Windows Vista USB devices 'remove safely'

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Guest

Hi,
I recently installed windows vista. I noticed that when I choose 'Remove
safely' option for USB devices from task bar, the OS reports successful
disconnection, but the USB device still keeps on charging (It seems to be
receiving power). But in Windows XP, this was not so. Those LED's use to turn
of once I do the above action.

Is this a change in Windows Vista or there is some other problem with my
computer. If its by design, is it safe to remove my hardware (card readers,
ipod..) when the power LED is still on !

-Ashish
 
The main reason for the 'Remove Safely' option is to purge the write cache.
This ensures that any files you've saved to the device are actually written
to the device and not still sitting on your computer's hard drive waiting to
be written. Once Windows tells you it's safe to remove the device, it
should be OK. I say "should" because I'd hate you to take just my word for
it; hopefully some MVPs will back me up soon.

If you haven't actually saved anything to the device it's perfectly safe to
just unplug it anyway, the same way you would a USB joystick or any other
non-writeable device. It's always better to be safe than sorry though, so
any storage device (including iPods, phones, PDAs, SatNavs etc) should be
'Safely Removed' to avoid the slight risk of data loss.

Maybe they decided to continue supplying power to disconnected devices
because more and more devices these days can be recharged via the USB port.
That's just supposition, but it would sort of make sense.
 
Thanks Rojo ! As you said, it 'seems' okay just to unplug your hardware after
'safe removal'. Another trick which I read yesterday was to switch to 'Sleep
Mode'. This actually cuts off power to USB devices.

For my iPod and mobile phone I am following this approach for now:
1] Use 'remove safely'.
2] Switch to 'Sleep Mode' (switches off power to the devices)
3] Disconnect the device physically !

Lets hope for more responses to this post.
Thank you once again.
 
Ashish said:
Hi,
I recently installed windows vista. I noticed that when I choose 'Remove
safely' option for USB devices from task bar, the OS reports successful
disconnection, but the USB device still keeps on charging (It seems to be
receiving power). But in Windows XP, this was not so. Those LED's use to turn
of once I do the above action.

Is this a change in Windows Vista or there is some other problem with my
computer. If its by design, is it safe to remove my hardware (card readers,
ipod..) when the power LED is still on !
Click to expand...

Yes, this is a new 'feature' in Vista. No idea what the plan
is here but it's a known effect.

If the "save removal" says "it's ok now to remove" then it is.
It makes no difference if you just unplug or if you send the
computer into standby. No data is send or received to this
device, it just loses the power in both cases.


Uwe
 
If the "save removal" says "it's ok now to remove" then it is.
Uwe
Click to expand...

WRONG!!! I just lost more than 160 songs and several other files, mostly
important for my work (I am a DJ and event-organizer)!! I moved them to an
external drive, move reported "complete", and then I proceeded to the "remove
safely" procedure.. Upon receiving the "now it's safe to remove the USB
device" message, I disconnected the external-HD (since Vista ASSURED me it is
SAFE to remove the device!!)

After that, those files were reported corrupted!! Plugging the external-HD
to my Vista-operated laptop again, I received the message that I have to fix
this drive, because at the last session I unplugged it BEFORE data-moving was
finished!! what tha! After running the Vista-"fixing" program, those files
were deleted by this program, and they are nowhere to be found now!!!

I am SERIOUSLY thinking about sueing Microsoft, I have witnesses of the
incident! All my work, and pressing projects are significantly "damaged" from
what happened...
 
Chris Michaelides said:
WRONG!!! I just lost more than 160 songs and several other files, mostly
important for my work (I am a DJ and event-organizer)!! I moved them to an
external drive, move reported "complete", and then I proceeded to the
"remove
safely" procedure.. Upon receiving the "now it's safe to remove the USB
device" message, I disconnected the external-HD (since Vista ASSURED me it
is
SAFE to remove the device!!)

After that, those files were reported corrupted!! Plugging the external-HD
to my Vista-operated laptop again, I received the message that I have to
fix
this drive, because at the last session I unplugged it BEFORE data-moving
was
finished!! what tha! After running the Vista-"fixing" program, those files
were deleted by this program, and they are nowhere to be found now!!!

I am SERIOUSLY thinking about sueing Microsoft, I have witnesses of the
incident! All my work, and pressing projects are significantly "damaged"
from
what happened...
Click to expand...

Maybe this corruption was caused by the internal cache of the drive
or drive powered down too early - not by anything on host side.

--PA
 
Pavel A. said:
Maybe this corruption was caused by the internal cache of the drive
or drive powered down too early - not by anything on host side.

--PA
Click to expand...

Since the drive has an external power supply (not powered by USB) and I
unplugged ONLY the USB cable, this means that the corruption was not caused
by a power failure, or internal cache of the drive. Since Vista prompted me
to unplug the drive because "it is safe to remove", then I assume the drive
is idle and SAFE TO REMOVE!! My operating system reassured me to remove it,
that's why I got the OS, right? I never had this problem with XP and this
drive in several PCs and locations!
 
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