EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE QUESTIONS!

[Guest]

-- On any External Hard Drives is there a way that you can go into
Properties and select a time for it to turn off on it's on or just turn it
off from there so you won't have to go and unplug it everytime from the wall
or from the computer that you don't want to use it so you can save wear and
tear on it since it will be spinning the whole time that it's on thus
shortening the life of it? I've been told that you could though. Can you?

When you save to one do you have to unhide your own folders you created
yourself before tranferring to the External Hard Drive (ie) Right click on
the folder, go to Properties and uncheck the Hidden box and click Apply and
OK? I've heard you have to do that but don't quite know if it's true or not.
Is it? Do you have too?

If you want to save the System Files and Folders that are hidden as well do
you have to do the same thing with them as well also?

On my laptop I did a system recovery and used the recovery disk and I had
the option thankfuly to back up with recovery that created a Folder called My
Backup and stored everything there so I would not lose anything that I saved
such as saved games, pictures, documents that I typed up and created myself,
etc. My question here is do you have to unhide the Folders that the programs
themselves created (ie) the games that I played that created a saves folder
for the saved games that if you went into it by a hidden folder just to get
to it you would see the saved game icons that you would not be able to see
even if you double clicked on them to do that. This is how you would get to
them so you will have an idea of maybe what I'm talking about here. Start, My
Computer, Local Disk (C, Documents and Settings, All Users, Application
Data (Hidden Folder), The name of the game Folder, Saves Folder. Do you have
to unhide these Folders as well before saving to the External Hard Drive?

Do you happen to know if any brand or model has an on and off switch as I
was told that they do.

Is it best to turn off the computer before unpugging the USB from the
computer? I know that you can by going to the icon near the clock where you
can click the Safely Remove Hardware, but I've also heard that it may not be
a good idea even at that since you run a risk with static charge coming from
the computer itself and may lose things on the External Hard Drive youv'e
already saved on it. Is it?

Do you think that you would be more at risk this way by not doing that?

Is this true of other sources you can write and save things to as well such
as a thumb drive, zip drive, and flash drive?

I've heard that when you are saving and writing to whatever it may be
whether it be a CDR, CDRW, thumb drive, zip drive, flash drive, and even the
External Hard Drive that it's always a good idea to disable your anti-virus,
anti-spyware, and anything running near the clock and thru Start, Run,
msconfig and disable everything there in Startup since writing to any sorce
is very sensitive. Is this true for all of these including the External Hard
Dirve?

Is it best to have the computer off before you plug the External Hard Drive
back into the USB to turn on your computer to use again to save things to?

Do you think that you would be more at risk this way by not doing that?

Please answer all of my questions here. Thank you and have a great day!!!
Kenny Lee

 

[HEMI-Powered]

=?Utf-8?B?S2VubnkgTGVl?= added these comments in the current
discussion du jour ...

-- On any External Hard Drives is there a way that you can go
into Properties and select a time for it to turn off on it's
on or just turn it off from there so you won't have to go and
unplug it everytime from the wall or from the computer that
you don't want to use it so you can save wear and tear on it
since it will be spinning the whole time that it's on thus
shortening the life of it? I've been told that you could
though. Can you?

Modern HDs, including externals, are very reliable with ultra-
long MTBF, so I wouldn't be that concerned about killing your
external if you bought a reliable brand (note: not necessarily a
name brand or an expensive one but also not one made in China!).

Personally, I let mine run 24x7, but if it is running hot after a
lot of activity from me, I will let Windows complete its write-
backs and verify through the Safely Remove HW utility that I can
shut it down, and I do. Also, if I know I will not be using it
for sometime, I will shut it down.

When you save to one do you have to unhide your own folders
you created yourself before tranferring to the External Hard
Drive (ie) Right click on the folder, go to Properties and
uncheck the Hidden box and click Apply and OK? I've heard you
have to do that but don't quite know if it's true or not. Is
it? Do you have too?

