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    Why does my USB drive keep powering up/down?

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by WilliamG, May 10, 2009.

  1. WilliamG

    WilliamG Notebook Deity

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    Here's an odd one. I have a new 500GB USB 2.0 2.5" drive plugged into my MacBook Pro. It powers up every so often of its own accord (and then shuts down after so many minutes non-activity). It's excluded from Time Machine backups to my Time Capsule, and excluded from Spotlight searches as well. Is there anything else I'm missing that would cause it to come out of its slumber?

    Thanks, guys!
     
    WilliamG, May 10, 2009
    #1
  2. MKang25

    MKang25 NBR Prisoner

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    Is your mbp plugged in? It may be that thers not enough power?
     
    MKang25, May 10, 2009
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  3. Colton

    Colton Also Proudly American

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    I have that same problem with my 3.5 1TB external, with a power adapter, so it's most likely not a power issue. Mine is the WD My Book, and after a short period of time, it just fades off. Nothing to do with power. ;) You might want to try looking for the power settings on the external HDD, and make the time longer before it shuts off or sleeps.
     
    Colton, May 10, 2009
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  4. hydrocyanic

    hydrocyanic Notebook Evangelist

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    try a different usb jack, on mine, the right usb doesn't have enough juice to power my 2.5" where the left does

    i am skeptic about a 3.5" drive however.
     
    hydrocyanic, May 10, 2009
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  5. Colton

    Colton Also Proudly American

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    That's weird, as my mouse won't work in the left USB port in Windows. :eek: The 3.5 I am running has an A/C adapter, so that's getting plenty of power. ;)
     
    Colton, May 10, 2009
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  6. jackluo923

    jackluo923 Notebook Virtuoso

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    WD drives and a couple other externa hdd manufactures have special power saving features built into the hardware. It's normal for them to power down.

    The usb can also send signals to usb hardware to tell them to "suspend". It's a power saving features so don't worry about it. There's nothing wrong with it.
     
    jackluo923, May 10, 2009
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  7. WilliamG

    WilliamG Notebook Deity

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    Err... I think some of you are a little confused. Perhaps I wasn't clear enough. There's NO issue with power from my laptop. The drive is always showing up on the desktop as an icon, and I can transfer hundreds of gigs to it with no issue. It goes to sleep after about 10 minutes of inactivity, as it should, according to my power saving settings of turning off hard drives when inactive. My problem is that the drive will randomly be awoken by SOME process, which I can't figure out the identity of. So, again, this is nothing to do with power issues. :)
     
    WilliamG, May 10, 2009
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  8. JWest

    JWest Master of Notebookery

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    Well is it really doing any harm by starting up randomly, or is it just a slightly annoying problem?
     
    JWest, May 10, 2009
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  9. WilliamG

    WilliamG Notebook Deity

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    Well, it's unnecessary for one thing, and there's no need to put extra wear and tear on a 2.5" drive by having it power up and down randomly if you ask me. ;) And really, wouldn't you like to know what's powering up a drive if it happens randomly? This is a fresh OS X install on my new SSD drive as well...
     
    WilliamG, May 10, 2009
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