I have recently found that the disks in the array are not staying spun down. When I force a spin down, or when they automatically spin down after 15 minutes, they will soon after spin up again.

I have tried to see what files are causing it, but there isn't any activity that is correlated in the file activity monitor plugin. I have changed all docker paths to cache/appdata. The behaviour has been good until recently. I tried downgrading to 7.3 from 7.3.1, but saw no difference, so I updated back to 7.3.1.

When I look at 'Main' page, I do not see any reading/writing that should be causing a spin up. They are also running warm. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Diagnostic files attached.

Edit to add - I have tried stopping all dockers, but they continue to wake themselves.

tower-diagnostics-20260605-2034.zip

Edited June 6Jun 6 by flymcb

Do they spin down in maintenance mode?

I have the same issue since updating to 7.3.1 (from 7.2.5). I haven't had time to debug yet but wanted to add that this doesn't seem to be a unique issue.

edit: I have downgraded to 7.2.5 and I don't have this issue any more.

panama-diagnostics-20260606-0919.zip

Edited June 6Jun 6 by pkarolyi

6 hours ago, JorgeB said:

Do they spin down in maintenance mode?

I just tried and yes, they spin down (and remain down) in maintenance mode.

6 hours ago, pkarolyi said:

I have the same issue since updating to 7.3.1 (from 7.2.5). I haven't had time to debug yet but wanted to add that this doesn't seem to be a unique issue.

edit: I have downgraded to 7.2.5 and I don't have this issue any more.

panama-diagnostics-20260606-0919.zip

Thanks for the info. I may have underestimated when the issue started, so I only downgraded to 7.3. I'm hoping to help find the bug in my case, but may need to try the same

2 hours ago, flymcb said:

I just tried and yes, they spin down (and remain down) in maintenance mode.

Then it’s a plugin or docker container reading your disks most likely

Edited June 6Jun 6 by MowMdown

4 hours ago, MowMdown said:

Then it’s a plugin or docker container reading your disks most likely

Besides shutting off one by one, do you have any recommendations of where to look in the diagnostics or terminal to figure out which one is the problem? I tried htop but couldn't see anything that stood out

You can install a handful at a time, say do 5 plugins, and wait, if anything happens start removing them 1 by one, if nothing happens install another 5 and repeat.

Did anyone get to the bottom of this? I just upgraded to 7.3.1 and have the exact same problem. I have a 2 disk XFS array and one drive doesn't ever spin down anymore. Have never had these issues any any version prior.

As MowMdown suggested, it was most likely a docker or plugin. Since the issue was persisting with docker offline, it had to be a plugin. I removed the majority of my plugins and the issue has stopped. I tried doing a couple at a time, but ran out of time. Here is the list of dockers that were removed from my server:

appdata.backup.plg - 2026.03.13 (Up to date)

ca.update.applications.plg - 2026.04.14 (Up to date)

disklocation-master.plg - 2026.06.02 (Up to date)

dlandon.cache.dirs.plg - 2025.03.06 (Up to date)

docker.versions.plg - 2026.03.06 (Up to date)

dwmemtester.plg - 2025.08.21 (Up to date)

dynamix.file.integrity.plg - 2025.11.14 (Up to date)

dynamix.system.temp.plg - 2025.11.14 (Up to date)

file.activity.plg - 2026.05.03.0212 (Up to date)

folder.view.plg - 2025.01.11.1 (Unknown to Community Applications)

gpustat.plg - 2026.05.19 (Up to date)

open.files.plg - 2025.10.04a (Unknown to Community Applications)

parity.check.tuning.plg - 2026.04.24 (Up to date)

unRAID6-Sanoid.plg - 2.3.0 (Up to date)

zfs.master.plg - 2024.12.09.104 (Up to date)

Spin down behaviour is now back to normal. From some of my searching online, I think the problem may have been ZFS Master, but I haven't had the time to continue adding back these plugins and see if the problem comes back. Do you have any of these in common?

7 hours ago, Reti said:

get to the bottom of this?

Attach Diagnostics ZIP to your NEXT post in this thread.

3 hours ago, flymcb said:

As MowMdown suggested, it was most likely a docker or plugin. Since the issue was persisting with docker offline, it had to be a plugin. I removed the majority of my plugins and the issue has stopped. I tried doing a couple at a time, but ran out of time. Here is the list of dockers that were removed from my server:

dlandon.cache.dirs.plg - 2025.03.06 (Up to date)

dynamix.file.integrity.plg - 2025.11.14 (Up to date)

zfs.master.plg - 2024.12.09.104 (Up to date)

Spin down behaviour is now back to normal. From some of my searching online, I think the problem may have been ZFS Master, but I haven't had the time to continue adding back these plugins and see if the problem comes back. Do you have any of these in common?

My guess is it was one of these.

Not sure really what cache dirs does to keep disks awake but if it's doing reads over and over...

file integrity will keep disks awake during it's scanning and hashing of files

ZFS master will keep zfs disks spun up if you have the refresh setting enabled for snapshots and datasets

I noticed the same issue on my machine. And it clearly worked for monthsStopped all containers except 2 crucial ones, stopped all VM's. No stream activity, no disk or share activity on the array is shown in the respective Dynamix plugins. Noticed a lot of {"level":"warn","error":"open_by_handle_at failed: stale NFS file handle","time":1782372033,"message":"Failed to resolve directory path from file handle"} errors, so deactivated NFS share completely. Removed 13 plugins and kept only the very important and common ones:
Appdata Backup, Community Apps, Intel GPU-Top, Intel GVT-G, Unassigned devices, Unassigned Devices +, Unraid Connect and User script.

Never had ZFS

But all for nothing, drives won´t stay spun down, sometimes won´t even spin down if I force them to

tower-diagnostics-20260625-0901.zip

4 hours ago, FireMcFly said:

I noticed the same issue on my machine. And it clearly worked for monthsStopped all containers except 2 crucial ones, stopped all VM's. No stream activity, no disk or share activity on the array is shown in the respective Dynamix plugins. Noticed a lot of {"level":"warn","error":"open_by_handle_at failed: stale NFS file handle","time":1782372033,"message":"Failed to resolve directory path from file handle"} errors, so deactivated NFS share completely. Removed 13 plugins and kept only the very important and common ones:
Appdata Backup, Community Apps, Intel GPU-Top, Intel GVT-G, Unassigned devices, Unassigned Devices +, Unraid Connect and User script.

Never had ZFS

But all for nothing, drives won´t stay spun down, sometimes won´t even spin down if I force them to

tower-diagnostics-20260625-0901.zip

It either is one of those two containers (or both) or it's something else reading from the drives like SMB network shares or a terminal or a script.

Something is reading the disks, you will have to figure out what it is.

You also have a lot of shares that are set to use a pool only and files/folders exist on the array disks. For example your "system" share.

Edited June 25Jun 25 by MowMdown

Your docker/VM related shares - appdata, domains, system - are on the array. These files are always open so it's no wonder your drives can't spin down.

Those shares are configured to put new files on cache but existing files will not be moved since there is no Mover action since there is no Secondary.

Also, nothing can move open files, so you have to disable Docker and VM Manager in Settings before these can be moved.

That are all valid points and I'm now on cleaning things up

So, found the culprit. ProTip: Always check twice if you click on "Save" somewhere. otherwise you might have a cronjob stuck on 5 min repeat instead of once a day...