external drive for logic pro x? when to turn off?

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Level 4

1,071 points

external drive for logic pro x? when to turn off?

Hi, I have started to use my Mac Book Pro Retina 2015 closed and on a stand, I have a Thunderbolt 27 display.

When I finish work at the end of each day I don't shut down my Macbook Pro, as its on a stand, I just press Shift/CTRL/EJECT, this turns off the display until I touch the mouse next time.

However, I have 2 external drives for my Logic Pro x files, can I just turn them off after I turn the display screen off? or do I need to take the MBP from the stand and shutdown first?

Any advice welcome!

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015), OS X El Capitan (10.11.3)

Posted on Sep 14, 2016 12:00 AM

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Answer 1

octopi

Level 4

3,630 points

Sep 14, 2016 3:25 AM in response to kerochan

I would just un-mount them before turning them off.

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Answer 2

kerochan Author

Level 4

1,071 points

Sep 14, 2016 3:57 AM in response to octopi

I guess thats the best plan, obvious and I didn't even think of it! thanks octopi

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Answer 3

BenB

Level 6

13,300 points

Sep 14, 2016 4:05 AM in response to kerochan

You're actually not turning off anything, you're putting your laptop to "sleep". It will look for those drives to be connected when it wakes up. Unplugging drives without un-mounting first is the same for a running Mac, or a Mac that is in "sleep mode". Neither is "off" and you risk corrupting files on the drive that is disconnected without un-mounting. Un-mount goes through a clean up routine to keep your data safe.

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