Is it bad to connect a HDD to a running pc via a USB converter?

[Quarnds]

My question is. Will it break the drive If i hop swap the HDD while my pc is running via a USB 3.0 to Sata 6 Gb/s converter?

I just want to make sure my HDD won't break or cause issues if I hop swap the drive while it's running.
Please give me feedback if I doing something wrong.


Kind regards, Quarnds

[BetteBalterZen]

5 minutes ago, Quarnds said:

My question is. Will it break the drive If i hop swap the HDD while my pc is running via a USB 3.0 to Sata 6 Gb/s converter?

I just want to make sure my HDD won't break or cause issues if I hop swap the drive while it's running.
Please give me feedback if I doing something wrong.


Kind regards, Quarnds

I have hot swapped a lot of HDD's in my life on runnings PC's, by pulling the Sata cable from them. Is it smart? Probably not. Have any HDD's ever died from me doing it? Nope, never. 

Curious what others have to say to this - following

[flibberdipper]

Realistically it'll be fine, but you should still ideally be using the eject option. It's there for a reason after all.

[BetteBalterZen]

4 minutes ago, flibberdipper said:

Realistically it'll be fine, but you should still ideally be using the eject option. It's there for a reason after all.

Ah yes, that is so true! Tried so many times with a couple of files didn't get transfered because I just pulled out a USB drive as soon as the transfer was "done". The eject function won't let you eject the drives if it's still being written on. 

[Quarnds]

Okay, I just want to check the drive without creating problems, if I take it out of the converter. And maybe copy some files over. I just hate loseing files that made memories like pictures or creations.

[Kilrah]

Since it's in a USB converter if you properly USB eject, disconnect the USB converter then the drive no problem, it's like any external drive. 

[Quarnds]

Many thanks Kilrah for the help. 

[The_russian]

25 minutes ago, flibberdipper said:

Realistically it'll be fine, but you should still ideally be using the eject option. It's there for a reason after all.

 

15 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

Since it's in a USB converter if you properly USB eject, disconnect the USB converter then the drive no problem, it's like any external drive. 

Is there supposed to be an eject button when you use a USB to SATA adapter? Mine doesn’t give me that option, it shows the HDDs as if they were internal drives so no eject option. 

[Kilrah]

Yep normally there is, but I guess some might report as internal and not showing it. 

[Beerzerker]

23 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

Yep normally there is, but I guess some might report as internal and not showing it. 

It will show up with a drive "Name" if you have one designated for it, othwerwise it uses a default name/label.
I have a couple of external drives that connects via USB and that's how they show up.
However, these drives unlike the OP's are in an enclosure made for them with a powerswitch made by these guys and this is an example of what I've got: Fantom Drives G-Force 2TB USB 3.0/eSATA Aluminum Desktop External Hard Drive Black - Newegg.com

These will mount and unmount automatically just from using the powerswitch so there is no need to worry about ejecting them when done, just cut it off and it does the rest.

In the OP's case they don't have that option so it's smart to use the eject function for their drive to ensure nothing goes wrong but otherwise I too don't see any real issues to worry about as long as the eject function is used.
If there is a way to cut power on and off to the adapter it would most likely do like these will but I've never seen an adapter with the means for just cutting it on or off.

[Kilrah]

3 minutes ago, Beerzerker said:

These will mount and unmount automatically just from using the powerswitch so there is no need to worry about ejecting them when done, just cut it off and it does the rest.

What you linked just has a mechanical power switch, it will NOT clean unmount when turned off, turning it off is the same as disconnecting USB.

[CerealExperimentsLain]

1 hour ago, Kilrah said:

Since it's in a USB converter if you properly USB eject, disconnect the USB converter then the drive no problem, it's like any external drive. 

Eject is not actually exclusive to USB.  SATA drives can do eject too if the OS knows that port is hot swappable.  I have two SATA ports, that are wired into hot swap bays in my case, flagged as hot swap in the BIOS, as a result Windows gives those drives the eject function too.

[Kilrah]

3 minutes ago, CerealExperimentsLain said:

Eject is not actually exclusive to USB.  SATA drives can do eject too if the OS knows that port is hot swappable.  I have two SATA ports, that are wired into hot swap bays in my case, flagged as hot swap in the BIOS, as a result Windows gives those drives the eject function too.

Yep correct, doesn't really apply here though.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

1 hour ago, BetteBalterZen said:

I have hot swapped a lot of HDD's in my life on runnings PC's, by pulling the Sata cable from them. Is it smart? Probably not. Have any HDD's ever died from me doing it? Nope, never. 

Curious what others have to say to this - following

Sata has hotswap funcanality built in. 
You should be able to go into the io settigns of your bios and change all of the sata ports to hoswap, then you can hotswap the drive

 

I actually have to have sata hotswap on for all my drives, otherwise I have a m2 geanie error on boot.

[mariushm]

Make sure the SATA to USB adapter can supply 12v to the hard drive, if the hard drive needs it.

 

A LOT of adapters are designed for SATA SSDs and 2.5" laptop drives, which only use 5v to operate, and it makes it easy to make an adapter because USB provides the 5v required.

 

Most adapters that can work with mechanical drives that need 12v are sold with a power adapter that provides 12v, or in rarer cases they come with a cable that has 2 USB connectors (so that they can take more power from the computer and convert 5v to 12v for the hard drive)

 

[Beerzerker]

46 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

What you linked just has a mechanical power switch, it will NOT clean unmount when turned off, turning it off is the same as disconnecting USB.

That's what I've been doing with mine for over 10 years - Never had a problem because of it but I get what you mean.

[Kilrah]

Yes because Windows defaults to treating external drives as being subject to being disconnected at any time (write caching disabled). You pay for that in write performance that you can get back by changing the setting, but then you really need to use the eject feature.

 

Still a good thing to recommend if people have valuable data on the drive.