Possible Damage While Removing Hard Disk?

[briand2]

If I shut down my PC by closing Windows, but leave it plugged into the mains socket, is the power supply unit still supplying any voltage to the motherboard (or any other components)? I suppose it must be, otherwise how would things like "Wake on Modem", etc work?

My reason for asking the question is this: If there is still (some) power inside the PC when it is in this state, do I risk damaging my hard drive by connecting and/or disconnecting it from the IDE cable and/or power supply cable? Should I really turn off at the mains socket on the wall to be confident that I can't damage the hard drive?

Any comments would be welcome!!

Brian

 

[edfair]

It is best to get in the habit of pulling the plug.
Probably wouldn't hurt anything , I know I've done really stupid stuff without smoking drives, but why risk it? Ed Fair
unixstuff@juno.com
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[briand2]

Ed,

Thanks. I've done the same thing sort of thing myself many times, with no problems. However, the reason I've asked the question is that someone has suggested that drives have been damaged (not by me, I hasten to add!!). I am hoping to find a definitive "No way, the IDE cable and disk power supply would be dead", or the contrary!!

Regards,

Brian

 

[franklin97355]

If I understand the ATX PS there is power to the MOBO but not to the drives when the power is off. You could still damage the drives if you didn't wait a bit before disconnecting and there is always static to contend with. BTW last week working with a dell tech he had me unplug the power cord and then press the power switch and what do you know, the processor and power supply fans spun for a second.

 

[edfair]

I won't go so far as to say that the drives can't be damaged by unplugging while power is still applied, but I think it unlikely.
I have one particular Gateway that I use to clean IDEs and I take it to shutdown and no further to swap drives out. But I have everything crippled in power management so I don't get any surprises. Ed Fair
unixstuff@juno.com
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[cdogg]

Brian,
It's best to always unplug the PC from the wall outlet whenever working internally. Standby voltages are constantly running in ATX motherboards and devices that can accept them (including NIC's and Hard Drives like "sleep mode" as you mentioned).

Keep in mind that the voltages supplied to each device are small (less than 12 volts in all cases), so there's hardly any risk of harm to you. However, some components in your PC are much more sensitive.


~cdogg

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
- A. Einstein

 

[briand2]

Thanks to all of you for your comments.

Regards,

Brian

 

[pudda]

And one more to ponder on- had this happen to me. Tried to clear the CMOS on a system by using the on-board jumper and it wouldn't take. So removed the battery and guess what- still didn't take!
A/C was unplugged all this time and the only thing left plugged in was the network cable (Wake on LAN) which apparently provided enough power to keep the CMOS going.
Now I unplug everything...

 

[antew]

And don't forget about using the static wrist cable. Your static charge could damage lots of peripherials if you don't use this cable. Be on the safe side.