I have the WD Ae 6TB (WD6001F4PZ) drive inside a USB 3.0 SATA HDD enclosure for use on a 2017 27" iMac Time Machine backup.
Setup and initial backup went smoothly, but it appears that the external drive is going into sleep mode and generating Time Machine errors, such as:
Eject “drive name” before disconnecting or turning it off
Once the drive is asleep, it does not seem to wake up. The Mac’s Disk Utility shows the drive status as “Not Mounted”.
One of the listed solutions is to download the WD drive utilities tool and set the drive to not go to sleep. However, the WD Ae drive is not recognized by the WD drive utilities (WD Ae drive is not on supported drive list) and the WD Ae support page lists no software for the Mac, only Windows.
I can cycle power on the enclosure holding the WD Ae drive each time it goes to sleep, but that may be detrimental to the longevity of this drive and means I must be physically present to start these “automated” backups.
Q: Are there any alternative ways to force the WD Ae drive to not go to sleep?
Q: Are there other WD drive utilities available for the WD Ae on the Mac?
