Permanently connecting USB external HD can severely damage a laptop?

[Mak5im]

Some one at the store told me a severe damage to laptop is possible, and that made me not wanting to return an item I bought. But permanently connecting an external HD to a comp seems to be fine after my searching on the web.. So could you tell me if it's true guys? Edit: Sorry I meant a Firewire External HD instead of a USB one.

oh also, would it be really slow if I both listen to music from an external HD and use a USB sound card at the same time, and both devices are connected to the Same USB Port?

Thanks guys!

 

[peterhuang913]

Using the USB for long lengths of time wont 'damage' the laptop. It might cause it to become hotter though.
Using two device on one port won't slow the speed down that much.

 

[team 1203 4 life]

it shouldent affect your laptop at all man no worries

 

[Kubel]

Some one at the store told me a severe damage to laptop is possible, and that made me not wanting to return an item I bought. But permanently connecting an external HD to a comp seems to be fine after my searching on the web.. So could you tell me if it's true guys?

It's not true. It's perfectly safe.

The only possible problem is it will drain your battery sooner (assuming you are on battery power, and the firewire drive doesn't have it's own power supply) since your laptop is now powering itself AND the hard drive, and you may notice more heat since your laptop might throttle up the processor to deliver the processing power to run the drive, play the MP3s, and run the external sound card.

Edit: Sorry I meant a Firewire External HD instead of a USB one.

Still safe.

oh also, would it be really slow if I both listen to music from an external HD and use a USB sound card at the same time, and both devices are connected to the Same USB Port?

Thanks guys!

Your laptop shouldn't have a problem running an external hard drive and an external sound card unless it's ridiculously old and slow. And since you said it supports FireWire, I'm guessing it's new enough where that's not a problem.

 

[kobe24]

it should be fine