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Safely Remove Hardware

Question

I recently purchased an external hard drive for my computer, for data storage purposes. I like to turn off the power to the external hard drive when it is not in use. Before I turn off the power to it, do I need to click on the button called "Safely Remove Hardware&quot that is located on my Windows System Tray, before turning off the power to the hard drive? I know that if I want to actually physically disconnect a hardware device from my computer, I need to click on this button, but what about if I just want to turn off the power to the external hardware? Do I need to click on this button also in such a case? (The hard drive did not come with any instructions or customer support, and so I have no way of finding out this information from the manufacturer).

—A Tech Talk Viewer

Answer

Yes, you do need to "safely remove hardware" before turning the power off to your external harddrive. This is similar to how you need to shut down your computer, not just unplug it from the wall.

Thanks for your questions and your interest in Tech Talk.

Follow-up Question

Thanks for your response. Unfortunately, before I thought of inquiring to you about this, I had already turned the power off several times without "safely removing the hardware." Do you think that this may have ruined the music files that I have stored on the external hard drive? I listened to a few of them, and they seem to sound OK. But I don't know whether some may have gotten ruined and others remain OK. I will appreciate it if you could take a moment to answer this additional question.

Follow-up Answer

While I can't say positively that all your files are fine, it is very unlikely that there are any problems with any of them. Turning off the power without properly shutting down the harddrive will most of the time not harm the harddrive, but it has the potential. If your harddrive had been harmed by your turning off the power, most likely you would be seeing dramatic problems, such as not being able to mount the harddrive at all.

Thanks again for your interest in Tech Talk.