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From: daemon@copper.ucs.indiana.edu (Mr Background)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Question on Removable HD
Message-ID: <1990Dec31.182713.104@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu>
Date: 31 Dec 90 18:27:13 GMT
Sender: news@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu (USENET News System)
Organization: Indiana University
Lines: 24

I own a removable hard disk which I like very much. There is only one
thing I feel a little annoyed and would like to know if this is the
same to all removable hard disk.

        The thing is that I need to turn on the removable before I
turn on the Mac. If not, the Mac won't recognize the removable. Also,
once both the removable and the Mac are turned on, I cannot turn off
the removable and leave only the Mac on. If I do so, the Mac is freezed
until you turn on the removable again or you restart the Mac. The
reason I feel annoyed is that I would rather not leave the removable on
when I don't need the data in it and would like to turn it on any time
when I need it. But I cannot do this right now.

        Another question I have is that if I take the cartridge out and
leave the drive on, will that save the life span of the drive? I found
that if I take the cartridge out of the drive, there seems nothing going
on in the drive except the power is on. I wonder leaving the drive on without
cartridges in it won't take any life span of the drive away. If that is the 
case then it doesn't matter if I have to leave it on when I don't need the
removable. Anyone got comments?

Your input is appreciated!

-Peter Liu