external USB drive powerup Q

[Colin Graham]

I got a few external USB drives for back up, and bios seizes up before loading the OS (XP) so I have to power up the things after the computer is fully up and running (I have no way to disable USB boot in the bios). Not a major problem since it's mainly for longterm storage, but I was wondering about the impact on the drives. There's no power button on the drive, so I've just been pluging the power cord in when I need to access the drives, and unplugging after the computer is off. Is this hard on the hardware? Would it be better to leave the power in and just unplug the USB cable? I've got a query in with the manufacturer, but always nice to hear from real world experience.

[Don Bryant]

I got a few external USB drives for back up, and bios seizes up before loading the OS (XP) so I have to power up the things after the computer is fully up and running (I have no way to disable USB boot in the bios). Not a major problem since it's mainly for longterm storage, but I was wondering about the impact on the drives. There's no power button on the drive, so I've just been pluging the power cord in when I need to access the drives, and unplugging after the computer is off. Is this hard on the hardware? Would it be better to leave the power in and just unplug the USB cable? I've got a query in with the manufacturer, but always nice to hear from real world experience.

Just plug them up to a power strip that has a switch. As for the BIOS freeze have you updated the bios? And are you sure the BIOS is configured correctly?

Don Bryant

[Colin Graham]

Thanks Don. I can't even get past the post screen with the drive plugged in to see if there is a variable in the BIOS that is only active when a USB boot device is actually plugged in. Unplugged, there is nothing in the boot sequence or any other screen for that matter concerning USB other than enable/disable USB controller and USB legacy.

I don't want to risk flashing the bios on this board, it's notoriously prone to getting fried in the process. I'll be upgrading the computer soon, hopefully. It's not a problem to plug/unplug manually, just wanted to be sure I wasn't taxing the drive somehow.