I just sold a MacBook Air together with a LG 31,5" UHD 4K Ergo monitor to a client. That monitor has a built-in USB hub, and the customer has connected an external USB hard drive to it.
Every time the display goes to sleep it disconnects the drive (consequently macOS tells the user the drive has been ejected the wrong way).
I have asked her to fiddle with the settings on the display, turn off all sleep settings, but she hasn’t find the right settings it seems. Looking at the internet, many LG monitors have a deep sleep function, but she can’t find it.
Has anyone here experienced this problem with the 32UN880? Is there a setting that will keep the USB hub powered while the display is asleep, or does this monitor simply shut down the USB ports when it enters standby?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
According to my own research LG have made a new version of this monitor where Deep Sleep is removed.
WTF!? 
LG = Trash. Never buying their crappy malware-inducing monitors again.
They had a chance to redeem themselves and their response was possibly even worse than the original sinister deception. Boycotting their TVs & Monitors forever.
It’s not always black or white. I am a happy LG user for years.
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I won’t be of any help, but I actually have been using the LG 32un880 for years. The display is being connected to three devices: my Mac Mini (primary device), a PC (only used sometimes, most of the time via RDP from my Mac Mini) and an old Apple TV (only used rarely). I am very pleased with the display; it does not take much space, and I love the options of the integrated stand.
I have to say that I did not have a good experience using USB-C to connect it to the Mac. And this is just for using it as a display. I have connected the Mac Mini via HDMI to the display: I never had any issues since then.
My experience over all the years is that a display just is a display… What is it I am trying to say here? I have not experienced a 100% reliable and fast USB connection on any display, no matter if those displays come from DELL, LG, Samsung, or HP (I have no other experiences). Eventually, I stopped trying.
There is a reason why Apple is selling the Studio Display. It is not cheap, I get that. But it may be the best option in the long run for a Mac Laptop without a docking station in combination with external drives and other peripherals.
Using a display as a docking station does come with issues eventually (my experience). And this is where the other option comes into place: use a docking station.
Yes, it is one more thing to buy, but it is worth it.
I do not need one because my Mac Mini has enough ports for my needs.
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A possible work around might be to connect a USB hub that is externally powered to the USB port on the monitor. Connect USB stuff through the externally-powered hub rather directly to the USB port on the monitor. But … if you plan to connect a USB hub that has external power, you may as well plan to connect it directly to the computer rather than to the monitor.
Otherwise, the caution is to plan that USB ports on monitors shut down when the monitor goes to sleep, just as computer USB ports can shut down when a computer goes to sleep.
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JJW
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Thanks for the input guys!
I got an answer from LG that they not support permanent power via the hub any longer. 
Should have bought a Dell.
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This is my experience with USB hubs attached to monitors with an LG and my current Samsung… as they go to sleep, the drive disconnects. I understand it’s a power-saving feature but it’s really inconvenient. Don’t put your Photos Library in an external drive that is connected to a monitor, the library will be damaged even if Photos is not running (macOS has a million other daemons messing around your photo library and the force eject leaves the library in an inconsistent state and you have to redownload from iCloud).
Did you even see the video? It’s THAT bad and definitely pitch black. Lol