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I have recently connected a 160gb PikaOne external HDD. The manual says I should power it up then connect to a USB port which is what I've been doing. As I only need it for occasional use I don't want to leave it plugged into the mains all the time so am wondering whether I can leave it connected 'unpowered' to the USB port or whether this might cause problems either when I power it up or just because it's connected but not powered. Any thoughts?
I've not encountered any problem doing what you suggest with my external HDD's, the only thing would be Windows 'plug and play' not picking the drive up when you switch it on, but simply unplugging/replugging the USB plug should sort that out.
I've not encountered any problem doing what you suggest with my external HDD's, the only thing would be Windows 'plug and play' not picking the drive up when you switch it on, but simply unplugging/replugging the USB plug should sort that out.
DW
Cheers DW - that was one of the things I'd considered. The HDD is currently connected to a front USB port but I want to use one of the rear connections to reduce cable clutter and don't really want to keep plugging it in/out.
Also a little concerned about possible problems caused by doing this.
You can unplug the USB from the HDD instead, that's what I do as the cable is plugged into rear sockets of the tower. I would say Windows failing to see the drive happens maybe one in twenty times or less, it seems to depend on how long the computer has been on for (typical Windows behavior).
I would seriously consider not powering the drive while connected via usb. As the drive spins up if windows trys to access the drive it can come back as unrecognised and sometimes this can totally corrupt the drive . As DW said disconnect the drive from the usb but leave the cable in if needed then power up drive allow to spin up then connect to usb cable
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