Anyone else experiencing this? I have two Studio LX drives and every time I insert or remove the power plug, I get an electrical spark. So far, there has been no data loss or personal injury. But it’s kinda scary.
I’ve tried other 12V plugs (Seagate, LaCie, and WD) and they all have the same behavior on both drives.
That’s not good. I’d make sure to have that data backed up.
The spark is normal behaviour for a device powered from a two-pronged switchmode AC adapter. This is because the AC and DC sides of the adapter are linked by a high impedance capacitor. If you measure the voltage with a DMM, you will probably see half mains potential, ie 120VAC for Europe, or 60VAC for USA. When you connect an earthed load, the abovementioned capacitor is charged by the potential difference. You may feel a tingle when you grab the DC plug, but this is essentially harmless because the current is extremely low.
Do you still get a spark when the USB / firewire interface cable is removed?
BTW, here is a photo of the power supply section of my DVD recorder:
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/DVD/TDR250HD/Photos/PSU.jpg
Notice the three disc shaped capacitors straddling the white hot-cold demarcation line. These are responsible for the spark.
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