Is it safe to use other USB devices with External Hard Drive plugged in?

Question

Just wanted to know if it is safe to use other USB Devices whilst I have my External Hard Drive plugged in also.

I have heard from friends and other people that plugging another USB device into the PC whilst your Hard Drive is also plugged in, regardless if it is only a USB Mouse, Keyboard or Flash Drive can lead to Hard Drive Failure and or Blue Screen of Death.

A friend of mine had a Western Digital Hard 720GB MyPassport Portable Drive that failed completely and cannot be recognized by any computer what so ever anymore, he said to me that he plugged a simple USB Mouse into his PC whilst the Hard Drive was in and then his PC crashed with a blue screen that disappeared very quickly before he could read anything on it. I do not think it was THE Blue Screen of Death because all of his data was still intact, the PC booted back up normally and ran fine after that, only the External Hard Drive was damaged and un-recognizable.
His PC was Windows XP Service Pack 3.

So is it really safe to use safe to use other Devices along with the Hard Drive because I'm definitely not going to if its going to ruin my Hard Drive.

Please Help.

Answer 1

I have never heard of an external hard drive being damaged due to something else being plugged in while it was connected.



It is easy to have certain things happen and it seem to be related to something that it is not. The likely causes for such things to happen are a power surge in the system, it is possible to have it plugged into the same USB port and plug something in that causes a surge and blows the entire USB hub/port. With a mouse or keyboard, no, a usb hard drive bridge that is powered, yes....



If you look at the bottom right hand corner of your screen, you may need to press that little arrow that is facing up...or extend your fasticon holder to the left depending on your version of Windows. You will see what looks like a USB plug and likely a green check mark over it. If you hover your mouse cursor over it when a USB device like an external drive or flash drive is hooked up it will say "Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media" It is possible if a drive is plugged in and in use, even if you don't think it is in use and you just pull it out of the USB port it can become corrupted or even unusable. Using this to correctly disconect your drive will keep this from happening. Once you click on it, select the USB device you wish to remove it will let you know if it is safe to remove or it is in use and cannot be removed. In some instances you may need to shut down your computer if you cannot get the USB device to safely shut down for removal. Once the computer is shutdown it can be unplugged and then turn your computer back on.



Hope this helps, to answer the question in simplest form, no it doesn't hurt to plug a USB mouse or keyboard in or anything else as long as it doesn't have an external power source that could cause a surge.

Answer 2

It should be fine, but there are some cautions to follow.



Your computer must provide power through its USB ports to all USB devices. If you have several USB devices, they may run low on power. This is especially true if you use a "USB hub" that has no power supply of it's own. Never use such cheap USB hubs.



Only buy USB hubs having a power supply that you plug into a wall outlet (or power strip, of course). One excellent manufacturer is Belkin. Another is Dynex. However, they may both offer some models with no power supply, so don't buy those particular models.



Good advice above to use a security program that automatically scans removable devices for malware.



Hope this helps...

_jim coe

Answer 3

The power, theoretically, could be failing. It would be shorting someplace between the pc and HDD case. It could be any number of matters. As for finding out precisely what's mistaken, contact the drive and Enclosure manufacturers to look what they think it perhaps. Almost certainly, you're likely going to need to substitute the enclosure OR force. For a drive swap, when you get rid of the case, it's beautiful-a lot an internal HDD that has been positioned into a flowery case. For the cables, the USB cable is almost a PS-2 to USB adaptor in cable type. The energy cable should include the brand new enclosure. (If you're going to purchase a brand new one, store yourself 50% and buy the pressure and case individually and put them together yourself.

Answer 4

Each USB port has it's own power supply. I can't imagine how this would harm any device plugged into a USB port. Kind'a hard to use the PC with no mouse or keyboard.

Answer 5

your fine if you have virus software and mbam just plug it in and before you do anything right click the drive and scan it with your virus and mbam for any trojans.