Strange freezing issue...

[aphex]

I've noticed this happens every once in a while, but it seems to be quite a bit more frequently as of late.

Today it started when I clicked on my External FW HD, and rather than spin up the drive (which it had put to sleep), Finder just beachballed and froze. I did a Force Quit, but finder wouldn't relaunch. Then iTunes froze, along with Spotlight and Login Window (according to Activity viewer). Eventually, I ended up at a blue screen with the spinning black logo and had to hold down power to get out.

Something funky is going on.

Any ideas where to begin? Repair Permissions came back normal, as did Repair Disk.

 

[aphex]

Ok, i think im narrowing it down... Its definitely something to do with the external drives/finder/and time machine. It seems to happen right after time machine starts 'Preparing Backup', then doesn't spin the drive up.