Not sure what you mean. If you have security access to folders,
which I assume you do if it is your own external, then it
shouldn't matter if the folders are hidden or not, so long as YOU
can see them. Are you doing this for some special reason, e.g.,
security from others in your house or office?

If you want to save the System Files and Folders that are
hidden as well do you have to do the same thing with them as
well also?

First, it is quite easy to turn on the hidden and system file
attribute in Explorer or My Computer, and I would encourage you
to do that, if for no other reason than you can monitor what is
going on. I would also turn on file extensions, again so that YOU
know what is on there. Besides convenience, this is also a safety
measure to try and guard against a possible malware infection or
apps that are installing things without your knowledge, updating,
creating their own files, etc. I like to know what is happening
on my system so /I/ control everything. One BIG example is I have
Windows, my malware protection, firewall, etc. ALL set to "notify
but do not download" updates. I do NOT want to go to bed with a
running system and wake up to mashed potatoes!

On my laptop I did a system recovery and used the recovery
disk and I had the option thankfuly to back up with recovery
that created a Folder called My Backup and stored everything
there so I would not lose anything that I saved such as saved
games, pictures, documents that I typed up and created myself,
etc. My question here is do you have to unhide the Folders
that the programs themselves created (ie) the games that I
played that created a saves folder for the saved games that if
you went into it by a hidden folder just to get to it you
would see the saved game icons that you would not be able to
see even if you double clicked on them to do that. This is how
you would get to them so you will have an idea of maybe what
I'm talking about here. Start, My Computer, Local Disk (C,
Documents and Settings, All Users, Application Data (Hidden
Folder), The name of the game Folder, Saves Folder. Do you
have to unhide these Folders as well before saving to the
External Hard Drive?

If you haven't already, I would highly encourage you to get a
good imager such as Acronis True Image and use it to periodically
backup your entire C:\ partition in case some disaster strikes. I
copy the image files, which are rather large, to my normal
external and also to one of two externals that I swap in and out
of my bank safety deposit box so I have a backup of both the
system stuff and my own data in the event of trouble, which might
include a fire or natural disaster destroying my system and all
my backup opticals.

Do you happen to know if any brand or model has an on and off
switch as I was told that they do.

All but the cheapest I have looked at have an on-off switch. Just
check the box and ask the sales droid to let you look at the box
before you buy. Also, be SURE to buy ONLY from a store that will
give you a return policy if for ANY reason you don't like it or
have trouble. e.g., I bought one that I could not format and
partition even with its own utilities. It went back to the store.

Is it best to turn off the computer before unpugging the USB
from the computer? I know that you can by going to the icon
near the clock where you can click the Safely Remove Hardware,
but I've also heard that it may not be a good idea even at
that since you run a risk with static charge coming from the
computer itself and may lose things on the External Hard Drive
youv'e already saved on it. Is it?

No, you needn't worry about hot plugging and unplugging USB, just
be CERTAIN that what you're unplugging is indeed not active, such
as an external that is being back-written to by Windows that had
cached previous writes because you and the drive were busy at the
time you did the save.

Do you think that you would be more at risk this way by not
doing that?

The Safely Remove HW utilit IS safe.

Is this true of other sources you can write and save things to
as well such as a thumb drive, zip drive, and flash drive?

Can't say about those, don't have any, but I see no reason for a
difference. As to electrical sparks, yes, that is always an issue
but if your PC and the external are plugged into properly
grounded recepticles on either a GOOD surge protector or better,
a UPS, then the risk is greatly reduced.

I've heard that when you are saving and writing to whatever it
may be whether it be a CDR, CDRW, thumb drive, zip drive,
flash drive, and even the External Hard Drive that it's always
a good idea to disable your anti-virus, anti-spyware, and
anything running near the clock and thru Start, Run, msconfig
and disable everything there in Startup since writing to any
sorce is very sensitive. Is this true for all of these
including the External Hard Dirve?

Why on Earth would you EVER disable your malware protecion unless
absolutely crucial to accomplish some task! Don't believe all the
urban legends you hear; Murphy visits when you least expect him
and one of the things you may be writing IS malware and you'd
never know it.

