Safest and simplest way to power down WD My Passport Ultra?

Just purchased the WD My Passport Ultra. What is the safest way to shut-it off once done with it when plugged into the USB port of my laptop? And how do I do it? Old guy here and just learning! Help!

The best method is to safely eject your unit. After Windows informs the unit can be disconnected, then it should be unplugged from the USB port attached to your computer (As opposed to the connector on your WD Passport).

In order to safely eject your unit, left-click on the Safely Remove Hardware Icon on the taskbar to view a list of available USB drives to eject. then select the external hard drive from the list.

Why should the drive be disconnected from the computer and not the back of the drive itself. This doesn’t seem to have caused any problems for me but perhaps there is a good reason for what you say. I would be interested to know. Many thanks.