Re: off-topic: scheduled backup to external hard drive

[Harry Binswanger hb@xxxxxxxx]

> >Because for each backup, you have to put on the cables, then take them off
> >when you're done (rebooting in between, of course), and you don't want to
> >have to open the case to do that.
>
> Why disconnect the cables?
For safety. Some viruses do things to all the drives they find on your
system, so it's safer to keep the backup drive off the system except for
when you're backing up onto them.
> Before you plug or unplug the ribbon cable and power cable, you have to
> turn the power off. According to Murphy's Law, you will eventually forget
> to turn the power off.
That's happened to me--not through forgetfulness but only because I didn't
know if it was necessary. It is. But if you forget, all that happens is
your system crashes, locks up, and THEN you have to reboot. I have done a
lot of "live" fiddling with harddrives over the years, all kinds of bad
procedures (I'm a plunger), but I've never damaged that way the drive I was
plugging in or unplugging without first turning off the computer. Note: I
am NOT recommending this procedure. It's WRONG. I'm merely suggesting that
it doesn't fry anything--or not in my experience. After I wrote this,
however, I see that you had sparks once, which surprises me. For instance,
lots of times I've plugged the data cable to a drive upside down. Nothing
happened, except I couldn't use the drive. Plugging that cable in right
(after shutting off the computer), and away I went. The good news is that
the *power* cable is "keyed" so that it is impossible to plug it in
backwards. (In fact, in recent years, even the data cable has been so
keyed, or usually so.)
> Murphy's law worked for me. I was backing up a hard drive as a Ghost backup
> onto another hard drive. From a floppy disk, Ghost exits to DOS. I saw a
> black screen and I assumed the power was off. It wasn't. (I didn't see the
> little C:> prompt at the bottom.) I plugged in the power cable, and I I saw
> sparks. (You know the horrible feeling.) The hard drive and power supply
> didn't work any more. Fortunately it was one of my old Win98 computers that
> I was using specifically to make mistakes on.
I have blown power supplies. Since there's a CompUSA near me, that was just
an irritation: I had to buy a new power supply and plug it in. No big deal.
But, then again, I like to plunge ahead, recklessly, and pay the price for
the mistakes.


Harry Binswanger
hb@xxxxxxxx