[noggin]

Hi again.

I opted to get a Raspberry Pi in the end, despite it being over budget. I've just realsied though, the device has no on/off switch. I imagine you can power down from within Kodi, but how do you switch it back on? Surely it can't be a matter of plugging the micro USB in and out? I intend to have a 1TB HDD permanently attached to this so I want this powered on and off correctly, I don't want to risk damaging it.

I can't believe this is even an issue!

I appreciate any help.

Yep - you can power down from within Kodi, but as you say you have to power cycle to start up again. That's why most people just leave it powered 24/7. There are in-line power cables you can get which allow you to power cycle without physically removing the Micro USB port if you do shut down the Pi but I've never really found it an issue and leave mine on most of the time. The current draw is so low it's close to negligible.

This isn't just a Pi thing - it's common across almost all the SBC boards like the ODroids etc.

If you are worried about the HDD then I'd 'safely eject' that and power that down separately. (It's a context menu option in Kodi) However most powered HDDs I have don't have power switches either. (Or are you using a 2.5" bus powered drive?)