Is it OK to unplug USB devices without turning them off?

  I was wondering, is it OK to unplug USB devices without turning them
off?
I have several USB hard drives (hard drives in USB cases).
I just pull out the USB connection and reconnect to another PC all the
time.
Am I in danger of causing damamge to my hard drives?

Thanks.


OM

 

to prevent data loss...
you need to unmount the drive properly through the USB device icon.

as far as the AC power...once the device is unmounted properly
that should not matter

  wrote:


yes


no

 

The point is, that although the harddrive by itself will survive
hot swapping, your data might not :-)

It is only safe to switch off when all data destined for that
drive is properly written.
And the only way to get there is 'unmount' and patience :-)

--
Kind regards,
Gerard Bok

 

If you look at the properties>policy settings (in XP) for a USB disk you can
either choose to optimize for performance or quick removal (the latter
allows you to disconnect the device without using the 'safely remove HW'
feature.

BillL