I am wondering if the order is important, which do I turn off first? The Atari ST computer or the external hard drive attached to it? It is on an SCSI adapter.

  • If the computer isn't using it, I see no reason that you shouldn't be able to turn off the drive first. However, I'm not an Atari ST expert. Welcome to the site. – wizzwizz4 Mar 16 '17 at 7:44

The order of switching should be relatively arbitrary - After all, there were Ataris around (like the Falcon or ST/E) that didn't have a separate power switch for the hard disk and where it was relatively random what stopped first.

But, if in doubt, ask the manual. The Atari Megafile manual says the following:

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(I'm especially fond of the "...when the whirring stops..." part - My Megafile 40 never stopped whirring :) )

According to this (a pity that they don't give a reason), you should power off the disk last.

  • Switching the computer off first could be to simply ensure that there cannot be any outstanding or in-progress writes from the computer to the HDD. – user Mar 22 '17 at 14:15

The rule of thumb is switch on the peripherals firts and switch off them last. It is preffered to have the external pripherals already up and running while the computer is on, at least for home micros.

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