What is the on/off power switch in the back of my Elements used for? I have the USB plugged into the back of my iMac. When I boot up my computer, the Elements turns on as well. When I press the on/off switch, I get “Disk Not Ejected Properly.” I thought the on/off switch would allow me to decide if I wanted the drive on or off without giving me an error.
WD support was of no help. All he said was just to pull the USB out of the iMac or unplug the power cord and reinsert it when I wanted it on or off. If I did that, then what use is the on/off power switch?
Well, the ON/OFF switch is to power ON or OFF the device. The thing with Apple computers is you need to properly eject the device volume if it mount before you can power OFF the device. You get the message “Disk Not Ejected Properly” is because you didn’t not eject/unmount the device volume and the Mac just wanted to warn you.
jebusx…I don’t have a Mac, but your comments make sense. Just pulling the USB is obviously NoGood, and same with the on/off that @r4693 said. Having active functions to that device, and you pull the plug…could cause awful bad things…Always Safe Eject first, except if when your PC crashes.
my own comment here is if you get an message about the device still in use when you try the Safe Eject, then you could try the Device Manager and change to Better Performance under Policies. This has worked for me on a PC. My passport won't shut down properly. Help please - #2 by HowAboutMe
now just because you Eject, if you leave the Device connected or not Off, I believe that power is still being sent to it thru the USB (thus blinking lite), till the PC is shut down. So the Off, after the Eject, will turn it off. My Passport does not have a on/off so I must pull the USB.
I am just using my Elements as a backup.
I agree that I must eject it before I can turn it OFF without creating an error, but it turns itself ON from Standby mode, when I start it up. I want it to stay OFF. The only way to keep it OFF is to pull out the USB plug or the power cord, and if I have to do that, why do I need an ON/OFF button? The ON/OFF button only turns OFF the power in the Standby mode. So, is there any logical reason why I would want the ON/OFF button other than to save some electricity, when it’s not in use?
r4693…I’m not familiar with a Element on/off, however I was curious…
if you safe eject, turn off but leave USB connected…you still see (thru a lite?) that the device is still connected?
you said “it turns itself ON from Standby mode, when I start it up”…is start up mean when turning the PC back on, or when turning the device back on?
for me, my Passport with no on/off—when I do an safe eject, but leave the USB connected, I still see the blinking lite on the device…meaning power going to it, but I cannot see the drive mounted. I must pull the USB then re-insert or it gets re-connected after a PC restart.
for your on/off, it’s curious that Off does not effectively work like pulling the USB and cut off power.
also, is the on/off a toggle switch(probably not) or a button. When you re-insert the USB, after an Off, it should become active like mine does.
if you safe eject, turn off but leave USB connected…you still see (thru a lite?) that the device is still connected?
After ejecting it with the USB plug attached, then pressing the ON/OFF button, the light goes out; however, the power is still on.
you said “it turns itself ON from Standby mode, when I start it up”…is start up mean when turning the PC back on, or when turning the device back on?
It tuns ON from the Standby mode, when I restart my iMac, without touching the ON/OFF button.
for me, my Passport with no on/off—when I do an safe eject, but leave the USB connected, I still see the blinking lite on the device…meaning power going to it, but I cannot see the drive mounted. I must pull the USB then re-insert or it gets re-connected after a PC restart.
I also have a Passport as a backup. If you eject it with the USB plugged in, it’s on Standby mode. You’re not going to see it “mounted,” because you ejected it. In my case, if I haven’t shut down my computer and I want to have it “mounted” again, I go to my backup software (Time Machine) preferences and indicate that I want to select my Passport. I have a “Finder” app that shows me that the Passport is “mounted.”
for your on/off, it’s curious that Off does not effectively work like pulling the USB and cut off power.
My ON/OFF button does work, but my Elements has to be ejected first or I get an error. The point of this topic is to ask “Why can’t I use the ON/OFF button while connected to my iMac to disconnect the power from my Elements without getting an error?” (Maybe this is how I should have worded my problem.)
also, is the on/off a toggle switch(probably not) or a button. When you re-insert the USB, after an Off, it should become active like mine does.
Elements has a flush mounted button. I just want to disconnect the power to it without re-inserting the USB plug.
r4693…this is an interesting conversation…on/off and standby…
you say after eject and USB connected, on/off, that the lite goes out However the power is still on. Here you also imply that you can wake-up this standby device and it re-connects, Even if it has been Ejected…curious.
on my Passport, if I eject and leave connected…there is lites blinking but if it is in Sleep mode, I do not know how to Wake up without resetting the USB.
your on/off, maybe its like a PC sleep…I have a button on my keyboard that puts PC to sleep only to wake up when I move mouse or keystroke the keyboard. When I do this, I do not get a warning about disk in use like you do when you don’t first safe eject. Still bothers me that safe eject…that you can reactivate a device without a physical disconnect/reconnect of USB.
You don’t have to disconnect the USB plug from your Passport. Just turn on your PC as you normally would.
Check your backup program to find that it’s still connected or search for it.
