There are some circumstances where I would like to switch off power to a USB port, but still allow the port to function as normal.
Is it possible to switch off power to a USB port using software settings?
and...
If power to a USB port is turned off, will it still function as normal (ignore devices and functions that require the power usually supplied through a USB port, e.g. external hard drives, charging of phones)?
[edit]
Nobody seemed to read the "circumstances" link I had in the original post. So here it is as it relates to this question:
If your notebook is low on power, and you require a connection to your phone (e.g. for tethering to the internet), the connection with the lowest possible power use that I can think of is a USB connection, but only if the phone does not draw power to charge itself.