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I'm using a "SATA/IDE to USB" converter, and I'm a little worried if cutting power might harm the HDD.

And before when I want to cut the power off, I safely remove the HDD by ejecting it both in explorer and physically.

Also any tips or suggestions (websites/articles/…) for using a HDD with these type of converters would be appreciated.

Thanks

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  • What do you mean by "I safely remove the HDD by ejecting it [...] physically"?
    – gronostaj
    Commented Jan 5, 2021 at 17:02
  • If you use Windows Safe Eject app and wait 15 seconds, the drive should spin down and can be safely disconnected.
    – anon
    Commented Jan 5, 2021 at 17:06

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Power loss shouldn't do any physical damage to the disk since most of these use the inertia of the platters to safely park the head when they lose power, but if you were writing the the HDD, damage to the file system might still be possible but very unlikely in newer drives.

As for these connectors, enclosures, they have nothing special, just use safely remove to eject the drive and let it rest a few moments just to spin down.

These converters have nothing special, just a circuit board that converts the signal coming from the SATA controller to the USB. Most external drives are like that, if you open any external HDD, you'll find a slim normal (mostly 5400rpm HDD) drive with a SATA output connected to a circuit that converts its signal to be connected to a USB.

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