“Some reviews say that this can break down and quit working over time. Would it work to turn this off, or unplug it, and turn it on maybe once a week to do backup? Would this hurt the machine or the data? Would it help it last longer?”
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I have a 1 TB drive that is at least 5 years old, still chugging along. I only plug it in and use it when needed. the key to not messing it up is to make sure you dismount it or shut down the computer before unplugging it from the USB. click the ^ next to your volume/network icons and choose the little USB looking Icon. safely remove hardware and eject media. choose your drive and do not unplug it until it dismounts.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.I leave mine off when not in use. I did the same with another My Book I used to back up my iMac for 5 years. The My Book still works just fine, and outlived the iMac. Unless you need constant access to the data on the backup drive, I'd recommend leaving it unplugged until needed for backup.
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