From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system

3TB external HD used only for Time Machine. Connected to M1 Mac Mini
with USB3.

The drive constantly spins up and down. Every time I Spotlight (very frequently) it spins up, then spins down again after 15 seconds or so.
And it often spins up and down for no discerable reason. Seems like 10
or 15 times an hour.

The drive is in Spotlight's Privacy tab.
"Put hard disks to sleep when possible" is unchecked.

If it were spinning all the time that would be fine. If it only spun up
once an hour to make the backup that would be fine too. But the current situation is driving me crazy!

--
K.

Lang may yer lum reek.
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system

On 2021-03-08 22:41:35 +0000, Király said:

3TB external HD used only for Time Machine. Connected to M1 Mac Mini
with USB3.

The drive constantly spins up and down. Every time I Spotlight (very frequently) it spins up, then spins down again after 15 seconds or so.
And it often spins up and down for no discerable reason. Seems like 10
or 15 times an hour.

The drive is in Spotlight's Privacy tab.
"Put hard disks to sleep when possible" is unchecked.

If it were spinning all the time that would be fine. If it only spun up
once an hour to make the backup that would be fine too. But the current situation is driving me crazy!

Could just be a preferences glitch. Try removing it from Spotlight's
Privacy list, close the Preferences and wait a minute or so, and then
re-add it.

But there are various external drive problems with macOS Big Sur and/or
M1 Macs. You may simply be stuck with it until Apple fixes those issues
in future updates. You could unplug the drive, just remember to plug it
back in once or twice during the day, or overnight, to get the backup
made.


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