right way to connect/disconnect Ext HDD

hi i have a FreeAgent Pro which i plug into my MBP (OS X tiger) via USB.

is this the correct way to diconnect it?

turn on
1) power adapter plugged in into the power point
(nothing happens)
2) plug in the USB.
(the HDD power up and the orange light begins to glow)

turn off
1) eject the drive.
(the hdd inside the enclosure powers down, but the orange light is still glowing)
2) unplug the USB interface cable.
(the light turn off)

3)unplug the power adapter from power point if desired (optional)

am i doing this correctly?
i wonder why there is a (touch sensitive) power button, if the drive do it all automatically?
or should i turn off the drive via the power button before unplugging it from the USB.

how would you disconnect your external HDD?

thanks

 

Eject in osx first, unplug usb, turn off the power, unplug from wall.

I'd suggest making sure that the drive is off before you unplug it from the wall. If theres a power on/off switch on it, try to make sure its off before you unplug it.

But yea, looks like you're doing it right.

 

Yeah I usually just turn my external drive off :| then disconnect it from the comp.

 

Always, always disconnect in the operating system first. Then eject.

 

i guess what im asking is;

after ejecting the harddrive from the OS (which turns off the HDD within the enclosure),
---should i turn off the drive via the power switch first (which i presume will turn off the light) then unplug the USB cable from my computer; or
---unplug the usb cable from the computer and let the drive switch itself off automatically (the drive light turn itself off after it detects that there usb connection has been terminated).

seagate just provide me with this in the quick start manual:

A note or two about disconnecting.
To prevent data loss, click the
FreeAgent Pro icon and drag it
to the Trash. Then disconnect the
power cord and interface cable.


"disconnect the power and and interface cable?" which one first? or is it doesnt matter...

 

lol, id do usb first, then power, but in all honesty, it probably doesnt matter.

 

It doesnt matter. Once it is ejected in the OS there is no more data being transferred. The hardware will not take damage even if you just rip out the USB without ejecting it. But without ejecting can damage the data integrity because there might be data being transferred. As long as you eject it in the OS you can do what you want after.

 

hmmm.... i just went back to my room to find out that the drive decides to turn itself on O.O i kinda wish they gave me a mechanical switch.

im experimenting with turning the drive off via the (touch sensitive) on/off button before unplugging and see what happened...

thanks guys (sulkorp and wave +repped)