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External LaCie hard drive sleep mode issue

Hello, I have an external LaCie D2 drive (10TB, USB 3) connected to a MacBook Pro M1 Max with Monterey: even if I unchecked the option "put hard disk to sleep when possible" the drive goes to sleep whenever no app is reading from it: you can continuously hear the sound of waking up-reading-turning off. When I run apps like Lightroom it is a nightmare: to open any single photo I have to wait the disk to wake up and read files.

I'm sure the drive is ok because it used to work perfectly with my 7 years old MacBook Pro (Intel i7); and I have the same issue with other drives.

Tried to change port, change cable, restart, update apps, update MacOS.... no way; even on LaCie support I couldn't find any answer.

Posted on Feb 10, 2022 9:05 AM

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Posted on Feb 23, 2022 9:42 AM

I figured out a fix for my Lacie 12big and M1Max 16" macbook pro. If you open up terminal and enter "sudo pmset -c spindown 0" and then confirm by entering your admin password, it will prevent the drive from spinning down. It's been a few days since the fix and I'm having zero issues now inside premiere pro or lightroom. Hope this helps!

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 23, 2022 9:42 AM in response to Giorgio_ph

I figured out a fix for my Lacie 12big and M1Max 16" macbook pro. If you open up terminal and enter "sudo pmset -c spindown 0" and then confirm by entering your admin password, it will prevent the drive from spinning down. It's been a few days since the fix and I'm having zero issues now inside premiere pro or lightroom. Hope this helps!

Feb 17, 2022 6:51 AM in response to Giorgio_ph

I'm having the exact same issue with my new m1 max macbook pro and Lacie 12big harddrive. My boss is also having the issue with the same laptop setup but the Lacie 6big drive. It seems to only be Lacie drives that are doing this and I cannot figure it out for the life of me. It's a huge issue because when in Lightroom or even premiere pro WHILE SCRUBBING FOOTAGE AND ACTIVELY USING THE DRIVE, it will go to sleep randomly and then you hear it spin back up. This seems to happen all the time and is terrible when it comes to time management and productivity. I also have it connected to a thunderbolt 4 hub but have tried direct connection to laptop with same issue. I do however has the Lacie harddrive raid software installed so it seems like with or without the software it's an issue. Wehave never had this with any of our other macs until we went to the new M1 max's.

Feb 12, 2022 11:33 PM in response to AnnieL2

Hi, the drive is connected with an USB-C cable to a Thunderbolt4 hub, but even connecting directly to Thunderbolt ports or the USB3 port the behavior is the same. The drive has its own power supply.

Oddly when the MacBook is turned off and the drive is still connected it never go to sleep and disc keeps spinning: only if I physically disconnect it turns off.

Feb 18, 2022 4:49 PM in response to Giorgio_ph

Giorgio_ph, 


There are some additional isolation steps you can take such as testing in safe mode and a new user. That’s going to tell you whether the situation might be related to some third-party software or settings in your user. 

How to use safe mode on your Mac

Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac


If the issue persists through both of those, we’re going to recommend you connect with Apple Support on the matter. Contact Apple Support


Thank you. 

Feb 11, 2022 11:18 AM in response to Giorgio_ph

Hello Giorgio_ph, 


We understand that your external hard drive is seemingly waking and sleeping depending on the demands on the drive. 


Is your external hard drive connected to your Mac through a hub? If so, are you able to test connecting to directly your Mac? It looks like it, but to confirm, does your external hard drive have an external power supply? 


Thank you. 

Feb 13, 2022 4:22 PM in response to Giorgio_ph

Giorgio_ph, 


To clarify, does that mean the only time the drive goes to sleep is when your Mac is awake and in use? Having the external power supply does mean that the drive has power regardless of whether your Mac is turned on, and can be powered on even when your Mac is not. 


Does your external hard drive have any software that accompanies it that may need to be updated for the Apple silicon hardware? 


Thanks. 

External LaCie hard drive sleep mode issue

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