Philippe Landau wrote:
This sounds more like a static discharge or a bad ground then anything normal. You should not see any flash when you plug in a USB device. The USB connector does have 2 pins for power, but these make connection after the grounded body of the plug is making contact with the USB socket, so even if there were a spark, you would not see it.when i plug in my new Data-Tec D350U USB 2 external harddisk, i see a small electric flash which can cause my PC to shutdown instantly. i know USB is powered, carrying a small voltage, so the flash is not unexpected. also as it is used to send control signals i can understand that it powers down my PC. but it is risky for my data, so i would like to know if others saw that happen too.
kind regards philippe
One thing that can cause problems is if you have a separate power connection for your USB hard drive, and the power supply for it, and the one for the computer, as plugged into different wall outlets. By this, I mean outlets located at different points on the wall, or workbench. If they are on different circuits, and take different paths back to the electrical box, you can end up with different "ground" levels on the two outlets. The difference is usually not that great, but a 2 volt difference means a lot to computers. The problem is worse if you do not have properly grounded outlets.
Mikkel
-- Remember: Sometimes the dragon wins!
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