USB powered on even in sleep mode?

Joined
Apr 26, 2008
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Worthington, Ohio
I find it odd that my new MBP maintains power on to my external USB HDs even when the MBP is in sleep/standby. When I close the lid of my machine I want it to completely power down, not leave my external drives spinning.

I there a setting for this or is this just the way it is?

TIA,

Azureal
 
Joined
Mar 3, 2008
Messages
945
Reaction score
16
Points
18
Location
Annapolis, MD
Your Mac's Specs
Macbook, 2.2 GHz, 4GB RAM
Azureal,

To quiet your externals for the night, go to Disk Utility and select the drive you want to shut down and select "Eject." on the top menu. That will stop the external drive from running. If you have 2 externals, select them one at a time and then eject each in turn.

But you'll have to re-plug them into the USB in the morning to re-energize them. When you eject, they shut down as if the USB connection was broken...

You could also just turn your computer off for the night. That will shut everything down...

Noel
 
Joined
Jan 12, 2008
Messages
1,760
Reaction score
23
Points
38
Location
Leicester, England
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook, iPod Classic, 8GB 3G iPhone, Time Capsule
My MacBook ones do turn off when it sleeps... weird.
 
OP
A
Joined
Apr 26, 2008
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Worthington, Ohio
Thanks Noels, I typically leave the machine on all of the time and just close the lid to put it to sleep. I have a couple of external drives I use for storage and the backup app.

I am really surprised that power is not shut off to either USB port. I think you may be on to something by suggesting umounting the drive, this is not the most convienient method, but it does work.

It is interesting that skaheadpunk's MB powers down its ports in sleep mode, maybe I am missing some OS X setting.

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions.

Azureal
 
Joined
Jul 31, 2008
Messages
24
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Earth - Willing to relocate
Your Mac's Specs
MBP 2.5/15"/4gb/250sata
I noticed my ipod stays powered on while my mbp is in sleep mode. I'm currently zeroing out an external hdd and I hope it will not turn it off when my mbp goes to sleep overnight.
 
Joined
Mar 4, 2008
Messages
1,115
Reaction score
43
Points
48
Your Mac's Specs
Unibody MacBook Pro 2.26, 4gb RAM, 500gb HD
I've noticed that I can charge my cell phone off the USB port while my MB is asleep at night. When I travel, I always have my MB, so I leave my phone wall charger at home. One less thing to pack.
 
Joined
May 14, 2009
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Gotta stay awake

The USB ports on towers and iMacs have to stay awake. If they were shut down, your keyboard and mouse would go with them, and then you'd be clicking and pressing keys yelling "WAKE UP!" and nothing would happen.
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top