Wednesday, 20 January 2016 00:00

Always eject your USB flash drives

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Do you simply disconnect USB flash drives without ejecting them first? Well read on and find out why this is a bad idea!

Why should I eject my flash USB memory stick…

Don’t we all simply disconnect our USB flash drives without ejecting them first? That extra two seconds could be better spent doing something else right? Wrong! Unplugging without warning can cause data corruption. Mac and Linux users be especially aware!

The reason this is a bad idea is all down to ‘write caching’. Essentially your operating system will cache all the files to be written and perform the function in one go. The functionality is designed to improve performance. When a user disconnects a USB flash drive without warning, the cache is cleared out. If a write process is in operation, this inevitably will result in data corruption.

When you disconnect a flash drive on in Mac or Linux without ejecting, users will receive a warning message. Windows does not and doesn’t even have an obvious eject button. Why is this? Quite simply, Windows disables ‘write caching’ by default and a user must go into the device properties to re-enable it. In this respect Windows is much more intuitive in that it understands users often disconnect without warning. If you are going to disable this default make sure you religiously follow the disconnection procedure.

Reference: http://www.datarecoveryspecialists.co.uk/blog/why-should-i-eject-my-flash-usb-memory-stick

Last modified on Wednesday, 20 January 2016 13:52
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Viktor S., Ph.D. (Electrical/Computer Engineering), was hired by DataRecoup, the international data recovery corporation, in 2012. Promoted to Engineering Senior Manager in 2010 and then to his current position, as C.I.O. of DataRecoup, in 2014. Responsible for the management of critical, high-priority RAID data recovery cases and the application of his expert, comprehensive knowledge in database data retrieval. He is also responsible for planning and implementing SEO/SEM and other internet-based marketing strategies. Currently, Viktor S., Ph.D., is focusing on the further development and expansion of DataRecoup’s major internet marketing campaign for their already successful proprietary software application “Data Recovery for Windows” (an application which he developed).

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