External Drives - Unplug or Remove hardware?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Brian V
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Brian V

Hi. I have an external hard-drive question. I use USB 3.5" external
hard-drives. Is it ok to just unplug them from USB or should I use theremove
hardware icon before unplugging?

Can the drive be damaged?

Does this apply to flash cards or usb memory sticks?

Thank you.
 
Brian said:
Hi. I have an external hard-drive question. I use USB 3.5" external
hard-drives. Is it ok to just unplug them from USB or should I use
theremove hardware icon before unplugging?

Can the drive be damaged?

Does this apply to flash cards or usb memory sticks?
Click to expand...

The 'remove hardware' is more for devices like USB connected hard drives -
in case there is any cached data that needs to be written to them before you
disconnect.

This is unlikely to be the case with a 3.5" floppy diskette/diskette drive.

In general - it's probably wiser to do the remove hardware thing - but for
most things (your case in particular surrounding really just the hardware,
not anything likely to be waiting to write to a floppy diskette) just
removing the device without doing anything else would work fine.
 
Ok It's an external hard-drive. I just re-formatted them. There's nothing on
them.

It's not for a floppy drive. I thought 3.5" HDD is the right term? (I forgot
HDD).

I have had that remove hardware icon sitting there for a while now. I just
chose remove and it finally went away. In there is said USB Mass Storage. So
from now on I will remove those before I unplug them.

Jsut curiour though: what info gets written? If I were just dragging and
dropping music, video or certain files in programs (extentions with a project
or preferences saved, etc), what gets written? In this case is it important
to have that information written? Isn't cached data kind of like a log or
temporay memory?
 
In
Brian V said:
Ok It's an external hard-drive. I just re-formatted them.
There's nothing on them.

It's not for a floppy drive. I thought 3.5" HDD is the
right term? (I forgot HDD).

I have had that remove hardware icon sitting there for a
while now. I just chose remove and it finally went away. In
there is said USB Mass Storage. So from now on I will
remove those before I unplug them.

Jsut curiour though: what info gets written? If I were just
dragging and dropping music, video or certain files in
programs (extentions with a project or preferences saved,
etc), what gets written? In this case is it important to
have that information written? Isn't cached data kind of
like a log or temporay memory?
Click to expand...

Apparently when he saw 3/5" he opted to believe it was a
floppy drive, not a hard drive. Your information was presented
properly.

Yes, you should use the remove hardware icon. The reason is,
that a lot of things sit in RAM in buffers and don't get
written to the hard drive when you think they do. You might
"Save" a file and think it's over. But, the Save results could
possible be sittin gin a buffer, not yet written to the drive.
So if you just turn off the drive, it's going to crash that
file and it'll probably never be able to be opened again. OR,
nothing might go wrong. It all depends on what's going on
inside the computer.

There is a setting, I forget where at the moment, that lets
you tell a hard drive to never buffer anything, always write
it to disk immediately. If you set that, then you'll no longer
see your drive in the remove hardware window, and you can just
turn it off. You do need the gumption to be sure you've saved
all files that might be in edit ofr that drive of course, but
.... well that's common sense<g>.
Depending on your setup, you may or may not notice that the
never-buffer setting slows things down a tad because instead
of shoving the data into a buffer and jumping right to the
next task it needs to do, the machine must finish that write
before it can go on to the next task.

Hope that makes some sort of sense<G>

Twayne`
 
Twayne said:
There is a setting, I forget where at the moment, that lets
you tell a hard drive to never buffer anything, always write
it to disk immediately. If you set that, then you'll no longer
see your drive in the remove hardware window, and you can just
turn it off. You do need the gumption to be sure you've saved
all files that might be in edit ofr that drive of course, but
... well that's common sense<g>.
Click to expand...
Perhaps this is what you were thinking about:

1) Plug in your flash drive or external HD in the available USB port

2) Go to the Start menu and double-click My Computer. Right-click on
your flash drive or HD and go to properties.

3) In the properties dialog box click on the Hardware tab and as soon as
it becomes populated, click to select your flash drive or HD.

4) Click on the properties button. The general tab will appear by
default in the pop up dialog box. Now click on the policies tab and
ensure that the radio button beside the option "Optimize for Quick
Removal" is checked. The default is "optimise for performance".

5) Click ok twice to close both dialog boxes and you are done. Now you
should be able to un-plug your flash drive without fear of loosing any data.

hth

--
THE INFORMATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY
KIND. LD55ZRA DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESSED OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL LD55ZRA
OR ITS ASSOCIATES BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER
INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF
BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF LD55ZRA OR ITS
ASSOCIATES HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR
LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL
DAMAGES SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY.

Copyright LD55ZRA 2010.
 
*** Reply in line

Twayne said:
In

Apparently when he saw 3/5" he opted to believe it was a floppy drive, not
a hard drive. Your information was presented properly.

Yes, you should use the remove hardware icon. The reason is, that a lot
of things sit in RAM in buffers and don't get written to the hard drive
when you think they do. You might "Save" a file and think it's over. But,
the Save results could possible be sittin gin a buffer, not yet written to
the drive. So if you just turn off the drive, it's going to crash that
file and it'll probably never be able to be opened again. OR, nothing
might go wrong. It all depends on what's going on inside the computer.

