If the driver pot is set for low current, you should be safe testing, with care to avoid driver shorts and such.
I am under the impression that you are using half coils e.g. have not combined halves to make a full coil - sort of speaking. Dunno for sure coz its hard to get past the labels which we are using, so perhaps pictures are better. So i was looking for a diagram of 8 wire motor and came across this thread which provides some pictures better than i expected so its nice to have in the context: [forum.sparkfun.com] The colors will probably not match as i think everybody use anything they want, but its a good read nonetheless. You are using full coils if you use 4 wires (abcd, one from each) to the driver and you have 2 wires shorted together but otherwise not used, and again another 2 shorted but otherwise not used. Anyway, hope its all fine now.
I am under the impression that you are using half coils e.g. have not combined halves to make a full coil - sort of speaking. Dunno for sure coz its hard to get past the labels which we are using, so perhaps pictures are better. So i was looking for a diagram of 8 wire motor and came across this thread which provides some pictures better than i expected so its nice to have in the context: [forum.sparkfun.com] The colors will probably not match as i think everybody use anything they want, but its a good read nonetheless. You are using full coils if you use 4 wires (abcd, one from each) to the driver and you have 2 wires shorted together but otherwise not used, and again another 2 shorted but otherwise not used. Anyway, hope its all fine now.