[Tig] removable storage disks

[Ted Langdell]

On Jul 21, 2007, at 8:07 PM, DCSOS wrote:

> Don't know for sure what caused the G-TECH to fail,
> but the power preference panel revealed a incorrectly set
> preference---Anyway the tech said that you must check that the APPLE
> COMPUTER
> SYSTEM PREFRENCE to 'put the hard drives to sleep whenever possible'
> is NEVER checked!
> So any hope of a "GREEN PC" was dashed and now our macintoshes are on
> 24/7 like all those PC's that refuse to STANDBY, HIBERNATE or play
> nice with external drives..
> Dany,
> Editors' Hideaway, NY


Dany,

I'm curious as to why the tech told you that... (what bad stuff  
happens if you check the button) and whether it applies to just the G- 
Tech stuff.

Putting the <drives> to sleep is different that putting the computer  
or display to sleep.

I'm running OS 10.4.10.  Just checked the Energy Saver preferences  
(where the "put hard drives to sleep..." radio button is located.)

Mine is not checked... BUT, my internal SATA drives and external  
Firewire drives usually spin down after a period of inactivity... and  
spin back up when something requiring a "Save As" dialog box pops  
during the "where to save it" process, or if I choose "Open" and get  
a dialog box as a result.

With the sliders in the energy saver panel, you can set the computer  
to go to sleep when it's been inactive for a range of a minute to  
three hours or never... and the same for putting displays to sleep.

You can schedule start ups and shut downs.

With a new UPS that has USB connectivity, the Mac OS can report on  
the battery level and control when the computer shuts down if the UPS  
is providing power during an outage.

I'd opine that you can set up your Mac to be as green as you want,  
within certain practical limits relating to some basic power  
consumption while asleep.

My 3GHz MacPro Quad  (four processors, not four heads <g>) takes naps  
when not in use and wakes up when I tap a key and the power  
consumption monitor on my UPS notes the difference between the two  
states.

Ted


Ted Langdell
Ted Langdell Creative Broadcast Services
Marysville, CA
Main:   (530) 741-1212