External harddrive won't shut down in Mavericks

I never paid much attention before (and most users wouldn't either) but I noticed that I have getting some console messages indicating "wakeups resource spin" if I started an application and noticed my external USB hard drive would start to spin up. I was using this as my Time machine and it would spin down between backups but for no apparent reason would spin up if starting various programs. Tried every possible fix but no luck keeping it from spinning up. I then decided to keep my drive spinning except when my Mac would sleep or shut down at night. Now no more messages. I wonder if Apple did this with FW drives to preclude these logs as well. I figured since my TM drive had to spin up every hour anyway it might as well just stay spinning in between. I do not expect much wear from this approach.

Now that I have used Yosemite and the issue remains I have concluded that Apple does not want any external drive to spin down except when your Mac powers down. The spinning up and down of the drive during normal OS use causes some functional slow downs and error messages in console. I did notice that the drive can spin up for no reason when certain tasks are initiated by the user. Like someone said in an earlier post that Apple now considers this a design feature not an issue. The only way to get your external drive to sleep is to have either a drive or enclosure that has that feature built in. I tested two enclosures with the same WD Black drive. One will spin down when no activity and the other will not. I now keep my USB3 drive spinning using "keep drive spinning" app. and my overall system performance is better.

Hi folks,

I just spoke with OWC. My external 1TB Hitachi "Mercury On-The-Go Oxford Firewire (purchased April 15 2011). The Tech guy, Eric, directed me to Google.com and then download "Ejector 4 Mac". He says I can safely eject the faulty external disc, but I can't figure how to use the download (which is free by the way).

Any ideas?

I run Mac mini late 2009 model, Mac OS X 10.9.5.

How about disk ejector from the app store. Cost $2.99

Hi third vet,

I have since deleted one by one every folder in the drive authenticating each one with my password. A bit of a nuisance, but when empty I shut down for 30 minutes and then used Drive Genius 3 to defray . It worked like a charm. I ejected the drive and got a perfect defray and remounted the disc.

By the way, when I ejected, I held down control key and just ejected partition 3 not the whole disc.

Regards, Gareth

I have found that Yosemete, iTunes and external drives don't work well together

WHen itunes is running my external drive will sleep until the system goes to sleep. Then the external runs continuously.

WHen I shut the system down the drive runs continuously.

WIth iTunes turned off the system and external sort of sleep, but usually one or the other remains spinning. Ejecting and powiering off the extertal drive is the only way to let the iMac obey energy settings. this has only been happening with my upgrade from Mavericks to Yosemite, and the latest update of Yosemite.My apple tv also requires a reboot to find the itunes library on Yosemite evey time . Home sharing is on, recogninised by my mini running Snow Leopard , Yosemite is the problem, I will be downgrading to Snow Leopard on the iMac using original install disc.

I will stick with Snow Leopard across all my macs, very stable and reliable,.. as a media network I do not need the hassles that are prevalent with the new OS.

What connection are you using on the external drive?

That's how my FireWire drive has been doing since Mavericks. Apple never did fix it so it's still an issue with Yosemite.

I switched that external drive to USB and now it sleeps.

I also have the frequent ATV thinking Home Sharing has been turned off. this usually happens when the Mac Mini has been in deep sleep.

It also seems to drop off the shared network. That issue started with Yosemite for me and it seems to be related to the Bonjour Sleep Proxy.

We are now in version 3 of Yosemite and again no Apple cure.

I feel your pain, add this to all the other network and wi fi issue and you have the new Apple OS Yoshitonme!

hey Ozz,

I m using a USB connection. The same as I have been using for years over all OS since Tiger.

After posting my problem, I moved the external to a mini running Snow Leopard, all was good for a while. Mini and drive sleeping as they should.

But after 1 day the same problems started on the mini. I am suspecting iTunes as the culprit, which if is the cause will really **** me off as I mainly use my Macs for media sharing, I,E: mac ,itunes,AppleTV.

The most annoying thing is that once the Mini started to display these problems I have put the HD back onto the iMac running Yosemite, accepting that the eject and power off option was what I would have to put up with,..But hey, now everything is behaving as it should.

The external sleeps, imac sleeps and AppleTv recognises my library. I will not hold my breath as to how long this lasts, all os seem to be suffering from the same hassles with new iTunes updates.

I used to be a big proponent of Macs, telling people that they "just work" and were very user friendly, but unfortunately that belief is now gone.

