External Hard Drive

[Grandpappy]

I have been given a brand new external hard drive of 250Gb. capacity ,made by Toshiba. I can't understand their instructions ( they talk about 'mounting'? the drive to the computer ). I've plugged it in and connected the USB port to the computer. 'Trouble is...I don't know whether to switch it on BEFORE switching on the computer OR afterwards and then again, the procedure for switching things OFF, without doing any harm.!!! Help Please...
Cheers
Grandpappy

[D.Prout]

What operating sofware are you using? If it is Windows XP then the system will recognise the Hardware. Just switch it on and follow the instructions on screen. You can then use the Windows backup to copy your data or simply copy data using My Computer or Explorer, etc. If you want to do a full backup of your system then you need to buy Norton Ghost or similar software.
If you have older operating software e..g. Win 98 then it may not be as simple, you may need an installation disc. and you will need to follow the operators manual instructions

[Simeon]

Treat it as any other USB device. When you connect it the PC should detect the USB device and an icon will appear in the system tray which will allow you to shut down external devices. USB ports supply power so the hard drive should not require any switching on, on the other hand some external drives require additional power and will be supplied with a cable that connects to the ps2 port.

[stevie21]

Plug it in, wire it up and then switch it on once it's all connected to your PC.
To disconnect it, unless there's an option in the hard drive software itself I'd look to the taskbar at the bottom right and see if you have one of those Safely Remove Hardware icons. You'd generally only need this to physically unplug the hard drive rather than just turn its power off

[Catso]

As to switching on and off, it doesn't matter, except in one respect: as Stevie says, you MUST do the "Safely Remove..." thing before you switch off the power to the drive. If you don't, you may lose files or corrupt the whole drive.

You don't have to do this if you switch the PC off before the drive.