I'm unclear if this drive is to be shut down prior to shutting down my computer or leave it on all the time? Mounting and dismounting etc?
1250850
You can leave it on if you want. There is no real need to turn the power off unless you just want save energy (and I suppose increase the lifespan of the product) but even if you do want to turn it would be fine to wait until the computer is off. As far as mounting it shouldn't be necessary, it is an external drive in its own enclosure. Just set it on top of your computer or somewhere out of the way. If you meant that in a software sense the answer is still no mounting necessary. It should be totally plug-n-play, though with any storage device it is a good idea to "eject" the drive before unplugging it while your computer is on. Hope that helps
1250851
You can leave it on if you want. There is no real need to turn the power off unless you just want save energy (and I suppose increase the lifespan of the product) but even if you do want to turn it would be fine to wait until the computer is off. As far as mounting it shouldn't be necessary, it is an external drive in its own enclosure. Just set it on top of your computer or somewhere out of the way. If you meant that in a software sense the answer is still no mounting necessary. It should be totally plug-n-play, though with any storage device it is a good idea to "eject" the drive before unplugging it while your computer is on.Hope that helps You can leave it on if you want. There is no real need to turn the power off unless you just want save energy (and I suppose increase the lifespan of the product) but even if you do want to turn it would be fine to wait until the computer is off. As far as mounting it shouldn't be necessary, it is an external drive in its own enclosure. Just set it on top of your computer or somewhere out of the way. If you meant that in a software sense the answer is still no mounting necessary. It should be totally plug-n-play, though with any storage device it is a good idea to "eject"... » Read More You can leave it on if you want. There is no real need to turn the power off unless you just want save energy (and I suppose increase the lifespan of the product) but even if you do want to turn it would be fine to wait until the computer is off. As far as mounting it shouldn't be necessary, it is an external drive in its own enclosure. Just set it on top of your computer or somewhere out of the way. If you meant that in a software sense the answer is still no mounting necessary. It should be totally plug-n-play, though with any storage device it is a good idea to "eject" the drive before unplugging it while your computer is on.Hope that helps « Show Less
1250852
I keep it just plugged in all the time regardless of what I do with the (desktop) computer. The drive seems to be performing well and I think I've had it more than a year. I'm using it for local file sync'ing. It's usb so you should not need to mount or unmount.
178081
If you are using the power adapter that is supplied with the USB hub the hub then is independently powered and the external drives are more than likely being "tricked" into thinking that there is still an active connection between the drives and the PC, therefore the drives will not turn off with the PC. If you unplug the adapter the external drives should then shut down also. Will the drives being on damage the drives? Not really, because there is no actual activity (reading/writing) taking place when the PC is turned off. Does it use a little electricity? Yes, but it would be minimal. Bottom line, if you are concerned about the drives being left on, unplug the power to the hub and they should shut down. If it means anything, I have a PC that I built with 5 Western Digital Black Series 4tb hard drives in RAID 0 and a 2tb external WD My Book attached that run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and they are fine.
916226
I have never removed it since day one, I just leave it in with the MBA sleeping or turned off, no difference. I do not have it set to be bootable or anything like that, its just a fast solid performing data drive for stuff I use less than weekly
1386245
I log off and then I log in ,it's safe to eject...... other hard drives ,Seagate , WD, give message "Try again later" very rarely.
1802178
I'm still happy. It does have an on/off switch. Just make sure that before you switch the enclosure off that you safely remove the hardware from your computer. That way you don't lose or corrupt your data.
1330049
Your Windows power settings (assuming you're using windows) determine whether or not the drive will 'sleep'. However, the WD website states that power management settings should be set so that the drive never sleeps otherwise you may see problems. As long as you don't 'span volumes' with the drive, you should be able to remove it safely any time you wish.
2133
First, HOWEVER you use your hard drive, it is spinning incredibly fast and likely to be housing a lot of your important data. It should be treated with RESPECT and placed where it CANNOT easily be bumped, knocked over, stepped on, or even be subject to significant vibration. Posts like yours make me wonder how many user complaints of drives failing are due to abuse. That being said: In my experience, I'd strongly advise you to consistently use the drive in the SAME orientation whenever you use it. So if you want to lay it on its side, fine. But do so from the first time you use it, and ALWAYS do that. These modern USB drives now run under some intense conditions, often with no fans, etc. No sense placing extra stress on them or their bearings, drive heads, etc. by running them both horizonally and vertically. (Such drives are just "ordinary" internal hard drives placed in cases with a USB interface to make them convenient to access externally, and make them portable. Such drives are placed in ordinary PC's in whatever orientation is convenient for the manufacturer -- most often horizontally ("on their side"), FWIW. (I've been fooling with PC's since IBM first came out with the standard IBM DOS PC in '82, and used seemingly innumerable hard drives in many configurations, as I was a "data geek" so I have some idea what I'm talking about here).
1016625
If the drive is powered from the computer's USB ports, it will turn off with the computer. If the computer is turned off it's safe to disconnect the drive anyway because there is no data transfer. Any external drive should be safely removed using the Windows icon in the tray if the computer is running.
710183
Sorry, but the one I purchased just want out of its warranty and it died on me 1 week later. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS DRIVE FOR IMPORTANT DATA.When I now plug it in, all I hear is a click, click, click, so it is dead. I will never purchase another one of these!
897450
Been using it for some time and haven't had that problem. I have 5 drives, three which are on all the time and two which I switch between between power offs. Have never had a drive fry.
896161
You need to format the drive before use. So if you have some files on it, you will lose that. Beware!!!!!
2274705
I'm not sure...I don't leave it on when it's not in use. I only turn it on when I go to back up my files and then I power down after I'm done/eject.
475151
USB Drives don't have the capability to sleep, unless the unit turns itself off, it would be impossible to send the hardware signal to sleep the drive. They've mentioned the unit turns off but in my experience it turns off until you turn it back on again by pressing the button, it's not the "sleep until accessed" that you get with eSata/Sata drives.
1963601
i don't know that specific answer, mine its always on..... you dont have an easy option to power it off, it does have a button on the back that you need to press around 5 seconds to turn it off, but its not that accessible, also through the admin webpage you have options to turn the hard disk off while idle for more than X minutes... like sleep mode, but you never turn it off... hope that helps
1864663
There is no on/off switch for this drive. The only way to turn off this drive is to pull out the power input.
1010215
That depends on how the drive is getting used. A drive that gets used constantly for extended periods needs a fan blowing on it under any circumstances or it will fail. The ambient temperature doesn't matter. A fan blowing on the drive cools it off. This is not meant for a permanent installation of a hard drive.
42495
I've had mine ever since they came out early on, and Its has been turned on ever since I purchased it. Through out my years of experience, turning the hard drives off/on is more harm full than just leaving it on. I would say that my WD My Book 2TB has been on since I originally plugged it up. Do not by Seagate or Matrox. WD never gives up on me or at work. However, connect it up to a UPS black out , power strikes, and brown outs will hurt the drive worse than anything else you can allow to happen. Good Luck