UKH

Hi All,

Seems like all my problems are IT related, d'oh!

When I try to eject a storage device, either a 32GB stick, or a 2TB device (both SSD), sometime I get a message to say "safe to eject", but other times I don't even get the option to eject.

If I know 100% that my files * are not being transferred, is it ok just to pull the device out ?

Given that it is a SSD with no moving parts.

(* ie the files I wish to backup or move).

What about HDD, I assume they have moving parts so cant just be pulled out. But shutting down the laptop is a right royal PITA. Bl00dy IT !

Can't edit this post, not sure why !

Edit = But shutting down the laptop is a right royal PITA, just to pull out an HDD then restart the laptop 2 mins later.

If you're 100% sure that your files have been transferred, then you're fine to pull out the drive. It doesn't matter if it's SSD or HDD, it's not about moving parts. The reason you're supposed to eject drives is that the OS will sometimes delay writing to the drive even though you have saved the files. Ejecting the drive tells the OS to write everything that's waiting to the drive. Nowadays drives are so fast that it's very rarely cached for long, so I rarely bother with ejecting drives.

One caveat though - How do you know 100% that your files have been transferred? 

If you look through the icons in your dashboard on the bottom right when a USB device is plugged in you will find an option to eject a device.

I don't always do it with Solid State devices but it's worth doing with HDDs as you can shorten their life by unplugging them with no warning.

That's the problem, the icon is not always there.

In fact, right now I have two devices plugged in but no icon.

I guess I do not, but given the transfer rate and size of files to transfer I am comfortable that has happened. Especially as the laptop is not doing much else at that point in time.

The status bar of file transfer speed and completeness has never been an issue, and I always give a comfortable buffer of time at the end, like go and make a cup of tea.

Depends on settings, there is a setting to try to get higher performance out of removable storage that also increases the risk that unannounced removal (instead of ejecting) will lead to inconsistent/corrupted files and/or drive.

But if you don't know about this, then you haven't enabled that (it's not like that by default) so it is very likely to be OK to remove, but...  I can't absolutely completely 100% guarantee that, so best to eject when you can

You can only edit a post for 30 minutes after you've posted it.

I learn something every day on UKC, thank you.

Correct, I did not know one could do that.