Plug & Play Ethernet? WiFi?

[ThunderStrike]

Hi,

Is it ok to connect or disconnect the Ethernet cable or WiFi dongle while the RasPi is running?

Thanks

[DBryant]

There should be no problem at all, the OS should be happy to drop the restore the connection. Never done it though, but have pulled one or other at a time without any impact.

There may well be side effects; if you're logged in via ssh then the line will drop naturally, data transfers will terminate mid-stream and so on. The overall impact on the system will depend on exaclty what was terminated.

[PS1981]

I don't see a problem with the ethernet cable, though maybe someone else sees that differently. Personally I would always refrain from pulling any usb when power is on, reason being that I once (several years ago) actually saw a spark fly when a colleague of mine did that with a stick. I don't know if that's normal, but I did see it happen live!

[Mobius]

Don't be surprised if the Pi reboots, especially if you unplug the wifi adapter.

[PS1981]

Don't be surprised if the Pi reboots, especially if you unplug the wifi adapter.

Yes my newer pi does that too, but only if the USB device I remove was plugged directly into the pi and not via a hub. (I know I've just admitted to doing things which I advise against). My older pi doesn't seem to have a problem with it. But yes, thinking about it this way, you might aswell just switch it off first to be safe, especially if it's going to reboot it anyway.