External hard drive going to sleep

Actually macOS 13.5 is the current version.

Make sure to disconnect all external devices. Then connect just one drive directly to the Mac to see how it behaves.

Try booting into Safe Mode and seeing how the drive behaves.

Try creating a new macOS user account, log out of your main user account & log into the new user account. See if you still have the issue.

Try connecting a drive to a USB3 hub or dock to see if it makes any difference (powered hub/dock is best, but an unpowered one may still provide clues if it works especially since you have a drive with its own power source).

Are you letting macOS manage these external drives? Or are you using the manufacturer's software to manage these drives?

Are you actively using the laptop at the time, or is the laptop inactive where it may log out or activate a screen lock?

I have the same problem with a Mac Studio in Ventura. My disks are all in a OWC Thunderbay Flex 8 enclosure, which is connected to my mac to a thunderbolt port.

I have also tried this:

2023-07-31 14:46:39.953 systemsetup[44605:11797365] ### Error:-99 File:/AppleInternal/Library/BuildRoots/d9889869-120b-11ee-b796-7a03568b17ac/Library/Caches/com.apple.xbs/Sources/Admin/InternetServices.m Line:379
setcomputersleep: Never
jamesarome@JARSTUDIO-2 ~ % sudo systemsetup -getcomputersleep
Computer Sleep: Never
jamesarome@JARSTUDIO-2 ~ % 2023-07-31 14:46:39.953 systemsetup[44605:11797365] ### Error:-99 File:/AppleInternal/Library/BuildRoots/d9889869-120b-11ee-b796-7a03568b17ac/Library/Caches/com.apple.xbs/Sources/Admin/InternetServices.m Line:379
setcomputersleep: Never

Could the error be causing this issue. It brings my fully-loaded studio to a crawl.

jrome wrote:

I have also tried this:

jamesarome@JARSTUDIO-2 ~ % sudo systemsetup -getcomputersleep

Computer Sleep: Never

jamesarome@JARSTUDIO-2 ~ % 2023-07-31 14:46:39.953 systemsetup[44605:11797365] ### Error:-99 File:/AppleInternal/Library/BuildRoots/d9889869-120b-11ee-b796-7a03568b17ac/Library/Caches/com.apple.xbs/Sources/Admin/InternetServices.m Line:379

Could the error be causing this issue. It brings my fully-loaded studio to a crawl.

That line with the error is odd since it seems to appear where you enter a command.

Do you get that error when first opening the Terminal app or opening a new Terminal window/session? If so, then it indicates some sort of issue with a Zsh configuration file. Otherwise I'm not sure why it is displaying an error like that in that location.

Besides, "computersleep" is different from "harddisksleep" which is probably the setting you need to check:

sudo  systemsetup  -getharddisksleep

To configure "harddisksleep" to never using the command line:

sudo  systemsetup  -setharddisksleep  Never

My issue with OWC raids is the same. When I plug an external drive in while already booted up, it will sleep very quickly and then have to spin up to access files. I've found that when you boot with the drive plugged in and on already, it won't sleep like this. But very inconvenient if you need to access multiple drives.

 % sudo systemsetup -getharddisksleep

Password:

Hard Disk Sleep: Never

But it still sleeps them