I just bought an external enclosure and put my extar storage hard drive in it (so that I can use it on both my laptop and desktop). The only supplied material was a registration card and a intructions manual (no how to properly use stuff). It connects in one of two ways to a computer (either with an E-sata cable or with a regular usb). It also has it's own power adapter (like most?). Now is there any special method to shutting it down? I know I should probably shut it down in the start bar (only available if connected via usb). Should I just disconnect the cable? Or should I manually shut it off with the power switch on the device's back panel?
Thanks. I have never worked with external hard drives before.
I just flip the power switch on mine. I don't disconnect or anything. As long as it's not in the middle of anything, it shouldn't hurt it one bit.
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Thanks. I didn't think that it would hurt, but I just wanted to be sure. Didn't want to lose me crud.
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Worst case, you'd get currupt data, or maybe just loose whatever you were writing. I doubt you'd loose everything on the drive.
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Ok. What about heat? It is a passive cooled aluminum case. Should I worry about the drive over heating?
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Overheating shouldn't be a problem. Just hitting the power switch is fine too. No worries.
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Never used on with an e-sata cable but with a USB I always remove it using that 'safely remove hardware' within Windows. Better to be safe than sorry in my opinion.
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I don't think I'll be using the E-SATA much; it quit working last night so I switched to usb.
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I have 3 different external HD's and I have never had any problems with loss of data from disconnecting using the above methods. I myself use the disconnecting hardware through windows, but on occasion have had to pull the usb cable or turn the drive off to make the HD disengage.
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