I just bought a Lacie 250GB HD, and every time I hotplug it, the computer kind of tells me off and tells me to "eject" it first. Is there any damage done to the hardware if I don't eject? (I make sure that any software or files running of it are closed before I unplug it anyway - so I'm not worried about that.)

Thanks, Chony.

If I understand correctly, it is a usb external drive?

If the above is correct you must eject the drive before actually unplugging it. The pc may report that a copy is over, but sometimes files are still kept in a cache.
Eject flushes this cache and makes sure files are not still open.

Its a FireWire 800 Drive.

So the damage is to the files or to the longevity of the HD?

Thanks, Chony

Chony,

It's not healthy for either. There is a small icon on the lower right corner of the screen that is used for this purpose. It looks like a green arrow over a rectangle. Double click the arrow and a box will open that provides the option that permits the USB device to be safely unplugged.

Gary

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