does connecting an hdd when your computer is powered up damage it

[buachille]

the title is my question.

but to explain, i have had a couple of situations recently where both my hdd's ended up being seen, by windows, as active partitions. only way to get windows to boot was disconnect the data one, then reconnect it once past boot.

is this bad for the mobo??

 

[buachille]

the issue is resolved but i was curious.

anyway, the hdd's are sata and the mobo is an evga 680i, so i think i should be ok. what think you?