[BlueApple]

I have an external seagate harddrive attached to AirPort Extreme (5th), it sleeps and stops to spin when idle.

In Energy Saver I already have set not to put drive to sleep, but it seems to affect internal drive only.

In AirPort Utility app, there is not such option not to let the drive sleep. Or maybe I'm missing something?

Any idea?

[Sketch]

Usually system preference thing should work, but sometimes, manufacturers do not respect those wishes.

So you could use something like Keep Drive Spinning and get rid of your problem. But I would wait for more suggestions.

Note: It might be there to prevent over heating and causing damage to the drive, so before you disable that option, check with the manufacturer instructions. Better to be safe than sorry. Also could you please let us know if it is usb powered or with an external power source?

[PB PM]

As noted hard drives have firmware settings, and most consumer drives will spin down after 5-10 minutes by default. System preferences will not have control over the spin down time of drives attached to a AirPort Extreme, Airport Base Station or Time Capsual (in my experience).

There are ways to change the drives default spin down time, but you would need access to a windows machine to run the manufactures firmware adjusting software.

[BlueApple]

I downloaded the mac version of Seagate dashboard drive setting software, but to my surprise, the mac version only have drive testing function, the option to choose not to let drive spin down is an option only available to windows version!

Also, since this drive is attached to AirPort Extreme, so the java applet that keeps drive spinning will not work.

So I guess I'm out of luck? What other brand of external harddrive do you recommend as I may get a larger one in the near future.