01-10-2008, 10:33 AM

If i just pull my USB drive out of my macbook i get a warning error and it seems that I am ment to eject the drive before i remove it.

This is a pain in the behind and something that I dont have to do on my windows computer.

Why does it want me to do this all the time? What happens if i dont? What do you guys personaly do when taking your USB pendrives out?

01-10-2008, 10:46 AM

you should actually be doing this on your windows PC as well. if the OS has a file on the drive locked because it's in use, unplugging it without first ejecting or stopping the device can actually corrupt the contents. the mac, right-click, eject is actually much more simple than the XP 'safely remove hardware' routine.

but you should be ejecting the device under both OS's....

01-10-2008, 10:53 AM

Another way is to drag the icon to the trash can to dismount it - my question on the Mac is, why does the indicator light on the USB device (most have them) often stay lit after dismounting, unlike on Windows? Should it not switch off?

01-10-2008, 11:15 AM

Originally Posted by riscy

Another way is to drag the icon to the trash can to dismount it - my question on the Mac is, why does the indicator light on the USB device (most have them) often stay lit after dismounting, unlike on Windows? Should it not switch off?

if the device still has power, the power light should stay on. ejecting the device only dismounts it - it does not turn off the usb port...

01-10-2008, 11:32 AM

Originally Posted by chaos.theorist

you should actually be doing this on your windows PC as well. if the OS has a file on the drive locked because it's in use, unplugging it without first ejecting or stopping the device can actually corrupt the contents. the mac, right-click, eject is actually much more simple than the XP 'safely remove hardware' routine.

but you should be ejecting the device under both OS's....

Exactly. Which is why I do exactly the same thing for my computers, both Windows and Mac.

01-10-2008, 11:34 AM

Originally Posted by chaos.theorist

you should actually be doing this on your windows PC as well. if the OS has a file on the drive locked because it's in use, unplugging it without first ejecting or stopping the device can actually corrupt the contents. the mac, right-click, eject is actually much more simple than the XP 'safely remove hardware' routine.

but you should be ejecting the device under both OS's....

Yeah this is probably even more important to do under windows than it is under Mac, windows just doesn't give you a warning message and Mac OSX does.

01-10-2008, 11:38 AM

I just pull devices out with windows and I have never had a problem over the years. Does this mean i can just pull the drive out of my macbook and ignore the message?

01-10-2008, 11:43 AM

there's nothing stopping you from doing it.

of course, there's nothing stopping you from making toast while you bathe either.

01-10-2008, 12:24 PM

Originally Posted by tobywuk

I just pull devices out with windows and I have never had a problem over the years. Does this mean i can just pull the drive out of my macbook and ignore the message?

i have - i lost over 80 gigs of music with an external acomdata and windows xp. go ahead and yank the cable...best of luck.

01-10-2008, 12:31 PM

Windows XP and then Vista always shouted at me when I removed USB devices without ejecting.

As long as it's obvious nothing is being written, the chances of data corruption on a USB stick are slim.

01-10-2008, 04:13 PM

Agreed with chaos.theorist, DB and the others. Sure you can pull it and be lucky and nothing bad happen, but I have had and also seen many times where there was total data corruption both on Windows and OSX.

I agree with Alexis, I have had XP for sure yell at me for yanking the drive without first un-mounting it.

Like was said, just drag it to the trash. Takes seconds.

01-10-2008, 04:14 PM

Originally Posted by tobywuk

I just pull devices out with windows and I have never had a problem over the years. Does this mean i can just pull the drive out of my macbook and ignore the message?

I have corrupted a 2gb card doing that

01-10-2008, 04:57 PM

Originally Posted by eric

there's nothing stopping you from doing it.

of course, there's nothing stopping you from making toast while you bathe either.

Hahahaha Lololol Love the toaster comment.

01-10-2008, 04:59 PM

Originally Posted by tuobywuk

This is a pain in the behind and something that I dont have to do on my windows computer.

at work we are still using windows 2000 (dont ask) and everytime i rip my thumb drive out it gives me a warning.

01-10-2008, 06:36 PM

As stated earlier just drag icon to trash and then disconnect when it does not appear on the desktop. That way no files will be left open or ther corruption caused.

On both Mac and PC's.