Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Level 1

3 points

sleeping hard disks and time machine - problem?

I've searched.... but I can't find a definitive answer.

Is it a bad idea to NOT "sleep" my hard disk(s)?
(i.e. - uncheck the "hard disk(s) sleep" option)

I have a new macbook and I'm running Time Machine on an external (powered) drive. I have my computer set to "put hard disk(s) to sleep when possible" but I'm having problems with "improper device removal" warnings when I wake up the macbook.I would hate to shorten the life of my drives - but potentially corrupted
files on my Time Machine disk kind of defeats the purpose of back ups.

I realize that "sleeping" conserves battery life - but when the macbook is plugged in, what should I do?

thanks

macbook, Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Mar 14, 2011 7:31 PM

Best reply

Xian Rinpoche

Level 2

154 points

Posted on Mar 17, 2011 10:03 AM

Glenn Leblanc wrote:
I don't know why you're getting those (improper device removal). Putting your computer to sleep should not eject the drive and it should not be ejecting itself while sitting there.

I believe the macbook depowers the USB port upon sleep if running on battery.

View in context

24 replies

Mar 17, 2011 10:12 AM in response to Xian Rinpoche

I believe the macbook depowers the USB port upon sleep if running on battery.

I understand that it kills the USB power, but it does not eject the drive. Or I should say it does not eject my drive and I don't get that "improper device removal" warning when waking it. The drive is still mounted until I eject it. Of course, I don't have a notebook, so I can't say if it's different for those.
Maybe that something specific to some USB drives, but I don't know.

Mar 17, 2011 10:47 AM in response to Glenn Leblanc

Yes, that's correct. however, if the hard drive is a bit slow to spin up after power is restored, an improper ejection error can occur. It's a timing issue, of course. I had a power strip that was "smart" and would power down devices when the power draw from "Device A" dropped below a certain point. I set my Mac as Device A and had an external HDD as one of the devices that was powered down on sleep. About 9/10 times, I had no issues, but there was that 1/10 when the drive was too slow to wake up and I would get an ejection error. So it's hit-or-miss in those situations. I would not recommend a USB-powered external drive as a TM volume when running a Macbook on battery power *if there is a plan to sleep it while on battery.*

Mar 17, 2011 3:23 PM in response to markserlin

Disk isn't failing - although connected to an iMac it seems to be lack of power. drive appears in the hardware info under USB, but doesn't read, just flashes its light. Will try power-booster cable or powered hub.

Mar 17, 2011 3:52 PM in response to markserlin

If you are trying to run the drive from the USB port alone, it is quite possible that there is not enough "juice." Using a powered hub (and you mentioned) or a y-cable that feeds power from two USB ports is recommended. Some pocket-sized externals will run off a single USB port, but many won't.

Mar 17, 2011 4:13 PM in response to Xian Rinpoche

I didn't realise - I've never come up against this before. At least not knowingly - maybe it explains some drive flakiness I've experienced over the last year or so.
Powered hub didn't help though it's still getting power from just one outlet of course. Will try Y-cable next, when I can find it (it's round here somewhere...)
Thanks!

Mar 18, 2011 5:20 AM in response to markserlin

PS It seems this becomes more of an issue when the drive is full or near-full, which would explain why it was fine to begin with.
Y-Cable on order.... 😉

Message was edited by: markserlin

May 8, 2012 3:10 PM in response to jlcnyc0

I was having trouble with Time Machine and Sleep mode for iMac:

FYI - If anyone is having trouble with a LaCie d2 Quadra external drive via Firewire 800 - there is a simple Firmware update available at LaCie.com under "Support and Downloads" - look for d2 Quadra USB 3.0 updater for Mac

~Brian

Jun 30, 2012 4:03 PM in response to Kappy

"TM also does not automatically wake up sleeping drives which again interferes with the backup process."

Sorry, but that's BS. I have a WD NAS which sleeps well. Whenever Time Machine starts up, it wakes the drive and then performs the backup!

"Just because you have friends that do something doesn't mean they know what they are doing."

Just because people write things doesn't mean they know what they are writing about...

Regards.

JBenni

Level 1

9 points

Aug 21, 2012 6:15 AM in response to jlcnyc0

I think my problem is similar. I have a 27" iMac set to sleep "never" but I do put the display to sleep and I enable "Put hard drives to sleep when possible" - I have a FireWire 800 connected 3TB Seagate drive used exclusively for TM backup. (I'm current on OS X 10.8)

Although I don't ever see the improper eject warning, about once a week I do get TM errors along the lines of "Time Machine is unable to create a directory" or something similar.

