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On Windows, they're mounted sync by default, so you can just remove them. Of course, if you do so while it's writing, you'll have a problem - though this was th
by rikkus 11y ago
On Windows, they're mounted sync by default, so you can just remove them. Of course, if you do so while it's writing, you'll have a problem - though this was the same with floppies.
Windows used to require you to 'eject' but doesn't any more, which I think is due to the above. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
- zamalek 11y agoIt is only required if you enabled write-caching for removable media. As far as I know this has never been enabled by default.
- JupiterMoon 11y agoBy windows. I'm not sure what parted/gparted defaults to.
- digi_owl 11y agoI think they go with a write cache. I recall some distros tried to mount USB drives with the sync option back in the early days of USB media. Problem was that this, in combo with FAT, would basically kill cheap drives lacking wear leveling. This because every write action was accompanies with a allocation table update. And thus whatever flash cells housed that table would see a massive amount of writes. Actually i think the mount man file still have a warning about this in the sync option entry.
- JupiterMoon 11y agoSo this implies that even in windows one needs to safely unmount external media that were originally formatted using parted/gparted?
- pjc50 11y agoNo, the write caching is a function of whatever's reading the thing, not the format.
- TazeTSchnitzel 11y ago> It is only required if you enabled write-caching for removable media. No, it's always required, because applications may be writing to the drive.
- hnal943 11y agoI have never done it, and never had any problems. I always assumed it was a feature that only was needed for devices that had some sort of physical requirement for safe shutdown (spinning rust or the like).
- JupiterMoon 11y agoI think that it depends upon file system and the options selected when you format the drive. Windows defaults to options that mean you don't need to 'eject'. However, if you formatted on another OS you can select options that mean a safe unmount is required before yanking the drive out of the socket.