I was surprised that Win 7 still has that dismount USB device icon on the task bar.
I hate getting fussed at by Windows and click the silly icon. But, is it still required? After all these years Microsoft hasn’t figured out a way to keep the write buffer cleared?
I do know people at work that just pull the USB cord and let Windows bitch all it wants. Never known anyone to lose or corrupt a file yet.
Lets say you copy a 300 MB file to your External Drive. You walk down the hall for a piss and then stop by the break-room for a cup of Joe. Time you get back the file has successfully copied at least 10 minutes ago. Wouldn’t the writer buffer be cleared by then? Is that blasted dismount USB program really necessary if its been a few minutes since USB was written too?
You don’t usually need to and the chances of something going wrong are slim, but if you have written something important to the USB drive, then it’s probably a good idea to do it.
I’ve had files lost when someone pulled the item out; I suspect it may be linked to the phenomenon I call “polite dwarves”. My first programming teacher used similes about little dwarves in the machine; often, the dwarves tell you something is done but it really isn’t: “done, ma’am!” may mean “the part you really care about is done, but other parts I need to do to keep the system working properly still need to be done”.
Pull the plug before those maintenance tasks are done and the next time the USB drive or SD card says “bad format! aaaaagh!”
Or maybe Middlebro simply shouldn’t be allowed to touch anything which uses magnetic fields, who knows. He’s “broken” so many USB devices for Mom and me that I’ve forbidden him from plugging or unplugging anything from our computers.
I definitely still dismount mine. Especially my Kindle. It’s worth the extra three seconds for peace of mind. Of course, I’m still using XP. If Windows 2050 were to come out and it weren’t possible or necessary to dismount anymore, I’d willingly stop. Until then, I do it just in case.
Well, I hope you don’t, because our library computers don’t let you do that because of permissions for some reason. So the patrons have to yank them all the time.
If you’re reasonably sure the drive isn’t being written to it’s safe to just pull it out. Like if you haven’t used it for 5 minutes or more. Otherwise you risk file corruption.
Ok, I was just wondering if things had changed since Vista and Win 7. I have noticed XP always fusses at you with a pop up if the USB cord is pulled without dismounting. I can’t recall seeing Win 7 fuss, but I usually dismount every time just by habit.
Never known anyone to lose or corrupt a file yet.