How Can I Safely Remove My Thumb Drive?

I would do it all the time if you didn't have to click so much to do it. You have to double click the icon, click the drive, click stop, then click on it again in the new window that pops up, then click okay....then wait a sec, remove your drive, then close the window when it disappears. It's a lot of hassle, I just did it when I had my media card reader hooked up.

If they would have made it so you just double click the icon and it stops it, then I would do it all the time.
 
if you just pull it out, youll lose recently saved data(within the last hour) but otherwise theres no problems
 
parsex said:
if you just pull it out, youll lose recently saved data(within the last hour) but otherwise theres no problems

Really? I've never had that happen before, I would have failed a lot of essays if that were true.
 
you can pull it out, just don't do it while it's reading/writing data or otherwise when the light is flashing that there is activity. I use that as my general rule of thumb and I've never lost any data yet :)
 
The whole point of the "Safely Remove Hardware" thing is to make sure no programs are still connected to it, or you could cause an error or destabilize your computer. If you're absolutely sure that nothing is using it, just pull it out. USB is designed to be "hot swap" compatible, meaning you can just plug/unplug it whenever.
 
I would say that a flashdrive isnt truly hot swappable, no hard drive is (especially if your using drive caching to speed performance up) and most people are. You are a lot safer if you disable drive caching. The safely remove hardware icon is there for a reason, so you should use it.

To disable drive caching, so you can remove the drive when you want, then goto device manager, right click the drive > properties > Policies tab > then select optimise for quick removal. Problem solved.
 
Just unplugging it causes no problems (as long as you don't end up unplugging it during a file transfer or w/e).

I have used mine for years and I have always unplugged it once I have been finished with it. Mine has a blue LED on it also, so I usually just unplug it when it stops flashing.
 
jamieoliver22 said:
Just unplugging it causes no problems (as long as you don't end up unplugging it during a file transfer or w/e).

I have used mine for years and I have always unplugged it once I have been finished with it. Mine has a blue LED on it also, so I usually just unplug it when it stops flashing.
Its a well known fact that removing a drive when caching is enabled can cause data loss, i think you have been lucky
 
Yeah, it's not too hard to just click on the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon. It's not like it's asking you to do something tedious.
 
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