External Seagate drive turns on and off every 4-5 sec while system is in sleep mode

Hello There ! It could be an issue with the actual cord connecting the external hard drive to your Xbox. I would recommend that you try replacing the cord. It may not work, but based on what you are talking about, it sounds like it could possibly be the hard drive. However, if the issue persists , please use the link bellow do a factory reset as it might solve your issue :

How to reset your Xbox console to factory defaults | Xbox Support

There is definitely something weird going on with instant on mode and external hard drives, and not for the first time either. I suspect that it might be some kind of Xbox Live issue though, rather than it being an issue with the system software.

When you turn the console off in instant on mode, the following is supposed to happen: -

1. If you have downloads in progress, the external will stay on until they're finished, then turn off.

2. If you trigger a download remotely, the external will spin up so that the download can take place, then turn off when it's done.

3. Periodically, the console will check for updates to the system software and your games and apps, which will cause the drive to spin up. If no updates are found, the drive turns off again. If updates are found, the drive stays on while the updates are
downloading, then turns off.

For whatever reason, some externals do not work as intended when you have the option checked to turn the external off when you turn the console off. In that instance, you would disable that option and the settings built into the drive itself will handle
when it turns off - usually that will be after a period of inactivity, but in some cases the drive may stay on permanently. With some drives, you can adjust the period of inactivity before the drive turns off or disable it altogether, for example, with some
Seagate drives you can use Seagate Dashboard to adjust that setting.

So, it seems like something is triggering the drive to wake up to download something, but then the console is like "there's nothing to download!", so it sends the sleep command to the drive which then spins down and turns off, but this cycle then repeats
over and over.

Of course you should also try and rule out faults with the drive itself, and with the USB port on the console. Try a different USB port. Try a different USB cable. Try using the drive with a PC. Try downloading Seagate's SeaTools application and running
the diagnostic tests that it offers. That said, I have had the same problem as you twice now, and on both occasions the drive passed all of the tests I did, and it started to function normally again at a later date, which implies that it's a software issue
related to the Xbox, not a drive issue.

If you switch to energy saving mode, your drive should turn off when you turn the console off - or shortly afterwards - but then it will stay off until you turn the console back on. You lose out on the ability to have your downloads continue after the console
is turned off, to trigger downloads remotely, and to have your system/games/apps kept up to date while the console is in standby. However, if you rule out all other issues then this is your only option really, because otherwise your drive is going to be constantly
cycling on and off for hours and that's clearly not good for its lifespan.

Hope this rather lengthy post helps a bit!

are you on instant on?

also i noticed this (and haven't seen anyone mention it) but even if you turn the system completely off it'll still power up your external hard drive. Also if the xbox is hot, the fan will run even in sleep mode.

The Xbox One X and S have the same operating system, so don't worry about that. Is this an external drive or the internal drive? If it's external change the power management settings to not turn off power to storage when the system sleeps. Some external
drives don't cope well with power state changes.

Remote Access: Off

Keep my games and apps up to date: On (I tried also with "Off", but it was the same)

Network Transfer: Off

Sleep mode & startup

Sleep mode: Energy Saver

Turn off after: 1 hour of inactivity

Turn off after: 2 hours of video or music

HDMI-CEC: Off

My console is connected to the internet over 5 Ghz wifi.

I also have external hard drive, but I tried removing it and it didn't change anything.

Xbox is connected to soundbar via HDMI.