Mark Today’s Question
I’ve been wondering whether I need to keep my external drives connected to my laptop all the time while I’m at home. Is it necessary? Similarly, should my backup drive stay connected constantly, or is it enough to connect it only when Carbon Copy Cloner is scheduled to run backups?
Mark’s Answer
As a precaution, I prefer to keep external hard drives disconnected from the computer unless they’re actively needed.
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While it’s entirely reasonable to keep external hard drives connected to your computer at all times for easy access to your data, I prefer to connect them only when needed.
This habit stems from what some might call an abundance of caution. For example, in the unlikely event of a severe power surge or lightning strike, having all drives connected simultaneously could result in damage to all of them, leaving no backup to recover from. Although such scenarios are rare, I prefer to minimise risk by limiting the time my drives remain connected.
In general, it’s safe to keep hard drives connected continuously, and there are plenty of cases where it makes sense — such as connecting drives in time for scheduled backups or keeping them connected all day when working with files like photos. However, I take a more cautious approach, connecting only the drives I need at the moment. For example, when performing a backup, I connect only the source and target drives, leaving other backup drives disconnected during the process.
It’s also worth noting that if you use Lightroom Classic, you don’t need your source photos readily available to review or update metadata, as long as previews have been built. With Smart Previews, you can even use the Develop module without access to the source files.
Ultimately, this isn’t something to stress over — it’s simply a habit I’ve developed to reduce the risk of data loss. By connecting drives only when necessary, I feel more secure in protecting my data while maintaining flexibility in how I work.
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