16" MacBook Pro M2 Max Constantly Putting My External Drive to sleep

I am working on a brand new 2023 MacBook Pro 16" 64GB 1TB that has the very latest Ventura 13.2.1 OS. I literally just purchased it a week ago. No matter what setting I try in: Battery (Put hard disks to sleep when possible - Never, is checked) or Lock Screen (Start Scree Saver when inactive - Never, is checked), Displays>Battery & Energy (Prevent automatic sleeping on power adapter when display is off, is checked on), my external G-tech Thunderbolt 2 8TB Raid keeps going to sleep every 90 seconds (no exaggeration) if I'm not playing the timeline or otherwise accessing the drive and then turns the drive back on again 2 minutes later. Because of this, I'm sure it's only a matter of time until the drive fails.

Why is it not possible to keep the drive constantly awake? I've used the same drive on my 2013 Mac Pro for many years without this issue. Now, with a new, super fast computer and I get this issue? Can someone please tell me what I need to do to keep my drive awake? I've read all sorts of forum entries and no one can explain a work around.

I'm working on editing a film and I am constantly having to wait for the drive to spool up to see the work I've done. It's making working on this machine, what is otherwise an incredibly powerful machine, almost slower than working on my old trash can because of this issue. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you.