Hard drives in docking station: Weird behaviour

[danqi]

My M1 Mac Studio and all devices are connected to power strips. Whenever I leave work I shut down the computer and then turn off the switches on the power strips, so that everything is disconnected from power completely. I have to do it like that and it never was a problem since all external hard drives spin down when the computer is shut down.

I now have a Sabrent DS-SC4B Docking Station with 2 HDDs and 2 SSDs in it and it behaves a little strangely:

When I turn the Mac off the LEDs briefly switch from blue (active) to red ("Hard drive ejected/ PC power OFF") for only half a second. The drives keep spinning.

I was afraid to cut the power when it is like that and asked Sabrent support. They told me to first eject all drives and then turn off the computer. The problem is that when I do that the following happens:

The drives spin down and the lights turn red and stay red. But when I shut down the computer they spin up again and turn blue.

Can I still turn off the power when that happens?

(This question might seem a bit silly, but I have to turn off power when I leave my workstation and the Docking Station is hard to access. It would be very inconvenient to always eject all drives, then run to the docking statin to turn it off, run back and turn off the computer, then turn off the power.)

 

[estabya]

I have never used this exact enclosure. However, based on my review of the user manual and experience using similar Sabre enclosures in the past, I would not be confident cutting the power before turning the power off to the individual drives. I’ve had some bad experiences with power issues and data corruption on some slightly older Sabrent drive enclosures.

It PROBABLY won’t be an issue assuming the computer is shut down, but I’d definitely consult their support about this new development specifically before assuming it will be fine.

 

[danqi]

based on my review of the user manual and experience using similar Sabre enclosures in the past, I would not be confident cutting the power before turning the power off to the individual drives. I’ve had some bad experiences with power issues and data corruption on some slightly older Sabrent drive enclosures.

Thanks for looking into this! I am now slightly concerned about possibly having done damage already. Because for the first few days I turned off power as I normally do, before I noticed that the enclosure didn't wind down...

It PROBABLY won’t be an issue assuming the computer is shut down, but I’d definitely consult their support about this new development specifically before assuming it will be fine.

I did actually. But their response seemed hasty and they said that it should be fine to cut the power after shutting down the computer, as long as I ejected the drives before. But that completely ignores the issue that ejecting the drives before shut down doesn't matter as the end result is the same as if I hadn't done that at all.

For that reason I decided to look into the issue a little deeper and ask for advice.

 

[Fishrrman]

I'd do it this way:

1. Shut down the Mac (external drives on)
2. Let the Mac "go dark" so that you know it's off (and all drives have been dismounted).
3. Shut of the power strips (regardless of whether the drives are spinning or not, they're now dismounted).

 

[estabya]

I'd do it this way:

1. Shut down the Mac (external drives on)
2. Let the Mac "go dark" so that you know it's off (and all drives have been dismounted).
3. Shut off the power strips (regardless of whether the drives are spinning or not, they're now dismounted).

My concern here, because of my experience with Sabrent enclosures, is that if the LEDs are blue and showing the drives as mounted the internal controller could be doing …something… potentially causing data corruption.

I would power the drives down while the LEDs are red before shutting the computer down.

 

[danqi]

Annoying, but seems sensible. Thanks for the input!

 

[estabya]

I’m only concerned because we lost data on a medical imaging device that used a Sabrent enclosure, while the computer was powered off. Thank goodness for daily backups. I don’t know what they are doing with their controllers but I’d be careful.

 

[danqi]

I tend towards being a paranoid when it comes to stuff like this and this is enough to confirm my bias...

In the medium term I will probably not keep using the Docking Station for daily use and instead get a few external HDDs and SSDs with their own individual enclosures for permanent storage expansion.

I think I might even go for mobile drives (less noise and space). Is there any disadvantage to that, compared to desktop drives, besides limited capacity? Speed shouldn't make a difference, because external desktop drives also tend to be 5400 rpm these days, right?