Is there a way to get Firewire harddrives to sleep?

Question

Level 1

76 points

Is there a way to get Firewire harddrives to sleep?

I've just moved to Yosemite from Snow Leopard, and am concerned that my external (OWC) Firewire drives no longer sleep when I dismount them or even when I put the computer to sleep. The 'Put hard disks to sleep when possible' option in Energy Saver doesn't do the job.

This issue is particularly annoying in the case of my back-up HD, which previously ran for only about 15 minutes a day during scheduled clonings. It (and another external drive) must now run 24/7 unless I switch them on and off when needed, which is surely bad practice.

I understand that I could switch them to my iMac's USB 2 ports, but that would mean a serious speed hit.

Is there a fix to this?

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3), 2.8 GHz, 4GB ram

Posted on Apr 18, 2015 11:55 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

362,023 points

Apr 18, 2015 1:07 PM in response to duncantho

Only if you eject them and disconnect them or shut down the computer.

Reply

Answer 2

duncantho Author

Level 1

76 points

Apr 18, 2015 1:13 PM in response to Kappy

OWC tell me Apple has said they are working on a fix. Given that this is a bug that apparently dates back to the release of Mavericks in October 2013, I'm not holding my breath.

Reply

Answer 3

Kappy

Level 10

362,023 points

Apr 18, 2015 1:41 PM in response to duncantho

It is not so much a bug as a design flaw that has gone overlooked for some time now. It is highly unlikely that Apple has revealed anything to OWC that has not already been public.

Fact is that when using an external drive for backup you cannot let the backup drive turn off or power down lest a backup will be missed. Time Machine cannot wake up an external drive that has gone to sleep and disconnected itself.

It's not likely Apple is working on this matter. Firewire has long ago left the building. It's an obsolete technology.

Reply

Answer 4

duncantho Author

Level 1

76 points

Apr 18, 2015 1:50 PM in response to Kappy

I use Carbon Copy Cloner instead of Time Machine, and have it set for a daily backup. I could theoretically turn the clone drive on once a day and then tell CCC to do a backup but that would be a pain. Meanwhile I worry about the extra wear of running it 24 hours a day for a job that takes 15 minutes.

I was a happy Snow Leopard user on my eight-year-old iMac until I needed the latest Java for a particular site, so you can tell that I'm a Luddite.

Reply