USB hard drive problem

[sethypoo]

I own a rev. A MacBook Pro (1.83Ghz, 2.0GB RAM) and recently replaced the stock 80GB internal hard drive with a new 160GB Hitachi hard drive. I then placed the old 80GB drive into an external USB 2.0 enclosure and am using it as a storage drive.

My problem is this: when I put my MBP to sleep, the external USB hard drive keeps running. My MBP goes into sleep mode fine, but I can't figure out how to get the external drive to do the same. For the time being I've just been unmounting the external drive and unplugging it, but I'd like a better option than this.

Any pointers? Thank you!

Seth

 

[tyr2]

It depends on whether the enclosure supports that feature or not. If it's not doing it now it probably doesn't support that functionality.

Not sure how you can probe the enclosure for its feature set.

 

[sethypoo]

If it's any help, the model of the external enclosure is a Vantec NexStar 3 external 2.5" hard drive enclosure.

I haven't found anything online yet about it. This is frustrating! I want this hard drive to sleep when my MBP sleeps! Grr...

 

[sethypoo]

I've been searching like crazy and can't find any information that is related to this. Can anyone help?

Here's a question: would an eSATA setup be more likely to put the hard drive to sleep?

 

[live4ever]

My LaCie Firewire one sleeps after a certain period - it is a function of the chipset in the enclosure - Oxford 911, 922, 924 chipsets would be a good bet for this functionality probably Texas Instruments Initio too would work.

 

[sethypoo]

My LaCie Firewire one sleeps after a certain period - it is a function of the chipset in the enclosure - Oxford 911, 922, 924 chipsets would be a good bet for this functionality probably Texas Instruments Initio too would work.

No such luck. I tried leaving it plugged in for 30 minutes and nothing happened, just kept on running.

This is so frustrating, does anyone have any pointers? Would an eSATA hookup change this at all?