Performance question regarding thumbdrives

If I leave my thumbdrive in my laptop all the time, will it adversely affect performance? What if the thumbdrive is empty?

I have a Macbook Pro Retina, if that matters...

Other than breaking the port or drive should it fall or bump something doubt it.

Thanks, hopefully not, it's one of those micro, ultra low profile drives.

I was just wondering if it being there would increase the places the Mac has to search, or something.

Personally, I would not leave it plugged in. Murphy's Law is always lingering around waiting to strike.... Remove it and keep it in your pocket, plug it in when ready to use. Make sure you properly eject it each time.

And eject properly rather than just removing to prevent corruption and/or failure. Save procedure as Windows......

Just to add to Harry's point, if your Mac goes asleep while the USB thumb drive is still plug in, it may be "improperly" ejected as a result.

EDIT: on second thought, maybe not. Anyway, I agree with all. Better safe than sorry and just eject and unplug it when not in use.

YES, having the USB drive in all the time will slow the machine down any time it has to look for something (spotlight searches, etc).

Agree with all above. Properly eject the drive when not in use.