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Problem running OS X from external SSD

robcrouch

robcrouch

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 8, 2015
32
2
Hi all, I have my macbook pro 2015 retina model set up so that I use it for work and home and want to keep things separate. I therefore have an installation of el capitan on a SSD drive which connects via usb3 in an enclosure (and i boot by holding alt)

everything works like a dream, except for one problem. If I leave the laptop without touching it, the screen goes blank and i am not able to regain it. Or, it will freeze and when i try to use it i get a spinning beachball

(almost like the SSD drive loses contact)

I have the energy saver settings never to go to sleep, and also disabled putting hard drives to sleep when possible but its still happening...

can anyone help identify why this is happening? never had this problem before with non SSD drives and the same setup


thanks in advance....
 
Did you disable sleep when the SSD was the boot drive.

Also, does you SSD have it's own sleep mode or some sort of SSD software. Samsung Magician software used to have a setting that could cause it to issues sleep commands. Othe drive makers may have similar software.

Another thing, disable PowerNap.
 
I disabled sleep and then set it as the boot drive. Iv also disabled powernap....
I dont think there is any software its a crucial ssd... i formatted it myself which would remove that anyway right?
 
robcrouch said:
I disabled sleep and then set it as the boot drive. Iv also disabled powernap....
I dont think there is any software its a crucial ssd... i formatted it myself which would remove that anyway right?
Click to expand...
He means in your OS X install on your SSD, are the preferences for the Energy Saver correct?
 
!!! said:
He means in your OS X install on your SSD, are the preferences for the Energy Saver correct?
Click to expand...

Ive been running my imac off of an external SSD for 2 years with zero issues. Just change the startup disk in preferences and you are all set. Also make sure you have a backup version of OSX on a local disk in the event the SSD isnt available. You can still boot up computer.
 
!!! said:
He means in your OS X install on your SSD, are the preferences for the Energy Saver correct?
Click to expand...

Sorry yes i was reffering to the instal on the SSD. I only recently changed it to the boot drive though (last night) and haven't tested if the problem is persisting so i shal report back. When you say are the energy saver settings correct, what would you recommend other than turning off "put hard disk to sleep when possible" ?

thanks
[doublepost=1468996452][/doublepost]Yes I am still having the problem. The external SSD is set to the boot drive and "put us to sleep when possible" is unchecked

If I close the MacBook pros lid for more than say 3 mins, when I open it, it hands with a beachball until power it off
 
if anyone is able to shed some light on this that would be amazing....
 
SandboxGeneral said:
Do you have TRIM enabled on that SSD?
Click to expand...
Im not too sure how I check, as its connected via USB 3...

heres what system profiler tells me:

USB 3.0 Bus:



Capacity:750.16 GB (750,156,374,016 bytes)

Removable Media:Yes

BSD Name:disk2

Host Controller Driver:AppleUSBXHCIWPT

Partition Map Type:GPT (GUID Partition Table)

PCI Device ID:0x9cb1

PCI Revision ID:0x0003

PCI Vendor ID:0x8086

Volumes:

EFI:

Capacity:209.7 MB (209,715,200 bytes)

BSD Name:disk2s1

Content:EFI

Volume UUID:0E239BC6-F960-3107-89CF-1C97F78BB46B

HD:

Capacity:749.3 GB (749,296,615,424 bytes)

Available:622.57 GB (622,572,589,056 bytes)

Writable:Yes

File System:Journaled HFS+

BSD Name:disk2s2

Mount Point:/

Content:Apple_HFS

Volume UUID:283F501E-587E-31E7-AA5E-9B2CE1D93D02

Recovery HD:

Capacity:650 MB (650,002,432 bytes)

BSD Name:disk2s3

Content:Apple_Boot

Volume UUID:71DF26D3-F030-371C-9C27-B3D016F7DA26



JMicron:



Product ID:0x1561

Vendor ID:0x152d (JMicron Technology Corp.)

Version:1.00

Serial Number:DB98765432125

Speed:Up to 5 Gb/sec

Manufacturer:JMicron

Location ID:0x14500000 / 3

Current Available (mA):1800

Current Required (mA):2

Extra Operating Current (mA):0

Capacity:750.16 GB (750,156,374,016 bytes)

Removable Media:Yes

Detachable Drive:Yes

BSD Name:disk2

Partition Map Type:GPT (GUID Partition Table)

Volumes:

EFI:

Capacity:209.7 MB (209,715,200 bytes)

BSD Name:disk2s1

Content:EFI

Volume UUID:0E239BC6-F960-3107-89CF-1C97F78BB46B

HD:

Capacity:749.3 GB (749,296,615,424 bytes)

Available:622.57 GB (622,572,589,056 bytes)

Writable:Yes

File System:Journaled HFS+

BSD Name:disk2s2

Mount Point:/

Content:Apple_HFS

Volume UUID:283F501E-587E-31E7-AA5E-9B2CE1D93D02

Recovery HD:

Capacity:650 MB (650,002,432 bytes)

BSD Name:disk2s3

Content:Apple_Boot

Volume UUID:71DF26D3-F030-371C-9C27-B3D016F7DA26




as you can see nothing about trim?
 
:apple:> About this Mac > System Report > SATA > Select the drive and see if TRIM support is marked as yes
 
No help on this but TBH why don't you switch to using a work account and seperate home account on the internal boot drive...
 
