External drives go to sleep when idle - extremely inconvenient/annoying! Any fix/solution?!

External drives go to sleep when idle - extremely inconvenient/annoying! Any fix/solution?!


Drives sleep when my MacBook Pro 14" M2, running Mac OS Ventura 13.2.1 is idle - despite my Battery/Power settings to the following:


"Put hard disks to sleep when possible" - NEVER

"Wake for network access" - ALWAYS

MacBook Pro Apple Silicon 2023

Posted on Feb 24, 2023 11:28 PM

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Posted on Feb 26, 2023 07:45 PM

I’ve done everything (all steps) that you’ve listed and still having the same issue. The drive(s) goes to sleep, it spins back up when you click on the drive to access the data.. others, it appears, are having the same issue..

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7 replies

Feb 26, 2023 07:39 PM in response to torkstone

Hi torkstone,


Thank you for participating in the Apple Support Communities. If this is happening with the external drives, here are a few steps that may be useful:


1. Restart your device to see if the issue is still there: Shut down or restart your Mac - Apple Support

2. Confirm that your device is using the most recent software to rule out the older one: Update macOS on Mac - Apple Support

3. Confirm with the manufacturer that this is not expected behavior.

4. Contact Apple Support here if you need further support: Contact - Official Apple Support


Have a great day.


Feb 27, 2023 07:45 AM in response to torkstone


Hello torkstone,


Thanks for checking the troubleshooting.


You will want to contact the manufacturer of the drive to see if it was designed to sleep to save power, or if they need an update.


Contact a third-party vendor - Apple Support


Once you verify it's not working as designed and there are no updates, please contact Apple Support for more help.


Contact - Official Apple Support


Thanks.

Feb 27, 2023 05:04 PM in response to torkstone

Are the drives connected directly to the laptop or to a dock/hub? Try connecting the drives directly to the laptop. Also try disconnecting all other external devices in case one of them is causing a problem.


Have you tried restarting the laptop? Sometimes a reboot can fix issues.


Try booting into Safe Mode and seeing whether the same issue exists while booted into Safe Mode. Some functionality may be lost while in Safe Mode.


This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

External drives go to sleep when idle - extremely inconvenient/annoying! Any fix/solution?!

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