Leaving USB External HDD drive plugged into iMac

Joe94

Joe94

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Hi all, is it okay to leave usb external HDD drives plugged into my iMac all the time? One will be used for Time machine & the second for general backup/storage (I also use a third drive that I am only going to plug in once a week or so to back up the second storage drive if it’s okay to leave in).
I also shut down my iMac fully when not being used.

Many thanks :)
 
While not on a MAC I leave mine plugged in and powered up all the time, it's a PIA to unplug it and it does not have a power On/Off switch.
In fact the only time it gets unplugged and switched off is when I decide to try and tidy up the cats cradle of wires at the back of my desk.
 
Thanks everyone! In that case I will go ahead with my plan and keep them plugged in :)

Very much appreciated appreciated.
 
I’d recommend that you don’t position them where they can get too hot. e.g. don’t stack them up; leave room for air circulation.
 
Last edited:
troutfisher said:
While not on a MAC I leave mine plugged in and powered up all the time, it's a PIA to unplug it and it does not have a power On/Off switch.
In fact the only time it gets unplugged and switched off is when I decide to try and tidy up the cats cradle of wires at the back of my desk.
Click to expand...

I have one connected to my PC but use a smart plug to control the on/off power via my PC or phone.
 
All the Macs I've used (2 MacPros and an iMac) on all the versions of OSX I've had (Lion -> Mojave) have had problems with USB drives. It doesn't always happen, but sometimes when they wake from sleep the USB drive fails to mount. Even more rarely, when the Mac sleeps it neither keeps the drive alive nor disconnects it safely. Macs hate drives not being ejected properly and on one occasion (once in like 15 years) this caused a temporary corruption on one of my drives.

I don't think it's a huge risk but it is annoying especially if you have scheduled backups to them.

Joe94 said:
I also shut down my iMac fully when not being used.
Click to expand...

Fun fact: unless you unplug the mains cable, or turn it off at the socket, an iMac is never fully shut down. The SMC is always running. The way to reset it is to remove the power cord.
 
I've had a 500mb one plugged in my router and running all the time for about ten years.
it will fail eventually but is useful to share locally if another PC isn't running right now.
 
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