Mini, FW800 & iTunes

[anti-win]

I have a 2010 Mac Mini, attached to the Mini is a 2TB WD via FW800.

When I select a song from iTunes the Mini tends to hang up for 5 seconds or so, spinning ball... balling...

Anyone suggest a way to improve this?
As you can imagine, I have a large iTunes Library. Hence the 2TB external.

 

[GGJstudios]

I have a 2010 Mac Mini, attached to the Mini is a 2TB WD via FW800.

When I select a song from iTunes the Mini tends to hang up for 5 seconds or so, spinning ball... balling...

Anyone suggest a way to improve this?
As you can imagine, I have a large iTunes Library. Hence the 2TB external.

That's not normal, unless your external drive has spun down and it's waiting for it to spin up again. Is this only when you first select a song, or does it happen with every song, even if another one just finished playing?

 

[fungus]

Which WD drive is it? Some of the Green drives have an auto sleep "feature" that spins down the drive seconds after activity stops. It is this reason I have avoided these particular drives.

 

[Hberg]

I have a 2010 Mac Mini, attached to the Mini is a 2TB WD via FW800.

When I select a song from iTunes the Mini tends to hang up for 5 seconds or so, spinning ball... balling...

Anyone suggest a way to improve this?
As you can imagine, I have a large iTunes Library. Hence the 2TB external.

I have a 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Mac Mini with a 2TB G-Tech Hard Drive attached via FW800 where I store all my iTunes Music, and I have no problems what so ever. I have used other drives in the past (NewerTech & WD), but the G-Tech seems to be a true performer.

 

[anti-win]

Thanks for the replies.

It is only slow when I select my first song or playlist. Then its seamless from song to song, unless I stop listening for a little and go back to a new track or playlist.

I tend to go from iTunes Radio to my library during radio ads. When I select a track it always hangs up for a few seconds.

The WD definitely is not a Green Edition. I spent extra for the special silver 2TB one with a digital display. It is sold at the Apple store.

I do hear the WD spin up when I select a track. Is there a way of keeping it spinning while iTunes is open?

 

[anti-win]

I have a 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Mac Mini with a 2TB G-Tech Hard Drive attached via FW800 where I store all my iTunes Music, and I have no problems what so ever. I have used other drives in the past (NewerTech & WD), but the G-Tech seems to be a true performer.

Can I get a link to the external you're using?

 

[GGJstudios]

I do hear the WD spin up when I select a track. Is there a way of keeping it spinning while iTunes is open?

Most external drives automatically spin down after not being accessed for some period of time, to conserve power and reduce unnecessary wear. Unless you're continually accessing the drive, you can't stop it from spinning down when not in use.

Can I get a link to the external you're using?

Very first search result from a Google search for "G-Tech":

G-Technology | External Hard Drives for Mac, RAID & SSD Storage

 

[mrfoof82]

The WD definitely is not a Green Edition. I spent extra for the special silver 2TB one with a digital display. It is sold at the Apple store.

The Western Digital MyBook Studio (the enclosure you have) use Caviar Greens. They spin down when idle rather aggressively. I would know, as I have one in an OWC enclosure and the behavior is similar to yours. You're waiting for the disk to wake up.

The only way to improve this is to prevent the disk from sleeping in the first place. System Preferences -> Energy Saver -> Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible should also make for some difference. Alternatively, purchasing a FW800 enclosure and installing a disk other than a Caviar Green, as the Green's sleep logic is very aggressive.

 

[Hberg]

Can I get a link to the external you're using?

I think GGJstudios answered your question, but here is the link again.

http://www.g-technology.com/

I am really impressed with the performance of the G-Drive for my iTunes. (I believe the G-Tech is part of the Hitachi company, and they are known for good quality hard drives.) I have since then purchased G-Drive mini and G-Drive mobile. I use both the smaller portable drives for back-up purposes, and I travel with the G-Drive mobile.

I, also, have a 2TB G-Drive attached to my Airport Extreme for my Time Machine back-ups for my MacBook Pro and my Mac Mini.

G-Tech drives are not inexpensive, but my data, music, pictures and artwork are valuable to me. Thus, my reason for purchasing the drives and maintaining multiple back-ups.

 

[anti-win]

The Western Digital MyBook Studio (the enclosure you have) use Caviar Greens. They spin down when idle rather aggressively. I would know, as I have one in an OWC enclosure and the behavior is similar to yours. You're waiting for the disk to wake up.

The only way to improve this is to prevent the disk from sleeping in the first place. System Preferences -> Energy Saver -> Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible should also make for some difference. Alternatively, purchasing a FW800 enclosure and installing a disk other than a Caviar Green, as the Green's sleep logic is very aggressive.

Nooo ****....

Great to know, I guess this MyBook Studio is my new Time Machine drive.

Thanks for all your help!

 

[spacepower7]

I think that this problem becomes worse as the size of your itunes library increases.

If you want to upgrade to "ultimate frustration", use an external USB WD Elements drive

I also wonder if iTunes needs to wake up all external hard drives that are mounted? Especially if music is store on one hard drive and movies are stored on another.

It seems when I want to save a file (or copy ie "save as") from an app, the Finder save dialog screen gets stuck and has to wake up all of my external drives.

 

[bearcatrp]

Mine has a small lag to as it's just spinning up. Have my library on a 2TB hitachi drive w/OWC 2 disc external. As long as your not skipping while playing, should be no problem. Have any other programs running while doing this? How much ram do you have installed? You could check activity monitor to see if your having allot of page outs.