tethering my phone to my macbook pro, could it hurt my new mbp?

im using a 2010 2.4Ghz 13in MBP, and I do not have wifi at home. Instead i tether my Motorola Droid to my MBP to get internet. i COULD tether via bluetooth, but connection speeds are super slow when doing that. but i prefer USB tether because its much faster. it works fine, but i have one problem: there is no way to prevent my Droid from charging it's own battery when hooked up to the MBP.

obviously this causes the MBP battery to drain much faster because the Droid wants to "suck" the battery out of the MBP, even when fully charged it does this because the Droid runs on "AC" power when fully charged.

could this be harmful to my MBP's battery? will it shorten it's long-term battery life or maybe damage other hardware? OR, is there a way to prevent my Droid from "sucking" the MBP battery?

Unless there's Mac software available for the Droid and it supports switching it from charging to syncing or tethering, your phone is going to continue to charge. I've used Motorola phones with my Mac and everyone I've owned does the same thing. However, when in Windows, the phone behaves itself because the Windows software supports it.

I suggest you try the Motorola forums for answers. Lots of Mac owners on the forum. Someone may have a better answer for you.

Regards.

Wait when you tether your droid with your macbook pro do you have your macbook pro plugged in by the A/C power adapter? Or are you running off sole battery power?

In either instance, I don't think you have much to worry about. In fact, its usually beneficial to be using your macbook pro battery often. Most people shorten their mbp's battery life by leaving it plugged in all the time and not letting the battery juices flow once in a while.

Personally I don't think it will be an issue, and even if it could damage your battery somehow, it wouldn't be on a big scale. I've never heard of someone damaging their laptop battery by running a device on phantom power.

But never-the-less, i agree with chscag, and you should probably see what the folks over at the motorola forums have to say.

Anyways best of luck!

Cheers.