Best way to remove HD?

[Mathias Haas]

Hello! I wonder if this is the best way to disconnect an external firewire
disk (Lacie) that's used as an external backup?

First I do the backup then I run the 'sync'-command in order to write down
any data still in the buffer. After that I umount the disk and then I turn
of the power and disconnect the disk from the computer.

Before the backup starts I connect the drive and then I simply mount it.

Is there any better way to do it or is this safe?