transfer exel report to a usb flash drive F

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*SAVE* to your hard drive,
THEN,
Use Windows explorer to *COPY* to the flash drive!

*DON'T* save to the flash drive!
 
Curiosity question: I've seen others recommend not working directly to/from
USB Flash drive also. Why not?

I often do it and haven't lost anything - slow as snails swimming in
molasses some times, but no corrupted files or anything.
 
I don't know the exact mechanics of the process, but during a save, XL will
copy the file to check revisions and/or changes to whatever destination
drive is designated before writing the final accepted version to that
designated drive.

The problem comes in if there's not enough space on the designated drive.
Now days you can have 2, 4, 8 GB drives, so you can say that there's more
then enough space for this check writing of the file, which may take (need)
double the space of the actual file size.

BUT ... the flash drive won't always be new and empty.
There comes the time when it may be full, or almost full.
When you SAVE to that drive, if it's at all compromised, you LOOSE your
work.

If you copy to that drive, first of all, you'll only need approximately half
the space, and secondly, you'll be warned if there's insufficient room to
write the copy, and thirdly ... you've got the original saved somewhere else
(machines HD).

For years I've used ZIP drives just the same as the machines HD, saving to
them, and even working in them, exactly as if they were the machines drive.
But I always made sure the ZIP had more then double the space of the size of
the file.

*AND* ... I never let any of my users know about this usage, because I trust
ME, and not anyone else!<bg>
 
I recommend never opening a file from any removeable media--just because it
could be removed and screw up when I try to save it.

And I recommend not saving directly to the flashdrive (or any removeable media)
for the same reasons Ragdyer stated--albeit, they amount of space available
isn't as big a concern as with floppies.

But by saving to the harddrive first and copying to the flash drive, I know that
I have a backup.

I guess I just don't trust those things enough to use them directly (and for the
only copy).

This is more of a gut feeling than anything else for me. But as a general
recommendation to others, I think it's a reasonable approach.
 
Thanks to both of you for that insight. I understand the logic perfectly -
and those are reasonable concerns. I know what a disaster it can be if you
forget to properly 'eject' a USB drive without flushing the buffers.

My safeguards? Caution. 16GB Flash drive (3.5 GB in use, 11.5 available) -
I drag stuff back and forth between home/work with this rascal.

One final 'tweak' I make on the connection to this particular device, which
is what can make it slow when working with it, but adds a little safety to
even accidentally removing it: I have it "optimized for quick removal" which
means that the writes to it are not cached by Windows, but happen in real
time. A performance hit, but less risk of loss by accidentally removing it.
The option info even states "...you can disconnect this device without using
the Safe Removal icon." Although I always use that anyhow.

To get there: My Computer | Right-click on the device/drive and choose
[Properties] then to the Hardware tab and pick the device from the list in it
and click the [Properties] button on that tab. Next window that opens,
choose the [Policies] tab and there are 2 options available: Optimize for
Quick Removal, and (the default) Optimize for Performance.

The default Optimize for Performance *requires* you to use the Safe Removal
icon or otherwise 'eject' the device or else you risk file corruption/loss if
the Windows cache buffer hasn't been flushed.

Again, thanks for the info - valuable, and I agree that your recommendations
ARE the wise ones to offer to others as they are more likely to keep one and
all out of trouble in more than one way :-)
 
I, too, have it set for Quick Removal. But I still use the system tray icon.

(lack of faith???)
Thanks to both of you for that insight. I understand the logic perfectly -
and those are reasonable concerns. I know what a disaster it can be if you
forget to properly 'eject' a USB drive without flushing the buffers.

My safeguards? Caution. 16GB Flash drive (3.5 GB in use, 11.5 available) -
I drag stuff back and forth between home/work with this rascal.

One final 'tweak' I make on the connection to this particular device, which
is what can make it slow when working with it, but adds a little safety to
even accidentally removing it: I have it "optimized for quick removal" which
means that the writes to it are not cached by Windows, but happen in real
time. A performance hit, but less risk of loss by accidentally removing it.
The option info even states "...you can disconnect this device without using
the Safe Removal icon." Although I always use that anyhow.

To get there: My Computer | Right-click on the device/drive and choose
[Properties] then to the Hardware tab and pick the device from the list in it
and click the [Properties] button on that tab. Next window that opens,
choose the [Policies] tab and there are 2 options available: Optimize for
Quick Removal, and (the default) Optimize for Performance.

The default Optimize for Performance *requires* you to use the Safe Removal
icon or otherwise 'eject' the device or else you risk file corruption/loss if
the Windows cache buffer hasn't been flushed.

Again, thanks for the info - valuable, and I agree that your recommendations
ARE the wise ones to offer to others as they are more likely to keep one and
all out of trouble in more than one way :-)

Dave Peterson said:
I recommend never opening a file from any removeable media--just because it
could be removed and screw up when I try to save it.

And I recommend not saving directly to the flashdrive (or any removeable media)
for the same reasons Ragdyer stated--albeit, they amount of space available
isn't as big a concern as with floppies.

But by saving to the harddrive first and copying to the flash drive, I know that
I have a backup.

I guess I just don't trust those things enough to use them directly (and for the
only copy).

This is more of a gut feeling than anything else for me. But as a general
recommendation to others, I think it's a reasonable approach.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Belt AND suspenders.

Dave Peterson said:
I, too, have it set for Quick Removal. But I still use the system tray icon.

(lack of faith???)
Thanks to both of you for that insight. I understand the logic perfectly -
and those are reasonable concerns. I know what a disaster it can be if you
forget to properly 'eject' a USB drive without flushing the buffers.

My safeguards? Caution. 16GB Flash drive (3.5 GB in use, 11.5 available) -
I drag stuff back and forth between home/work with this rascal.

One final 'tweak' I make on the connection to this particular device, which
is what can make it slow when working with it, but adds a little safety to
even accidentally removing it: I have it "optimized for quick removal" which
means that the writes to it are not cached by Windows, but happen in real
time. A performance hit, but less risk of loss by accidentally removing it.
The option info even states "...you can disconnect this device without using
the Safe Removal icon." Although I always use that anyhow.

To get there: My Computer | Right-click on the device/drive and choose
[Properties] then to the Hardware tab and pick the device from the list in it
and click the [Properties] button on that tab. Next window that opens,
choose the [Policies] tab and there are 2 options available: Optimize for
Quick Removal, and (the default) Optimize for Performance.

The default Optimize for Performance *requires* you to use the Safe Removal
icon or otherwise 'eject' the device or else you risk file corruption/loss if
the Windows cache buffer hasn't been flushed.

Again, thanks for the info - valuable, and I agree that your recommendations
ARE the wise ones to offer to others as they are more likely to keep one and
all out of trouble in more than one way :-)

Dave Peterson said:
I recommend never opening a file from any removeable media--just because it
could be removed and screw up when I try to save it.

And I recommend not saving directly to the flashdrive (or any removeable media)
for the same reasons Ragdyer stated--albeit, they amount of space available
isn't as big a concern as with floppies.

But by saving to the harddrive first and copying to the flash drive, I know that
I have a backup.

I guess I just don't trust those things enough to use them directly (and for the
only copy).

This is more of a gut feeling than anything else for me. But as a general
recommendation to others, I think it's a reasonable approach.





JLatham wrote:

Curiosity question: I've seen others recommend not working directly to/from
USB Flash drive also. Why not?

I often do it and haven't lost anything - slow as snails swimming in
molasses some times, but no corrupted files or anything.

:

*SAVE* to your hard drive,
THEN,
Use Windows explorer to *COPY* to the flash drive!

*DON'T* save to the flash drive!
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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