Level 1

32 points

Mac OSX Monterey External Hard Disks Going to Sleep

Hey all, I'm currently using a M1 MBA and recently updated to Monterey. The issue I'm facing now is my external hard disk dock is going to sleep after a minute of inactivity, even when I have unchecked the "Put hard disks to sleep when possible" option in the power options.

This usually gets fixed by restarting the MBA, but every time I put the mac to sleep for awhile (operating in clamshell mode and connected to external display via Caldigit TS3+) and wake it back up, the issue pops up again.

When I head into terminal and execute "pmset -g", it shows that my disk sleep option is set to 0.

The external disk drive dock is plugged directly into my Caldigit TS3+, and the TS3+ is plugged into a thunderbolt port on the MBA.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 12.0

Posted on Dec 5, 2021 2:23 AM

Top-ranking reply

sdschramm

Level 3

525 points

Posted on Oct 21, 2022 5:10 PM

This is still not fixed with macOS 12.6. Even with "Put hard disks to sleep when possible" disabled, and pmset showing a value of 0 for "disksleep", my drive is still spinning down, and up, and down every few minutes. It seems to be caused by putting the Mac to sleep. I'm able to reproduce the issue and workaround the issue via the following:

How to reproduce:

Boot your Mac with the external hard drive connected.
Allow 10-15 minutes for mdstores process to chill out as it likes to index the drive and perform maintenance when it sees it connected. Wait even longer if this hard drive is also your Time Machine backup destination. When the drive stops reading/writing then proceed.
Sleep your Mac. Wait 10-15 minutes.
Wake you Mac. Wait 10-15 minutes.
The hard drive will now start randomly spinning down when macOS thinks it's not needed and then 1-2 minutes later spin it back up again even though you aren't trying to access the drive.
Step 5 will repeat until you reboot the Mac.

How to workaround/avoid the issue:

Boot your Mac with the external hard drive connected.
Go to System Preferences > Battery > Power Adapter and check the box for "Prevent your Mac from automatically sleeping when the display is off.
When you are finished using your Mac, go to the Apple Menu and choose Lock Screen. Do not shut the lid.
When you want to use your Mac again, press any key and log in.
The external hard drive will remain active and will not spin down unless the system sleeps. Then it will get stuck in the loop mentioned in step 5 above until your Mac is rebooted.

If anyone could test and validate my findings, please respond with your results. If this is accurate and reproducible by others, then I think we have a good shot at trying to get this fixed by Apple. For those of us with Apple Care, opening a case and pointing the engineer to this thread would eliminate a lot of back and forth troubleshooting since most of the work is already done.

Thanks,

-Scott

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146 replies

Klahane

Level 1

33 points

Oct 18, 2022 11:16 AM in response to Javier Bonafont

One month after my last post, I have seen no spontaneous unmounts from either of my OWC miniStack enclosures with hard drives used for Time Machine. Connecting each enclosure separately to the Mac Studio seems to have solved that problem.

However, three times I have seen one of the hard drives (it's always been the same one) unmount (or at least produce a Notification) after a restart.

Once was after a manual startup after a power outage. (I have my Mac Studio set not to restart automatically.)

Once was after upgrading to macOS 12.6 and my Mac Studio restarted twice.

Once was after a manual shut down with the Apple Menu item and a subsequent manual restart. (I did that to address a separate problem.)

Nov 18, 2022 10:18 AM in response to saofrenzy

HI! Having the same problem (external hard drives going to sleep and wake up and sleep intermitently). This happens since I've switched to a brand new Mac Studio MAX....

The External enclosure works perfectly fine (i.e. as expected) with my MBP (Intel).

Nov 18, 2022 6:44 PM in response to saofrenzy

I have noticed that since installing 13.0 - now on 13.0.01 the hard drives will shut down after a period of non usage even with Put Hard Drives to Sleep - set to Never.

Was there ever discussed a solution?

Nov 21, 2022 10:17 AM in response to Mike from RR

I have the issue too and am considering upgrading to Mac OS 13 if that might fix it. Any updates on whether you are still having the spin up / down issue? It does look like the Power management dialog settings window has changed in this new OS per your photo.

Dec 13, 2022 7:51 AM in response to saofrenzy

Adding my experience here as well. On MacOS 13.0.1 and this is still a major issue for video editors. It's very frustrating waiting for the drive to spin up every 60 seconds while editing. I'm on an M2 MacBook Air. It seems to be Apple silicon related issue. Where's the fix for this Apple!? It's incredibly annoying!

HardPass

Level 1

20 points

Feb 24, 2023 1:04 PM in response to saofrenzy

Same drive issue here that started after connecting them to new M2 Pro Mac Mini running latest update of Ventura. Three external drives, a Novus, a Toshiba and a toaster, all repeatedly sleep after only a few seconds of inactivity, causing considerable waiting times to do any activities. They are all plugged directly into the Mac. Do not have that problem when connecting drives to my older iMac running Monterey. Using Amphetamine as temporary measure (hopefully).

FWIW, have noticed other glitches in Finder such as file icons in a folder rearranging to alphabetical order upon opening, but closing folder and re-opening puts files back in previously arranged order. Drag dropping files from one folder to another causes a "jump" of said icons to top of folder for brief moment before transferring.

Hope a good solution comes soon!

a_center

Level 1

8 points

Mar 27, 2023 2:48 PM in response to Dustin_R_308

Dustin and/or Apple, I'm also experiencing this bug that has been impacting many of your customers for the past 860 days. As someone who relies on your products for their livelihood, I find it concerning that this issue has yet to be resolved.

The bug in question is causing unnecessary wear and tear on external hard drives, and is causing significant workflow disruptions for many users. Personally, I have stopped using my RAID system out of fear that it will be impacted by this issue.

I understand that software bugs can be complex and challenging to fix, but I implore you to prioritize this issue and work towards a solution. Your customers invest thousands of dollars into your products and deserve to have them functioning at their best. I appreciate your attention to this matter and hope to see a fix soon.

saofrenzy Author

Level 1

32 points

Dec 14, 2021 8:07 AM in response to ryane77

I have tried this with the hard drive bay connected directly to my Mac. There seems to be more reports of this issue coming out about OS Monterey.

jack

Level 2

270 points

Jan 3, 2022 7:10 AM in response to saofrenzy

Same issue for me, brand new MacBook Pro Max topped out. External Seagate drive clean formatted APFS spins down after a minute or less regardless of my energy settings. What is going on Apple????

Serghios

Level 1

12 points

Jan 11, 2022 3:18 AM in response to rbearpark

I also use this app and it works, but it's not nice to see the icons on the hardisk desktop dancing and flickering changing from icon to folder all the time.

Jan 11, 2022 5:58 AM in response to Serghios

Ah yes good point. Only just noticed that!

JLJ225

Level 1

13 points

Jan 11, 2022 4:24 PM in response to rbearpark

Yes, this app worked for me too and the drives stay working all day. It would be nice to get some indication if Apple is aware of this issue and will fix it.

CM@C99

Level 1

0 points

Jan 27, 2022 1:44 PM in response to ryane77

Yes, I took my OWC Raid off the dock and went directly to the M1 MacBook Pro and it still sleeps. It is a real hassle when editing.

JLJ225

Level 1

13 points

Feb 15, 2022 8:48 AM in response to JLJ225

Update to 12.2.1 did not appear to fix the issue.

Serghios

Level 1

12 points

Feb 15, 2022 8:50 AM in response to CM@C99

I think apple doesn't care and we are just wasting words in the wind

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Mac OSX Monterey External Hard Disks Going to Sleep