timO' said:
I use an external USB HDD whenever I'm on my PC.
I always assumed that it was best to "safely remove hardware" and turn
it off with the on/off switch prior to turning off computer; then next
time I start up, wait for Windows to load and turn it back on, at
which point the wizard starts and the drive opens.
But I've forgotten to turn it off lots of times, and turned it on
before Windows was finished loading, and that works too.
It seems that when I left it on overnight, the blue light in the drive
was off until i started the PC which might mean that the drive is not
running unecessarily when the PC is off.
Any recommendations or resources on this topic I can check out?
TIA
Well, if you don't have the docs that came with it, try visiting the
manufacturer's website and see what they have. Usually they'll have docs
for their drives.
That said, it really doesn't matter whether it's on or off when you
start/stop the computer with ONE exception:
If you turn the drive off while the computer is still on, THEN you should
use the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon. That's so any data not written to
the drive yet will be written to it before it shuts down; sort of a security
measure. Even when the PC says the file is saved, or whatever else you
might be doing, it might actually still be holding the data in a buffer,
just waiting for an idle moment so it can finish sending everything to the
drive. The Safely Remove Hardware makes the calls to make that happen and
prevents you losing any data.
That said, it's less trouble to just turn off the drive AFTER you turn off
the computer; that's also SOP in most cases.
Likewise, turning the ext drive ON before you start the computer is SOP
too. That way the drive is up and running when the computer finishes
booting up. Otherwise you have to wait the extra few seconds for the PC to
realize the drive's been turned on, it has to initialize that USB port,
etc., and to go ahead and load it up for use.
But, either way works with the possible exception of the write-behind
buffers I mentioned; the hardware removal icon is the best bet there if the
computer is still on, to be certain no data is ever lost. But it's more
convenient to shut the computer off first and then the drive anyway, IMO.
Personally, I "beat the system" by buying an external USB drive that detects
whether the PC is on or off, and turns itself on and off accordingly.
Damage-wise, there really isn't really anything you can do with/for/to an
external USB drive that could damage anything. They're pretty good that
way.
In case it comes up, there is a very long and sometimes frantic debate that
can go on about whether it's best to leave drives on all the time or to shut
them off now and then. Neither camp seems to have an edge over the other so
it's really a matter of "who cares?" <grin>. Both sides have the stats to
prove their own viewpoint.
HTH
Pop`
