Question about Seagate 1.5TB External Drive

[fumble]

I got a Seagate 1.5TB external yesterday. As soon as it was plugged into the outlet, the drive turned on, which was when I noticed it didn't have any kind of power switch, unlike the Iomega 500GB drive I've been using.

So I backed up my files and everything, no problems. I went to "Safely Remove Hardware" and it said it was fine to remove, so I did. Then with no power switch and no instructions in the box about this, I just unplugged the drive from the outlet.

When I went to back some new stuff up this morning, Vista asked me if I wanted to scan the drive for errors, like I'd yanked it out of the USB or something.

I'm worried about this. Is there some other way to turn the drive off and on without disconnecting it from a power source? Am I fine as long as I just use "Safely Remove Hardware"? Or should I just leave this thing on and plugged in 24/7?

 

[yzmxer608]

Doing some searching, I found that other people have had the same problem (with turning it off). It seems like there is no way to turn if off (the comments here from other people state the same thing as you: Customer Reviews Of Seagate FreeAgent Desk ST315005FDA2E1-RK 1.5TB 7200 RPM USB 2.0 Silver External Hard Drive - Retail ). When you plug it back in and take a look at your files, are they corrupted in any way?

 

[fumble]

When you plug it back in and take a look at your files, are they corrupted in any way?

No, they seem to be fine. I guess that's all that matters; the Scan-for-errors message might just be Vista being careful.

Well, according to Seagate's website, as long as the USB is safely disconnected, apparently it's fine. And my 500GB external's been accidentally disconnected from power sources while it was turned on, and it's never had any data loss, so this should be fine.

Thanks for checking around! I'm glad to know I'm not the only one having this problem. Maybe Seagate will start including instructions with the next model, haha.

 

[Slaymate]

when you want to remove it your suppose to use the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon in your system tray

 

[yzmxer608]

I went to "Safely Remove Hardware" and it said it was fine to remove, so I did. Then with no power switch and no instructions in the box about this, I just unplugged the drive from the outlet.

He did . Glad to hear no corruption has been made to your files. Seagate should document this for future packaging so people know how to properly unplug the drive.