{"id":4956,"date":"2020-05-13T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-13T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/langa.com\/?p=4956"},"modified":"2020-05-08T09:59:31","modified_gmt":"2020-05-08T13:59:31","slug":"why-do-external-storage-devices-need-to-be-ejected-prior-to-removing-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/13\/why-do-external-storage-devices-need-to-be-ejected-prior-to-removing-them\/","title":{"rendered":"“Why do external storage devices need to be ‘ejected’ prior to removing them?”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

(Answer requested by Dreezy Mida)<\/small><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, sometimes they don’t. Here’s what’s going on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

External (USB) storage is almost always slow<\/em> storage compared to what’s inside a PC. As a result, PC’s using USB storage would typically buffer<\/em> (temporarily store in RAM) data that was destined for an external device.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This way, the app wouldn’t have to wait for the slow device to finish. An app could write data to the (fast) buffer, and then go about its business while the buffer dribbled the data out to the device at whatever speed the device would support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem was that if you removed or disconnected the external device before the buffers were fully cleared, you’d lose whatever data had not yet been transmitted to the device.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Ejecting” (a term left over from the days of cassette-based storage!) or triggering the “Safely Remove” function for external storage causes the operating system to force-flush any data remaining in the buffer, ensuring that there’s no data waiting to be written. Once the device is “ejected,” it’s safe to remove.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Windows 10 no longer requires this:<\/span><\/strong> <\/span>Since the Fall of 2018, Win10 now automatically keeps its external buffers flushed, so the odds of data loss from premature disconnection are greatly reduced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s still a “best practice” or “belt-and-suspenders” thing to eject\/”Safely Remove” an external device before disconnecting (that way, you’re 100% sure that it’s truly safe) — but with Win10, it’s no longer strictly necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Permalink: https:\/\/langa.com\/?p=4956<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"[seperator]\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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(Answer requested by Dreezy Mida) Well, sometimes they don’t. Here’s what’s going on: External (USB) storage is almost always slow storage compared to what’s inside a PC. As a result, PC’s using USB storage would typically buffer (temporarily store in RAM) data that was destined for an external device. This way, the app wouldn’t have…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3849,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,30,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-reader-asks","category-hardware","category-windows"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/USB_icon.png?fit=417%2C200&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paaiox-1hW","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2769,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/05\/15\/where-can-i-get-a-multiport-sd-card-reader-that-holds-10-cards-at-the-same-time-for-external-storage-on-a-pc-or-mac\/","url_meta":{"origin":4956,"position":0},"title":"“Where can I get a multiport SD card reader that holds 10 cards at the same time for external storage on a PC or Mac?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-05-15","format":false,"excerpt":"(Answer requested by Dennis Hayes) I think I can suggest a better approach; but first, to answer your question: You need a hub, not a reader. When you plug in a standard card reader \u2014 even one with multiple slots for different types of cards \u2014 the reader is assigned\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/43GB-of-sd-cards.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/43GB-of-sd-cards.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/43GB-of-sd-cards.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/43GB-of-sd-cards.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/43GB-of-sd-cards.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/43GB-of-sd-cards.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":911,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/02\/a-reader-asks-how-can-i-reset-my-smartphone-without-losing-data-it-keeps-restarting\/","url_meta":{"origin":4956,"position":1},"title":"A reader asks: How can I reset my smartphone without losing data? It keeps restarting.","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-11-02","format":false,"excerpt":"Reader Aaron used the Contact link to ask: \"How can I reset my smartphone without losing data? It keeps restarting.\" You\u2019ll have to temporarily move the data to another device (eg your PC; or a cloud-based file storage service like Drive, OneDrive, DropBox; etc.) How you do this depends on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4909,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/05\/what-is-the-point-of-buying-an-external-hard-drive-if-it-will-fail-what-do-i-do-with-all-my-photos-personal-data\/","url_meta":{"origin":4956,"position":2},"title":"“What is the point of buying an external hard drive if it will fail? 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For example,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/2005-hard-drive.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":212,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/08\/29\/a-reader-asks-how-do-i-recover-save-my-phones-internal-storage-before-doing-reset\/","url_meta":{"origin":4956,"position":3},"title":"A reader asks: How do I recover\/save my phone’s internal storage before doing Reset?","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-08-29","format":false,"excerpt":"Q:\u00a0How do I recover\/save my phone's internal storage before doing Reset?\u00a0 (via Quora) A: It depends on where\u2019s the data stored --- but should always be relatively easy to do. 1) If the data is on a plug-in\/add-on memory card, recovery is trivially simple: Turn off the phone, remove the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1702,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/23\/a-reader-asks-why-cant-i-shut-off-my-usb-c-ports-power\/","url_meta":{"origin":4956,"position":4},"title":"A reader asks: “Why can’t I shut off my USB-C port’s power?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-01-23","format":false,"excerpt":"Reader Bernie Holladay* writes: Fred, I have a question about the USB-C port.I needed to spec a USB connection for my new PC and choose Type-C.\u00a0 It was for a connection to a USB powered cooling pad for a laptop.It worked fine but when I shut down I noticed the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/root-hub-power.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1329,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/13\/a-reader-asks-my-pc-has-an-ssd-and-hdd-installed-will-adding-an-old-slow-hdd-make-my-whole-pc-slow\/","url_meta":{"origin":4956,"position":5},"title":"A reader asks: My PC has an SSD; will adding an old, slow HDD make my whole PC slow?","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-12-13","format":false,"excerpt":"Nope --- not if you're smart about how you set it up! Older, slower drives are great for medium-to-long-term data storage --- files that you want to have handy and accessible, but that are not in constant use. 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