I am not a fan anymore

That would surprise me if it's iTunes. I have had the FireWire external drive not spin down issue since the launch of Mavericks but when I switched it to USB the issue is not there. Mac Mini is now on YoShitOnMe and the USB external drives do behave normal with it however the FireWire port still does not. It will keep the external drives spinning 24/7 even when Mac Mini goes into sleep mode if it's connected via FireWire, so USB connection solved that for me. My external drives are from G-Tech in this case.

I like you use the Mac Mini in the same fashion and YoShitOnMe is causing my Mac Mini to drop off the network when it goes into sleep mode, the only work around so far is I set Mac Mini to never sleep. (Bonjour Sleep Proxy Issues they can't seem to fix)

Apple TV is also having trouble with iTunes since the YoShitOnMe update. ATV thinks iTunes sharing is not ON despite it actually being ON. The easiest work around this is restarted the ATV thru the menu settings. It works most of the times, however sometimes I have had to reboot the Mac Mini to get it working again.

I to was a huge Apple Fan with a good size collection of Apple things but I am now taking a back seat with this. I don't think the windows option is better yet, I do have a Windows PC that I use to test things sometimes and can tell you that the new Windows OS is clumsy and cumbersome to set up and use in the same fashion I use the Mac Mini. So I still give Apple a slight edge that is certainly getting closer and closer to Windows level with every update it seems.

They can kiss that iWatch goodbye since I will not be the first one to sign up as a beta tester on that by buying one. Giving they're new track record on Apple software and network issues I do not need to add on to the pile with an iWatch. I will let other suckers get it and just lay back and read about all the issues it has while I think in the back of my head "Glad I did not get one".

OzziesMAC wrote:

.........

I to was a huge Apple Fan with a good size collection of Apple things but I am now taking a back seat with this. I don't think the windows option is better yet, I do have a Windows PC that I use to test things sometimes and can tell you that the new Windows OS is clumsy and cumbersome to set up and use in the same fashion I use the Mac Mini. So I still give Apple a slight edge that is certainly getting closer and closer to Windows level with every update it seems.

They can kiss that iWatch goodbye since I will not be the first one to sign up as a beta tester on that by buying one. Giving they're new track record on Apple software and network issues I do not need to add on to the pile with an iWatch. I will let other suckers get it and just lay back and read about all the issues it has while I think in the back of my head "Glad I did not get one".

My view exactly. As Windows improves I will jump ship. I have many Windows friends and none, NONE, complain about glitches. I like the Mac's file handling ease and some other things but my patience is being strained, for one example since 2011, have to go several times a day (yes, several times a day) to Prefs, then ask for the mouse to be discovered, then wait for it to come back, and grit my teeth. Not a cheep from Apple. "Just works". I don't think so.

If it's a bluetooth mouse you should delete the com.apple.bluetooth plist and reboot, your problem is obviously something uncommon.

sadida172 wrote:

If it's a bluetooth mouse you should delete the com.apple.bluetooth plist and reboot, your problem is obviously something uncommon.

Yes, I tried that several times over the four years, along with about 8 other suggestions, but no solution. Apple's Genius Bar also failed during three visits.

I'm already in queue for a Sr. Advisor. Hopefully, my 45 minutes to get here will allow you to shorten your wait time. Please ask that they title the case "External Hard Drive not going to sleep on the computer". If enough cases aren't created referencing this, then they do not classify it as an emerging issue or a known issue. They don't tie issues to a master case number, they only tie them based on case titles.

For those of you that are still monitoring this, I finally called in to create a case on the lack of USB support in the OS. I was informed by the AppleCare representative that they do not have any KB articles on this and that this has not been identified as an issue. If you have support on your Mac, please call in, create a case, and let them know that you are not the only one.

Apple's standard, based on what I could identify, is to not search these forums to identify issues. That is what I was informed while on the phone, at least. I was told that it only gets a Knowledge Base article and higher support looking at it if enough people create support requests. I've been having this issue for years and just let it go. I understand if you are also done fighting with a company that can't even search their own forums to find issues with their product. But, if you aren't, then please call or chat in to create a support request!

They are fully aware of it, various case numbers have been made since the start of this problem.

Thats is simply what one person is telling you to move things along and pacify you for now.

I have been thru the same thing as you many times before with USB and FireWire issues.

Well, I will look forward to outing them on that. Either their Senior Advisor is not able to perform proper search queries or they are not creating tickets. I am persistent, take notes, and have no issue requesting a higher level of support. My hope is that you have cases that you can reference me to. I will call my Senior AppleCare Advisor to determine why he was unable to find the cases you reference. That will help me push him to sending the information to engineering.

Trust me, I will follow up on this and push. I need as much ammunition as possible to show either how poorly the search was performed or to determine why Apple would delete cases that show an ongoing issue.