it.

 

[sickmacdoc]

You are probably experiencing the "energy saving" spindown mode that can be caused by the drive itself (WD MyBooks for example and some Seagates and others) or by an option in the Energy Saver pane of your System Preferences. Try going into the Energy Saver pane and DEselecting the checkmark beside "Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible" if it is currently selected and that may fix the problem.

If that is not currently selected (or if it does not change the behavior) the spindown behavior is being controlled by the external enclosure's electronics- which you will have to do some research in the documentation that came with the drive or the manufacturers website to see if it is changeable. Again for example, the Western Digital MyBook drives have spindown as a permanent "feature" that cannot be changed, but the Seagate may be different.

Hopefully the Energy Saver option will take care of it.

 

[eXan]

USB of FireWire?

 

[MasterPride]

that totally worked, thanks a lot.

 

[TyWahn]

You are probably experiencing the "energy saving" spindown mode that can be caused by the drive itself (WD MyBooks for example and some Seagates and others) or by an option in the Energy Saver pane of your System Preferences. Try going into the Energy Saver pane and DEselecting the checkmark beside "Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible" if it is currently selected and that may fix the problem.

If that is not currently selected (or if it does not change the behavior) the spindown behavior is being controlled by the external enclosure's electronics- which you will have to do some research in the documentation that came with the drive or the manufacturers website to see if it is changeable. Again for example, the Western Digital MyBook drives have spindown as a permanent "feature" that cannot be changed, but the Seagate may be different.

Hopefully the Energy Saver option will take care of it.

I experience this a well with my external USB HD as I have all of my media on it. Using iTunes or my ATV there is some lag.
Aside from 'energy savings' is there another advantage to leaving hits checked? Will unchecking it shorten the life of my drive if its not spinning down?

 

[sickmacdoc]

I experience this a well with my external USB HD as I have all of my media on it. Using iTunes or my ATV there is some lag.
Aside from 'energy savings' is there another advantage to leaving hits checked? Will unchecking it shorten the life of my drive if its not spinning down?

That is one of those subjects like "should I shut off my computer overnight or not?"! Ask 10 techs about it and you will probably get 10 different versions of the answer- none that are necessarily "right"!

My personal take is I would rather have the drive running constantly rather than having it power up and down constantly. In my muddled mind I still accept the idea that the startup stresses and surges in electronics powering up is worse for them than just keeping them going once started.... now I can't cite anything directly confirming or denying that, but I also can remember my Dad taking vacuum tubes into the local supermarket to test on the tube testing machine when the TV needed repairs too so my beliefs are pretty long held!

 

[TyWahn]

That is one of those subjects like "should I shut off my computer overnight or not?"! Ask 10 techs about it and you will probably get 10 different versions of the answer- none that are necessarily "right"!

My personal take is I would rather have the drive running constantly rather than having it power up and down constantly. In my muddled mind I still accept the idea that the startup stresses and surges in electronics powering up is worse for them than just keeping them going once started.... now I can't cite anything directly confirming or denying that, but I also can remember my Dad taking vacuum tubes into the local supermarket to test on the tube testing machine when the TV needed repairs too so my beliefs are pretty long held!

Yeah. I am pretty much in the same camp as leave it on. I NEVER turn off my Macs ... except in lightning storms or I am going out of town.
I think this logic comes from Leo Leporte school of thought (Screen Saver days with Kate

 

[capo64]

Yeah. I am pretty much in the same camp as leave it on. I NEVER turn off my Macs ... except in lightning storms or I am going out of town.
I think this logic comes from Leo Leporte school of thought (Screen Saver days with Kate

I was just gonna ask about this: If the power goes out in a storm or a blown fuse or anything, is it terrible for an iMac? It doesn't seem to affect my PC except Windows gives me the "Windows did not shut down properly" message.

 

[MasterPride]

Seems that the lag has decreased but there is still a lag every now and then

 

[MasterPride]

One last thing, when i connect this hard drive to my PS3 or use it on windows in boot camp or through VMware Fusion the hard-drive doesn't lag ever, so i am sort of confused as why it only lags on the mac.

 

[alphaod]

One last thing, when i connect this hard drive to my PS3 or use it on windows in boot camp or through VMware Fusion the hard-drive doesn't lag ever, so i am sort of confused as why it only lags on the mac.

Because OS X sucks and Windows is better.