Disk Utility can often repair the volume format, but not always (in those cases, I reluctantly reformat and do a full backup). The Disk Utility messages always indicate disk format problems, but the exact symptoms vary. Often there are multiple instances of multiple problems.

Here's why I suspect sleep - I'm on and off my computer all day and I've NEVER have had a daytime backup fail. But overnight backups routinely fail - at least once a week. And if I am "pro-active" about checking the volume with Disk Utility, there's usually something minor to repair most mornings.

I suspected the physical drive (which is new), so I obtained a replacement drive under warranty. The replacement drive failed on its first night. Here are logs showing the successful initial backup followed by a failure.

Any ideas on what is going on or how to isolate this problem?

Thanks in advance!

Jbenni

Logs from Time Machine Buddy (initial backup):

Starting manual backup

Backing up to: /Volumes/JBenniMac Backup/Backups.backupdb

Forcing deep traversal on source: "Macintosh HD" (mount: '/' fsUUID: 34226B92-E59A-3CE9-8EB2-A2731CC50CEC eventDBUUID: EE22D25B-2065-44CA-B75E-91B1C1ED61D0)

Backup content size: 586.83 GB excluded items size: 38.72 GB for volume Macintosh HD

Found 2136396 files (548.11 GB) needing backup

657.74 GB required (including padding), 1.4 TB available

Waiting for index to be ready (100)

Copied 65.8 GB of 548.11 GB, 1276371 of 2136396 items

Copied 161.38 GB of 548.11 GB, 1756587 of 2136396 items

Copied 286.02 GB of 548.11 GB, 1859362 of 2136396 items

Copied 436 GB of 548.11 GB, 1881544 of 2136396 items

Copied 1966217 files (490.86 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.

Using file event preflight for Macintosh HD

Will copy (5.2 MB) from Macintosh HD

Found 411 files (6.2 MB) needing backup

6.14 GB required (including padding), 899.27 GB available

Copied 5467 files (11.4 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.

Created new backup: 2012-08-21-023557

Copying Lion Recovery set

Starting post-backup thinning

No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist

Backup completed successfully.

The computer was idle (but various automatic things like email arrivals and calendar events happen). The next backup shows:

Backing up to: /Volumes/JBenniMac Backup/Backups.backupdb

Using file event preflight for Macintosh HD

Will copy (407.6 MB) from Macintosh HD

Found 2368 files (530.7 MB) needing backup

6.72 GB required (including padding), 898.8 GB available

Stopping backup.

Error: (-43) SrcErr:NO Copying /Applications/3ivx to /Volumes/JBenniMac Backup/Backups.backupdb/jbenniMac/2012-08-21-034140.inProgress/24970D79-226F-49 47-9D99-1E9A24E9535E/Macintosh HD/Applications

Copied 9 files (Zero KB) from volume Macintosh HD.

Copy stage failed with error:11

Backup failed with error: 11

Starting automatic backup

Backing up to: /Volumes/JBenniMac Backup/Backups.backupdb

Using file event preflight for Macintosh HD

Will copy (407.8 MB) from Macintosh HD

Found 2408 files (530.8 MB) needing backup

6.72 GB required (including padding), 898.8 GB available

Stopping backup.

Error: (-43) SrcErr:NO Copying /Applications/3ivx to /Volumes/JBenniMac Backup/Backups.backupdb/jbenniMac/2012-08-21-034140.inProgress/661B27F4-2484-44 AA-BB1D-6A7DCE1BBF97/Macintosh HD/Applications

Copied 9 files (Zero KB) from volume Macintosh HD.

Copy stage failed with error:11

Backup failed with error: 11

Starting automatic backup

Backing up to: /Volumes/JBenniMac Backup/Backups.backupdb

Error: (5) setxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.SnapshotState path:/Volumes/JBenniMac Backup/Backups.backupdb/jbenniMac/2012-08-21-034140.inProgress/BD730A2B-6843-42 DE-AA82-334276DA1B18 size:2

Using file event preflight for Macintosh HD

Will copy (407.9 MB) from Macintosh HD

Found 2443 files (531 MB) needing backup

6.72 GB required (including padding), 898.8 GB available

Copied 0 files (Zero KB) from volume Macintosh HD.

Copy stage failed with error:11

Backup failed with error: 11

Starting automatic backup

Backing up to: /Volumes/JBenniMac Backup/Backups.backupdb

Error: (-36) Applying backup protections to /Volumes/JBenniMac Backup/Backups.backupdb/jbenniMac/2012-08-21-034140.inProgress/701819AD-0B49-4E B7-9ADB-067A4463D87E

Error

sleeping hard disks and time machine - problem?