Shutting down external drive problem

[Shepard Tate]

I found the below on another news group and wondered if it was
correct? I was told to always use the disconnect utility in the tray
to disconnect and power off the external firewire drive before
shutting down windows or I could corrupt the files on the external
drive? Of course, I forgot once and shut windows down with it
connected, (it would be nice if XP gave you a warning if this is
critical), and also forgot to then turn the external drive off. When I
next booted windows it generated an error message regarding the
connection to the external drive (my first clue that I had not
previously disconnected it). Windows XP would then not safely
discoonect it. I had to power the external drive off and then back on
before windows recognized it correctly.

Did I cause the problem by not disconnecting it in the first place, or
by not turning the drive off after windows shut down and before
powering up the next time?

Thanks

----------------------------------------------------
found on another group.
<
You do NOT have to use the disconnect utility IF you are
shutting down Windows with the drive still running and
connected. The disconnect is PART OF the Windows
shutdown procedure. You need the disconnect utility ONLY
if you are disconnecting or shutting down the drive WHILE
Windows is still running.

 

[Edward W. Thompson]

The advice you were given is not correct. I leave my USB HDD connected most
of the time and have never had a problem. If you do need to disconnect the
drive with Windows running you should use the disconnect utility to avoid
posible data corruption.

 

[Michael Ortega]

Hello,

Windows has that feature because sometime is likes to write little bits of
the file at the last minute. Even after it says that file is done
copying/transferring/moving/ ect, if that happens enough your file will
become corrupt and you will no longer be able to use it. If you turn your
computer off without "stopping" the device nothing should happen to it, all
the data will finish transferring and everything will work just fine. With
some of the newer external hard drive the computer will send a signal
telling the hard drive that the computer is done with it and the external
drive will park the heads so everything will be happy. I don't think not
powering the drive down had anything to do with the error, I leave mine on
even when the computer is off. Has that error come up repeatedly or after
seeing that error has something stopped working? If not I don't think that
any damage was done. As for turning the drive off and back on, that tends to
fix most connection issues with plug and play devices.

Michael Ortega

 

[Shepard Tate]

I tested this and yes, it happens every time I turn off the computer
without first using the disconnect utility and powering off the
external drive. If I forget, and do this, the next time windows
starts, it will not connect properly to the external drive. If I
power off the drive and turn it back on, windows recognizes it. So
far none of the files on the hard drive seem to have been damaged. If
I forget to disconnect and then remember to power off the external
drive after windows has shut down and then don't turn it back on until
after windows starts the next time all is ok.

 

[Michael Ortega]

Hello,

What kind of drive is it? Does it have special drivers?

Michael Ortega

 

[Shepard Tate]

It is a Lacie 80 gig. I don't know about the drivers being special.