Do I Really Need to “Eject” USB Drives?

Is it really important to eject my USB drive before removing it from your computer? This is a common question our San Diego IT consultants receive from our clients who are concerned about data corruption and hardware damage. Many people will just remove their USB drives without ejecting them. Most of the time the drive will be ok, but to prevent loss of important information, it is always better to be safe and manually eject the drive before removing it.

When you connect a USB drive to your computer, you will notice that the computer will display a notification that the device has been connected. This means that the computer’s operating system has recognized the drive and is able to access files and write data to the drive. While the computer is accessing files, it is sending information to and from the drive at great speed. If the drive is suddenly removed it could cause data to get scrambled, not be saved or damage the USB drive.

This can even happen if the file was not being accessed at the time the drive was removed. Sometimes there can be background processes that you don’t know about that could cause data loss if the drive is removed without ejecting. If you try to eject a drive while one of these background processes is going on, the computer will at least warn you that the drive is still in use.

Unlike Mac and Linux computers, Windows operating systems have a safety feature built in that can prevent data corruption and loss. Write caching on Windows based systems is disabled by default on removable devices. This means that data is written as soon as the “save” command is sent and is not stored in system memory to be written later. This reduces the chance that data will be corrupted if the drive is removed without manually ejecting. This is only a safety feature however and it is still possible to corrupt a file even with write caching disabled.

To safely remove a USB drive from a Windows computer you can click on the system tray, right click “Safely remove hardware” and select the drive that you want to eject. You can also go to Start>Computer>Right click on the device you want to remove and select eject. At this point Windows will either let you know that the drive can be safely removed or that the drive is still being used by a background process.

The simple solution to prevent data loss is to get in the habit of safely ejecting USB drives before unplugging them from your computer. This may be an extra step and may take longer, but it is the best and safest way to make sure that the data that was saved on the drive is safe and will actually be usable when you go to your next business appointment.

Looking for more technology tips? Contact Syndeo Communications, a premier San Diego IT support company, and find out how you can better manage your current technology to increase efficiency and profit. We offer complimentary consultations, so don’t hesitate to call us at 760-650-3300.