Powering Off an External Hard Disk

I posted this with another title but it merged with one of the same title so
I thought I'd post again in case people missed it.

I recently purchased a 300GB Maxtor OneTouch USB2/Firewire drive.

I have noticed one thing though that I hope someone else with one of these
drives can confirm.

If I use USB2 to connect to the drive, when I select "Safely Remove
Hardware" in XP to disconnect the drive I hear the drive spin down and
'clunk' as the heads are 'parked' I guess.

However, if I use Firewire to connect, this does not happen when I "Safely
Remove Hardware". Not spin-down, no clunk. It does remove itself from "My
Computer" but I have to use the power switch on the hard disk to spin it
down, which I am concerned could damage the drive.

Is this normal using firewire or should I report to Maxtor as a problem?

Is it likely to cause any damage to the disk by just powering it off?

Thanks