01-10-2011, 12:38 PM

I just got a new iMac 27", i7, SSD, 2TB, 16GB RAM.

My second 2 TB drive keeps spinning up even though I am not using it. Is there any way to make a shortcut or something to force it to sleep?

01-10-2011, 12:52 PM

Your iMac will constantly check hardware to make sure everything is running as normal, this is just how it works. I take it you are referring to an internal drive? If so I'm pretty sure there is nothing you can do about it, if it is external then simply unplug it while it is not in use.

- Simon

01-10-2011, 01:32 PM

Its the internal 2TB SATA yes.

01-10-2011, 02:42 PM

It's meant to be like that. I have the exactly same system as you other than my HD2 is 1TB instead of 2TB.

All is quiet when you put the system to sleep.

Ian

01-10-2011, 03:12 PM

yes but I want it to be quiet when I am using it and the harddrive is THE noisiest component.

01-10-2011, 05:23 PM

The reason it's spinning is the speed of the machine. If it stops, whenever the system needs data on that drive, it'll have to wait for it to spin up which is too slow.

01-10-2011, 07:15 PM

If you are that annoyed with the noise from it then you might want to look at replacing that with another SSD.

- Simon

01-11-2011, 01:45 AM

Originally Posted by techo91

The reason it's spinning is the speed of the machine.

uhm... what do you mean? I have no data on that drive that it needs unless I access it. But I guess I will just have to accept this. This is my first Mac since using Windows since v3 and I realized I would have to accept that "it just works" and not be able to customize as much as in windows....

01-11-2011, 01:47 AM

Originally Posted by Buzzard2010

If you are that annoyed with the noise from it then you might want to look at replacing that with another SSD.

- Simon

OMG why didnt I think of that! Oh wait... how much is a 2TB SSD again?...

01-11-2011, 06:49 AM

Originally Posted by Toranaga

OMG why didnt I think of that! Oh wait... how much is a 2TB SSD again?...

Depends JUST how annoyed you are with it lol

- Simon

01-11-2011, 08:54 AM

I have a question related to this.

I don't want my 2TB disk to be idle constantly, but I don't want my imac to wait until it's fully spinned at startup, before he's starting to boot my OS from the SSD.

I understand he wants to be sure there's nothing of interest on it, but in my case there's just nothing on it he needs to have before or during boot.

Can this be done?

grt
Arne

01-11-2011, 10:53 AM

Have you selected the SSD as the boot disk under system preferences?

01-11-2011, 10:56 AM

Originally Posted by Toranaga

Have you selected the SSD as the boot disk under system preferences?

He must have, if he hasn't then the imac wouldn't even be able to boot because the OS won't be on the second drive.

- Simon

01-11-2011, 11:24 AM

Originally Posted by Buzzard2010

He must have, if he hasn't then the imac wouldn't even be able to boot because the OS won't be on the second drive.

- Simon

indeed, the OS is on the SSD, the 2TB is just mounted under /Volumes/.....

01-11-2011, 11:25 AM

Originally Posted by Buzzard2010

He must have, if he hasn't then the imac wouldn't even be able to boot because the OS won't be on the second drive.

- Simon

The way the new iMacs with two drives are delivered they take a long time to boot before the apple logo even apears. If you select the SSD as default boot disk it WILL boot much faster. Mine boots from cold in 24 seconds. From the time the apple logo apears and it actually starts loading its 10 seconds until desktop.