Is there any harm to be obtain by just draw out a photoflash drive out ? Why do we need safe removal at all ?
Historically , Operating Systems treat phonograph record as physical object that can be trust not to change state suddenly . When reading or write files , the type O expects the file to remain approachable and not suddenly go away in mid - read or mid - write .
If a data file is open , a curriculum take the filing cabinet expects to be able to return to it and continue reading . Similarly , write commands may be dispatched to a writing subroutine and forgotten by the principal programme . If a private road disappear between the time the function is called and the data is written to saucer , that data point is lost forever .
In ye olde days , there were formal outgrowth to physically “ mount ” and “ unmount ” storage media , and the forcible act of put on a tape recording or a disk multitude activate some mechanical electric switch to find the front or absence of medium . Once the chemical mechanism was engaged , the computer software could start to apply the sensitive ( a “ sonant mount . ” ) . Some medium even had mechanically skillful meshing to keep media from being ejected or remove until the software process using the media released the ignition lock .
The Macintosh floppy and visual disk provide more modern examples of an interlocked physical and sonant mount . One could only eject medium through a software command , but that dictation might die if some program was holding a file open on the medium . Enter USB attached storage . There is no mechanical meshing in a USB connection to coordinate the backbreaking and flabby mount . The user can decide to pull the saucer out from under the operating arrangement at any fourth dimension , and endure all manner of programs freak out about the sudden loss of culture medium . “ Hey ! I was using that ! ”
symptom could include : Lost datum , corrupted filesystems , crashing programs , or hanging computers requiring a reboot . A dependable removal execute the “ voiced unmount ” necessitate to preclude any unexpected Bad Things that may happen if a broadcast turn a loss its entree to medium .
A safe removal does a few things :
It flushes all active writes to harrow .
It alerts all programs ( that live how to be alerted ) that the record is choke aside , and to take appropriate natural process .
It alerts the user when programs have fail to take action , and still are take files unfastened .
you’re able to remove a disk at any time , but you are at the clemency of how well programs using the saucer header with the sudden disappearance of that record .
In the modern computer , many steps have been taken to fight back against the capricious and careless removal of media . For representative , Windows even premise a feature called “ Optimize for Quick Removal ” that make certain data is write quickly instead of batched up and write efficiently . It is very heavy to get hoi polloi to change use . If you are doing only study on a medium , dependable removal is in all likelihood not needed . If you are doing writes , you are probably OK to skip safe removal if you have n’t write lately and you are n’t doing something giddy like indexing that disk .
As a full friend of mine once said : Life is too brusk to safely eject the phonograph recording .
However , Safe Removal does a figure of significant things and is , in fact , the only assuredly dependable way to withdraw a disk . You probably do n’t need it most of the time , but it is a expert drug abuse to have since data loss sucking .
About the author : Phillip Remaker , connect since 1986
Does safely ejecting from a USB porthole actually do anything?originally appear onQuora . you may follow Quora onTwitter , Facebook , andGoogle+ .
QUORA
Daily Newsletter
Get the best technical school , science , and culture news in your inbox day by day .
News from the time to come , deliver to your present .
You May Also Like
