Hi
1. USB HDD (on 98se with nusb3.1) is supposed to be ejected using the
software tool before being unplugged or unpowered. What happens if its
not?
There might be cached data not yet written, or being written
right at that moment (even worse, could corrupt whole
drive).
2. How do I find out what's accessing it, when afaik nothing should
be.
Why do you need to find out? Just use the tool and
especially dont' unplug it if the access light is flashing
(and always get/use a drive with that light). What is
accessing it would be the OS, not some application (unless a
specific situation where you did have files open with some
app).
IMO, unplugging a drive prematurely is the leading cost of
data loss on USB HDDs. I would speculate it's more common
than even mechanical drive failure, though of course common
only means among everyone everywhere, not to those who wait
till all activity is finished and use a disconnect or unplug
software command.
One problem I've noticed with 98SE is it seems to treat some
drives differently than others. On one I have a copying
indicator stays on-screen for the entire duration when
writing files to the drive. On another drive the copying
indicator only stays on-screen long enough to cache the
files in memory, then it "looks" like the copying is done
but the files are still being written to the drive. I
recall there is a caching setting in the 98SE GUI, mostly
because I tried to toggle that setting so all drives behaved
the same instead of this difference, and it didn't cause the
intended result, one drive still appears done very quickly
but files are still being written for far longer than the
copying indicator on-screen.