There is a setting, I forget where at the moment, that lets you tell a
hard drive to never buffer anything, always write it to disk immediately.
If you set that, then you'll no longer see your drive in the remove
hardware window, and you can just turn it off. You do need the gumption
to be sure you've saved all files that might be in edit ofr that drive of
course, but ... well that's common sense<g>.
Click to expand...

*** That's not entirely true. I have my external drive set for "Quick
Removal (Do not cache. . .)" and that drive still shows in my Remove
Hardware list. I generally use the Remove before unplugging it, even though
everything SHOULD be OK. I figure the extra 5 seconds it takes is cheap
enough insurance to not have a file in the middle of an operation while
unplugging. :-)
 
In
SC Tom said:
*** Reply in line



*** That's not entirely true. I have my external drive set
for "Quick Removal (Do not cache. . .)" and that drive
still shows in my Remove Hardware list. I generally use the
Remove before unplugging it, even though everything SHOULD
be OK. I figure the extra 5 seconds it takes is cheap
enough insurance to not have a file in the middle of an
operation while unplugging. :-)
Click to expand...

I've come across that myself, now I think about it, some time
ago. No idea why it's that way sometimes.
A comment though; beware trusting the 5 Second rule;
it -should- be, but isn't necessarily, enough time for a large
file or buffer to completely go to disk. It can sometimes take
seconds just for the cpu to get around to servicing the buffer
writes, depending on what it's doing.
Does it allow it to be removed when it appears in the
Remove Hardware List? You could test it by leaving a file
open but saved; that should bring buffers into play.
I've never been sure whether it's Remove Hardware or not
having the write-behind going on that was messed up. Just
curious; not important.

HTH,

Twayne`
 
Twayne said:
In

I've come across that myself, now I think about it, some time ago. No
idea why it's that way sometimes.
A comment though; beware trusting the 5 Second rule; it -should- be, but
isn't necessarily, enough time for a large file or buffer to completely go
to disk. It can sometimes take seconds just for the cpu to get around to
servicing the buffer writes, depending on what it's doing.
Does it allow it to be removed when it appears in the Remove Hardware
List? You could test it by leaving a file open but saved; that should
bring buffers into play.
I've never been sure whether it's Remove Hardware or not having the
write-behind going on that was messed up. Just curious; not important.

HTH,

Twayne`
Click to expand...

For the most part, it will allow me to remove it. I have had a couple of
instances where I ran an installation from the external drive to install a
program on my internal drive and I was not able to disconnect until I
rebooted. Other than that, I've never run into any problem with any files on
either the external or internal drives. I say "5 seconds" since it takes
about that long to click on the icon, pick the drive I want to disconnect,
and wait for the Safe to Remove message. It may be more, it may be less time
than that :-)
 
So, I have removed the drives a few times, everytime I turn on my computer.

I choose to format the external drives. I changed their name. I plan to plug
them in and choose remove the drives, but has my decision affected the
possability to remove the cached data permanently? The system keeps
recognizing "safetly remove hardware" upon start-up, but will not go away.
 
Brian V said:
So, I have removed the drives a few times, everytime I turn on my
computer.

I choose to format the external drives. I changed their name. I plan to
plug
them in and choose remove the drives, but has my decision affected the
possability to remove the cached data permanently? The system keeps
recognizing "safetly remove hardware" upon start-up, but will not go away.
Click to expand...

I don't know of any way to get rid of the notification icon. I just live
with it since it's not a problem of any sort. If you are allowed to select
"Safely remove hardware", then the cache (if enabled) is clear. That's not
saying nothing can go wrong, but it's less likely that way.
 
After looking at the notifications: One usb is the one for my printer (it has
a card reader and usb port), the other is the all in one card reader
connected to an internal usb port.

I can shut them down, but they always appear on and I am unsure if I can use
them if I disable them. But I assume if something is detected, then will turn
back on.
 
Brian V said:
After looking at the notifications: One usb is the one for my printer (it
has
a card reader and usb port), the other is the all in one card reader
connected to an internal usb port.

I can shut them down, but they always appear on and I am unsure if I can
use
them if I disable them. But I assume if something is detected, then will
turn
back on.
Click to expand...

Sometimes not without a reboot. Most times you can unplug the device, then
plug it back in (like the card reader) and it'll be picked back up. I've
seen occasions when that didn't work, though, and a reboot was necessary.
 
Brian said:
In most XP systems "Optimize for Quick Removal" is the default.
Click to expand...


Have you checked as a limited user on the system? As an Administrator
this is quite true but not as a Limited User.
I recommend you check the activity light on the drive has been unlit for a
few seconds before unplugging.
Click to expand...

Some don't have the light. I use Novatech brand and they don't have the
light.

hth

--
THE INFORMATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY
KIND. LD55ZRA DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESSED OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL LD55ZRA
OR ITS ASSOCIATES BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER
INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF
BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF LD55ZRA OR ITS
ASSOCIATES HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR
LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL
DAMAGES SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY.

Copyright LD55ZRA 2010.
 
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