Prev: What's that clicking noise?
Next: testing
From: nospam on 30 Nov 2009 16:27
In article <2009113010404516807-not(a)dotcom>, thepixelfreak
<not(a)dot.com> wrote:

> Could someone who understands MacOS X internals please explain to me
> why the finder needs to wait for an external Firewire drive to spin up
> to:
>
> 1. Open an app from the doc. (sbbod until the FW drive spins up)
> 2. Quit an app via right clicking the dock icon of the app. (shows
> 'Application not Responding' until FW drive spins up then
> 'quit' is the available choice)
> 3. Get a running program to respond. (sbbod then app responds as usual
> when FW drive spins up)

the drive only needs to spin up if the system has to access files on
it. otherwise it can stay spun down.

i have several drives, most of which spin down (some bridges don't
support it, unfortunately), and they only spin up if i do something
that requires accessing a file on them. otherwise they stay spun down.

> The SBBOD usually only takes 5-10 seconds to go away and Finder
> behavior to return to normal. I know it sounds 'petty' but it
> definitely is a flaw in what is supposed to be (and usually is) a very
> responsive GUI.

if the system needs to access something on the hard drive, it has to
wait until the drive spins up. i'd think that would be obvious.

> Running 10.6.1 and hoping Apple would have gotten it right with this release.

they have had it working correctly for a long, long time.
From: nospam on 30 Nov 2009 16:29
In article <hf18nq$3ku$1(a)news.eternal-september.org>, E Z Peaces
<cash(a)invalid.invalid> wrote:

> I wish I could keep the disk awake. Spinning takes very little power,
> and spinning up probably means wear and tear as well as a delay.

it's actually less wear unless it's spinning down and up every few
minutes.
From: Daniel Cohen on 30 Nov 2009 16:52
Nick Naym <nicknaym@[remove_this].gmail.com> wrote:

> In article doug-02D35E.20073629112009(a)news-40.giganews.com, Doug
Jantzer at
> doug(a)gmail.com.invalid wrote on 11/29/09 11:07 PM:
>
> > I have 5 1TB Seagate FreeAgent|Desk external USB HDs connected to my
> > unibody 2.93.GHz MBP, OSX 10.6.2.
> >
> > I have UNchecked the "Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible" box
> > in the Energy Saver pref pane.
> >
> > But these drives insist on going into some sort of sleep mode after a
> > period of not accessing them. When they are in this mode, any activity
> > in the finder locks up the entire system for 30-60 seconds until the
> > drives come back to their senses.
> >
> > This is getting really annoying.
> >
> > I downloaded the Seagate Diagnostics Mac utility, but it can't even see
> > the drives... thanks a lot Seagate.
> >
> > Has anyone else seen this behavior?
> >
> > Does anyone have a suggestion on fixing it.
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> > Doug
>
>
>
> There are a few forum threads over at Seagate mentioning this. One I saw
> (see http://is.gd/57rAq) goes on for six pages. Though I didn't slog through
> it all, the very last post (by a moderator) in the thread suggests:
>
> Just to recap, 3 basic steps for troubleshooting this issue:
>
> 1) Install the updated FA Desktop software for Mac. That software will
> divert the "responsibility" for setting the sleep interval to the MacOS
> operating system rather than the FA software.

I wasn't convinced that this works, though I may have been using an
older version of the software, or possibly a slightly different piece of
Seagate software.

The thing is that there is a QuickLook plugin that enables one to look
inside packages. When I tried that on the software I downloaded from
Seagate I saw that it installed a temporary kext, ran a script, and
removed the temporary kext. And the script looked to me as though it was
making a change to the time beofre the drive slept, rather than handing
it over to the Mac OS, which it was supposed to.

For my own use, if I have the Seagate drive running at all, I never want
it to sleep. And for that purpose there are two possilbe solutions (both
of which I found on MacUpdate). There's a free one called IIRC
KeepDriveSpinning that does what it says but is mildly tricky to turn
off, and a paid one that is easier to turn on and off.

--
<http://www.decohen.com>
Send e-mail to the Reply-To address.
Mail to the From address is never read.
From: nospam on 30 Nov 2009 18:59
In article <2009113015110416807-not(a)dotcom>, thepixelfreak
<not(a)dot.com> wrote:

> Clearly you have no insight into how computers use filesystems.
> Clearly, the FINDER is to blame here, and it is CLEARLY spinning up
> EVERY mounted drive for NO REASON.

try sudo fs_usage and see what it's looking for, before claiming
there is no reason. *something* is accessing that drive.
From: E Z Peaces on 30 Nov 2009 19:13
nospam wrote:
> In article <hf18nq$3ku$1(a)news.eternal-september.org>, E Z Peaces
> <cash(a)invalid.invalid> wrote:
>
>> I wish I could keep the disk awake. Spinning takes very little power,
>> and spinning up probably means wear and tear as well as a delay.
>
> it's actually less wear unless it's spinning down and up every few
> minutes.

How did you find out? Manufacturers state reliability in hours of
typical use and numbers of spin-up cycles, but not in hours of spinning.
Don't bearings run on a film of air? Each spin-up means a
temperature change.

Google's study found that heavily used disks lasted as long as lightly
used ones. Heavy use would mean more reading and writing, but light use
could mean more spin-ups.
First  |  Prev  |  Next  |  Last
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5
Prev: What's that clicking noise?
Next: testing