Yeh, I'm chatting to another fellow about this - the workaround above worked fine when he was running locally, but when he moved files onto an external, he started experiencing problems again.
Just theorycrafting here, but if the mac is serving files from an external drive, perhaps OSX thinks that the hardware is not actually doing anything, so shuts down. I'm not sure - more investigation needed.
As a further note, if you *do* click the 'restore defaults' and you have an SSD, you will have to re-do the powersaving and RAM disk settings etc. to maintain your SSD's life/performance.
I am keen to have the problem fixed as I have a 2011 iMac and Plex server also stops working after 40 minutes or so (which means I need to wake the computer up or use caffeine).
I have not got to the bottom of this yet. Did you try adjusting the power management settings? What device are you using as the client? I am using Roku at present but I have an RPi that I shall test with Plexbmc.
I have tried to adjust the power management settings, but my iMac still goes to sleep.
The only solution which has worked for me is to set my iMac to never sleep (which I don’t want to do) or start The Caffeine application when I know I am going to use Plex.
The client I am using are Apple TV 2’s, iPad and IPhones as well as a Samsung Smart Tv.
So I am looking at this solution - iMac with external Drobo array for file storage and the iMac running Plex Media Server. My clients will be varied, including iOS, Android, AppleTV, and Roku. Obviously, for power consumption purposes, I would like the iMac to sleep when not in use, but I also want a seamless experience when starting a Plex client. Following this thread, I am not sure that this is possible at this time. Any feedback on this would be appreciated.
I meant to return here a while ago, as the issue is fixed for me too. Not yet on Yosemite, but all ok now on Mavericks. Must have been an update that fixed it. I no longer have to leave hard drive awake, it can be woken by sleep. No airport necessary. Make sure “wake from network” is enabled.
Aside: have discovered a very useful iOS app called pocketcloud, which allows remote control of iMac, including waking from sleep. Recently used it from Greece to add items to my Plex Q for holiday viewing! Recommended, esp now that logmein is so costly, and teamviewer so flawed.
So, I had been tracking this topic - getting ready to make a decision on best course forward. Then upgraded to Yosemite last night and voila - fixed.
Interesting. WIth my external HDD, Yosemite (and Mavericks before it) had the exact opposite effect. It worked perfectly before those two, but it still spins down my drive even with keep hdds awake. I have to keep my iMac awake permantely now and just let the screen turn off. There's no updated version of keep drive spinning... I wish there was some more configuration options for sleep in Yosemite. It seems you only get dark sleep and regular awake. Dark mode not stopping external hdds from spinning down. I was using Teamviewer to wake the iMac up, but it's a janky solution to have to do anything before you just play a file from library. I'm very frustrated with this and thinking about putting my PMS back on my Windows 8.1 PC.
Hi All. It’s been a while and I have the same issue although it’s long past the upgrade to Mavericks…
Running High Sierra and Plex 1.14.1.5488
All my media is running of the iMac from an external USB Hdd.
When the mac goes to sleep the server stops responding and I have to go to the mac and wake it up.
Has there been any development on this?
sa2000 the link you posted to the other topic doesn’t seem to work…
