# connecting to my computer



## drenee (Nov 11, 2008)

I believe I have searched everywhere I can think and I just can't find a definitive answer to the following question.

When connecting Kindle to my computer do I leave the Kindle off or does it need to be turned on?

Thank you in advance.  I'd rather ask than take a guess and do it wrong.

debbie


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

Leave it on. The only thing you want to be careful with is that the computer is done writing to the Kindle before you disconnect the USB cord. It will show you on the Kindle what you need to watch for while it is connected.


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## drenee (Nov 11, 2008)

Thank you.  I read a blip that "inferred" it should be on, but nothing that implicitily said turn on first.  My MP3 player is always off before I plug it in, and so I just wanted to doublecheck with someone more knowledgable.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

When you want to disconnect it's best to use the 'safely remove hardware' icon in your task bar.  Or, I understand on a Mac you drag the Kindle icon to the trash.  (I know, that's a painful thought  ) I don't have a Mac but my brother says this works.  And if it's not done talking to your computer it won't stay in the trash.  But someone with more Mac experience might know better.

Ann


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

I really doesn't matter if you eject it or not. You might as well, for your own piece of mind.

If you don't the computer will only give you a warning that the drive was not ejected properly. As long as you wait until the computer is done writing to the drive, everything will be fine.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

Ann Von Hagel said:


> When you want to disconnect it's best to use the 'safely remove hardware' icon in your task bar. Or, I understand on a Mac you drag the Kindle icon to the trash. (I know, that's a painful thought  ) I don't have a Mac but my brother says this works. And if it's not done talking to your computer it won't stay in the trash. But someone with more Mac experience might know better.
> 
> Ann


I've been a Mac user/programmer for 20 years (and a PC user for 25). I much prefer to use the Apple official method of dismounting a drive by Control-clicking or right-clicking on the drive icon and choosing "Eject XXXX".

And I disagree with pidgeon92 about not needing to do this. I've had photo card directories scrambled by not dismounting them properly, even after writing was finished, and I'd just as soon not take the chance with my Kindle SD card. Safe/sorry, etc. Maybe this is specific to Macs.

Mike


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

I have never lost data pulling anything USB. But better safe than sorry, I would never discourage anyone from properly ejecting.


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## SusanCassidy (Nov 9, 2008)

I have had problems on Windows 2000 - messed up external drive when not properly ejecting (because it was hung up!), newer operating systems might be less problematic, but why take chances?  I'd hate to mess up my Kindle!


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## cush (Oct 27, 2008)

I'm a long time Mac user and I too have had problems with mounted external devices that were not properly "ejected", especially external disk drives and digital cameras. .  Dragging the device icon to the Trash is one way to do this on a Mac or you can- as jmiked posted above- Control clisk or right click on the device icon and select eject.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

SusanCassidy said:


> I have had problems on Windows 2000 - messed up external drive when not properly ejecting (because it was hung up!), newer operating systems might be less problematic, but why take chances? I'd hate to mess up my Kindle!


99% of the time I connect my Kindle to my laptop which is running Vista. If I wait for the silver blinking boxes to stop and disconnect my Kindle, all is well.

Once, I connected my Kindle to my ancient desktop running Windows 2000. Again, I just waited for the blinking boxes to stop and disconnected. Windows 2000 gave me all the usual messages about disconnecting before I was supposed to and so on. I should have paid attention because after that, my Kindle went into a time warp, with a home screen from 4 months earlier. Books, samples, etc. were all gone. They weren't gone, when I looked at the files (again, connected to the laptop). A hard reset (with the paperclip) fixed everything but I did have a momentary panic attack.

Since then, I've only used the laptop to connect to the Kindle and haven't had a problem since.
L


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