Is it best to have the computer off before you plug the
External Hard Drive back into the USB to turn on your computer
to use again to save things to?

I have plugged and unplugged all my externals hot with nary a
problem. Just be sure they are idle via Safely Remove HW. There
ARE times when you should power down, e.g., you're having trouble
with some USB device or an older parallel or serial port and you
want Windows to completely refresh memory with the correct
drivers. It doesn't always do that on a simple restart.

Do you think that you would be more at risk this way by not
doing that?

I see no risks in unpluggin/plugging USB either way. Now, I fully
expect to get royally flamed for my views herein as being some
kinda buffoon who is too stupid to live, but I speak from LONG
experience, the practical kind, not the theoretical kind and I
would NEVER recommend solutions to people that I didn't have full
faith in doing myself.

Please answer all of my questions here. Thank you and have a
great day!!! Kenny Lee

Hope I've been of help and you have a great day also!

 

[M.I.5¾]

=?Utf-8?B?S2VubnkgTGVl?= added these comments in the current
discussion du jour ...


Modern HDs, including externals, are very reliable with ultra-
long MTBF, so I wouldn't be that concerned about killing your
external if you bought a reliable brand (note: not necessarily a
name brand or an expensive one but also not one made in China!).

There is a school of thought that maintains that hard drives are more
reliable if left running 24/7 rather than being spun up and down. In fact,
we have several hard drives here that have been spinning for many years
without problem.

The only issue that does affect them is that the spindle lubricating oil
seems to undergo some strange change after a lot of years such that if the
drive does stop, the molecules somehow link up and the oil turns to some
sort of plasticised material. When this happens the drive won't restart.
It is only necessary to give the drive a sharp tap with a mallet the moment
you apply power and the plasticised oil breaks and normallity returns.
Doing this with SCSI drives is a bit hit and miss as you don't quite know
when the drive is actually going to start.

 

[M.I.5¾]

[Snipped]

I have plugged and unplugged all my externals hot with nary a
problem. Just be sure they are idle via Safely Remove HW. There
ARE times when you should power down, e.g., you're having trouble
with some USB device or an older parallel or serial port and you
want Windows to completely refresh memory with the correct
drivers. It doesn't always do that on a simple restart.


I see no risks in unpluggin/plugging USB either way. Now, I fully
expect to get royally flamed for my views herein as being some
kinda buffoon who is too stupid to live, but I speak from LONG
experience, the practical kind, not the theoretical kind and I
would NEVER recommend solutions to people that I didn't have full
faith in doing myself.

USB (and Firewire) are specifically designed to be hot plugged and
unplugged. If you look at the connectors you will see that the contacts are
designed to mate and unmate in a specific sequence.

For completeness: Parallel printer ports should never be hot plugged and
unplugged (though I know many printer installation routines require exactly
this). RS232 ports are allegedly designed to be hot plugged and unplugged,
but I have known problems to occur if the data or handshaking lines are
inadvertently shorted or grounded while making the connection.

IEEE and SCSI ports must never be hot plugged and unplugged. The serial
IEEE like port found on Commodore 64 computers and their relations is
guaranteed to be destroyed if it is hot plugged.

 

[HEMI-Powered]

M.I.5¾ added these comments in the current discussion du jour
....

There is a school of thought that maintains that hard drives
are more reliable if left running 24/7 rather than being spun
up and down. In fact, we have several hard drives here that
have been spinning for many years without problem.

I agree with the "school of thought" and would also extend it to
the PC itself, but not the monitor. I turn off my Samsung 21" LCD
when not in use because there's only so many hours in the pixels.
Still, there is a stress even to a monitor if it is turned off and
back on frequently. The other reason I turn mine off is to reduce
the A/C load in my office.

