[Bleu]

Hi,
I want to thank you guys for all the extremely helpful advice I received in regards to a recent post (“Hard Drive Almost Filled Up”). As always, you folks here definitely come through~!
I have another problem maybe you can help me with concerning a recently purchased desktop Intel Mac:
When left untouched for a few minutes, if I click on any of my external drives, the Mac freezes up for a while. I hear the drives spinning & it seems like they’re trying to “catch up” to the Mac’s speed or it’s as if they were asleep & came back on. This happens even with the extra internal drive I had installed & sometimes even with the BOOT drive.
The specs on the Mac are: 8 core, 2 x 3 Ghz Quad core Intel Xeon, 4 GB 667MHz memory, Bus speed 1.33 Ghz, OS X 10.4.11
Is there a specific setting I need to apply or a configuration that can correct this? I also have an Intel Power book which does NOT give me this problem, nor do any of my G4 Power PC's.
Thanks again for your previous help & hopefully someone can help me with this.

[rab777hp]

What are the specs for your external HDs, and how are they connected?

[zarmanto]

Your harddrive are spinning down after a period of inactivity; this is usually the default configuration, but it can be changed if you desire. (I would speculate that your other machines which do not seem to exhibit this behavior have probably been tweaked to prevent them from spinning down.)

Caveat: Just as a word to the wise: sometimes, there is a good reason for the "default" configuration of a system or component. In this particular case, the reason is that harddrives have a limited life expectancy, and keeping them spinning all the time brings you closer to the end of your harddrive's life just that much faster. This concern could be amplified significantly if you're talking about a system which you leave running 24/7 -- like two of the computers in my own house. So consider the potential impact that an unexpected harddrive failure could have in your situation before implementing this change. (Also, backups of your important data are always a good idea.)

That said... You can change this behavior by simply going to the Energy Saver preferences, and removing the checkbox from beside the following option: "Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible".

[Bleu]

Zarmanto........Let me commend you on giving a most helpful reply to a problem that has plagued me for months.

I tried your suggestion & definitely that's what the problem was.

Y' know, I thought your reply was a simple answer & was wondering why no one else here responded with it after over 100 views. But then that question was answered when I received 3 private e-mails from tech guys here offering to come to my studio & "help" me to solve the problem for $40-50 an hour....Hmmm.



I'm not saying that all or even most of the folks here are like that, in fact, over the years, I have met a few real kool people here, but I am also aware that in these bad economic times, folks get desperate. I'm just glad there are still guys & girls like you here on this & the other sites I am a member of who still look out for the "little guy".



Thanks again man & good luck to you~!