SandboxGeneral said:
It should be there. I'm running macOS Sierra on an external USB SSD and its there for me.
Click to expand...
strange but its definantly not showing up there... only the internal sd is showing....
[doublepost=1469094085][/doublepost]
simonsi said:
No help on this but TBH why don't you switch to using a work account and seperate home account on the internal boot drive...
Click to expand...

because the internal ssd is 128gb and I need a lot more than that for video editing at home... I use the macbook to perform live with (djin) so wouldnt want to mix the two or slow it down in anyway... i like to keep things very seperate.
 
robcrouch said:
strange but its definantly not showing up there... only the internal sd is showing....
[doublepost=1469094085][/doublepost]

because the internal ssd is 128gb and I need a lot more than that for video editing at home... I use the macbook to perform live with (djin) so wouldnt want to mix the two or slow it down in anyway... i like to keep things very seperate.
Click to expand...
Yeah sorry, its early and you're right. Because its on USB it won't show up.

Regardless, open Terminal and run this.
Code: 
Sudo trimforce enable

I don't know if it will help resolve your display issue or not, but TRIM should be running anyway to keep OS X and the SSD running smoothly.
 
SandboxGeneral said:
Yeah sorry, its early and you're right. Because its on USB it won't show up.

Regardless, open Terminal and run this.
Code: 
Sudo trimforce enable

I don't know if it will help resolve your display issue or not, but TRIM should be running anyway to keep OS X and the SSD running smoothly.
Click to expand...


I just used an app called Disk Sensei to enable trim on the external HD although it also displays the message saying "this drive does not support trim"

so slightly conflicting....
 
robcrouch said:
I just used an app called Disk Sensei to enable trim on the external HD although it also displays the message saying "this drive does not support trim"

so slightly conflicting....
Click to expand...
Okay then, is the external drive a hard drive (HDD) or a solid state drive (SSD)?
 
I have noticed if I close the lid for 30 seconds its fine, but if the lid is closed for more than 2 minutes then upon re open i get the spinning beachball and am forced to switch off
 
robcrouch said:
I disabled sleep and then set it as the boot drive. Iv also disabled powernap....
I dont think there is any software its a crucial ssd... i formatted it myself which would remove that anyway right?
Click to expand...

I don't think formatting effect the power settings on the drive. The settings reside in the drive's firmware and are independent of the data on the drive.

BTW, since this is a new drive, have you contacted Crucial about the problem? They have had some issues with design lately.

Personally, for now I am sticking to Samsung, and lately have been partial to the EVO 850.
 
OP:

Forget TRIM.
It doesn't work with USB3.
Makes no difference -which- drive you use.
Stop wasting your time with it.

Next:
I would suggest that when (at home) you STOP CLOSING the lid at all.
Leave it open, always.

Instead, set up a "hot corner" to put the -display- to sleep (you can set this in the "desktop and screen saver" preference pane).

Leave ALL other "sleep settings" set to "never sleep".
Just darken the screen and leave it.
Does this work any better?

As another poster mentioned above, I'm wondering if the drive's controller has some "sleep setting" of its own, that's putting -itself- to sleep. As such, it may become "unresponsive" to the Mac's "wakening". At least without unplugging and re-plugging the drive.

I don't own a Samsung SSD, but (also as mentioned above) there may be a Samsung-written utility to manipulate some of its internal settings.
Have you tried that?

One last thought:
At night, SHUT IT DOWN, don't "sleep it".
It will re-boot fast and cleanly in the morning.
 
Fishrrman said:
OP:

Forget TRIM.
It doesn't work with USB3.
Makes no difference -which- drive you use.
Stop wasting your time with it.

Next:
I would suggest that when (at home) you STOP CLOSING the lid at all.
Leave it open, always.

Instead, set up a "hot corner" to put the -display- to sleep (you can set this in the "desktop and screen saver" preference pane).

Leave ALL other "sleep settings" set to "never sleep".
Just darken the screen and leave it.
Does this work any better?

As another poster mentioned above, I'm wondering if the drive's controller has some "sleep setting" of its own, that's putting -itself- to sleep. As such, it may become "unresponsive" to the Mac's "wakening". At least without unplugging and re-plugging the drive.

I don't own a Samsung SSD, but (also as mentioned above) there may be a Samsung-written utility to manipulate some of its internal settings.
Have you tried that?

One last thought:
At night, SHUT IT DOWN, don't "sleep it".
It will re-boot fast and cleanly in the morning.
Click to expand...


thank you, the hot corner display sleep is a nice idea... I'd still like to be able to close the lid though (to transport even around the house)

I have asked crucial (the makers of the hd) if there is some kinda software inbuilt into the SSD causing it to power down.
 
for those interested.... i have a workaround. I have a hot corner set to turn the display off... and also installledan app called no sleep: https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/37991/nosleep

so now i can close the lid and the computer effectively stays awake but with the display off and so far, no problems with the SSD.
 
robcrouch said:
for those interested.... i have a workaround. I have a hot corner set to turn the display off... and also installledan app called no sleep: https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/37991/nosleep

so now i can close the lid and the computer effectively stays awake but with the display off and so far, no problems with the SSD.
Click to expand...

So does that mean the system will up and running (with display turned off) when you carry it around with you in a case?
 
jerryk said:
So does that mean the system will up and running (with display turned off) when you carry it around with you in a case?
Click to expand...

basically yes... its really useful for when carrying around the house from room to room.... obviously if i am going out with it, i would shut it down.
 
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