I have two external hard discs connected through firewire 800 to a Macbook Pro. Usually I only work with one, so I unmount the other, which powers down. However, after some time the unmunted hard disk powers up for a while, then powers down. What is causing this activity? Can I somehow prevent it?
asked Mar 3, 2011 at 10:50
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1 Answer
Preventing will be quite complicated, as not only a lot of system processes check for certain files on all hard drives regularly (think spotlight, time machine, etc.) and more often than not, opening a "choose file" dialog will spin up all hard drives, too, since the OS wants to leave you with a "fast" impression and thus spins up drives in advance.
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I know that happens when the drive is mounted, but in this case it is unmounted. Normal software should be unable to even know something is connected. Commented Mar 3, 2011 at 14:16
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@Grzegorz I take it you are daisy chaining the drives? If so, is the one that is supposed to be unmounted and sleeping the first in line or the second?– AsmusCommented Mar 3, 2011 at 17:48
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The setup is macbook pro <-> firewire 800 hd (turned on) <-> firewire 400. The firewire 800 hd has a power of switch, but the 400 one doesn't, so it randomly powers up even though its not mounted or available in finder. The 800 hd is always powered on. Commented Mar 3, 2011 at 21:06