The only issue that does affect them is that the spindle
lubricating oil seems to undergo some strange change after a
lot of years such that if the drive does stop, the molecules
somehow link up and the oil turns to some sort of plasticised
material. When this happens the drive won't restart. It is
only necessary to give the drive a sharp tap with a mallet the
moment you apply power and the plasticised oil breaks and
normallity returns. Doing this with SCSI drives is a bit hit
and miss as you don't quite know when the drive is actually
going to start.

Never heard that, thanks for the tip!

 

[Lil' Dave]

-- On any External Hard Drives is there a way that you can go into
Properties and select a time for it to turn off on it's on or just turn it
off from there so you won't have to go and unplug it everytime from the
wall
or from the computer that you don't want to use it so you can save wear
and
tear on it since it will be spinning the whole time that it's on thus
shortening the life of it? I've been told that you could though. Can you?

What I perceive is you're implying the hard drive is powered by the bus its
connected to, rather than its onboard power supply connected to the wall
outlet in some fashion. That's the only way the PC can disconnect and turn
off an external hard drive. The information and question are not in sync.

I use an under monitor device for providing power to external equipment
connected to my PC. There's a switch for each device. The external hard
drive cases I've seen also have front mounted on/off switch as well.

And I'm retarded. I use the safely disconnect external device as well
before turning off the unit.

I stopped reading after the first paragraph due to all the mis/dis
information.
Dave

 

[dobey]

What I perceive is you're implying the hard drive is powered by the bus
its connected to, rather than its onboard power supply connected to the
wall outlet in some fashion. That's the only way the PC can disconnect
and turn off an external hard drive. The information and question are not
in sync.

I use an under monitor device for providing power to external equipment
connected to my PC. There's a switch for each device. The external hard
drive cases I've seen also have front mounted on/off switch as well.

And I'm retarded. I use the safely disconnect external device as well
before turning off the unit.

I stopped reading after the first paragraph due to all the mis/dis
information.
Dave

I think he is saying he want's the drive to spin down, but he could mean he
want's it to turn off completely, he just hasn't phrased it very well.

AFAIK support for external spin down and wake up of external HDDs doesn't
seem widespread. Unless it is specifically stated by the manufacturer, I
would assume your enclosure doesn't support it.

 

[M.I.5¾]

M.I.5¾ added these comments in the current discussion du jour
...


I agree with the "school of thought" and would also extend it to
the PC itself, but not the monitor. I turn off my Samsung 21" LCD
when not in use because there's only so many hours in the pixels.
Still, there is a stress even to a monitor if it is turned off and
back on frequently. The other reason I turn mine off is to reduce
the A/C load in my office.

Wrong way round. Although the LCD panel itself does have a limited life, it
is far longer than the Fluorescent tube used to illuminate it.

In theory, these tubes should not suffer shortened lives by being repeatedly
switched (as they are cold cathode). But having said that there are no
shortage of examples of so called cold cathode tubes that, in fact, have
heated cathodes and these suffer the same life shortening problems as so
called eco friendly light bulbs.

Never heard that, thanks for the tip!

99.9% of people are unlikely to encounter it.

 

[HEMI-Powered]

M.I.5¾ added these comments in the current discussion du jour
....

Wrong way round. Although the LCD panel itself does have a
limited life, it is far longer than the Fluorescent tube used
to illuminate it.

In theory, these tubes should not suffer shortened lives by
being repeatedly switched (as they are cold cathode). But
having said that there are no shortage of examples of so
called cold cathode tubes that, in fact, have heated cathodes
and these suffer the same life shortening problems as so
called eco friendly light bulbs.

Thank you. As you may know, I am a pragmatist and not a theorist
and so while I appreciate the heads-up, it is mostly irrelavent
to me why dead pixels are appearing in a 2-year-old monitor - not
many, but some - and it doesn't matter what caused them. I have a
saying that covers my philosophy: "reality trumps all the other
cards in life", meaning what I observe and cannot change is
important, it doesn't matter at all outside a research lab what
the "theory" says.

99.9% of people are unlikely to encounter it.

If only 0.1% of people encounter it, can't be too big a problem!
<grin>