Have you ever killed a USB drive by not ejecting it?

[Big Lemon]

What are the chances that a USB drive will be damaged by just pulling it out of the port without ejecting it first via software?

I tend to pull my drives out without ejecting and never had an issue.... am I just lucky?? Is it generally safe if the drive isn't doing anything?

 

[learninmypc]

Do yourself a favor & eject it properly.Especially if its a few hundred gigabytes. I think that is how mine got messed up losing about 400gb's Now its dead

 

[DelJo63]

The issue is Buffering. Using the proper Eject technique will flush the buffers and internally dismount it from the OS. Simple yanking and you're betting against yourself.

 

[learninmypc]

What does one do when this happens? Especially if one don't know , if any program was using it?

 

[cliffordcooley]

The program was likely your file manager. Any utility that accesses the device will flag a lock on the drive until the utility is closed or finished accessing.

 

[learninmypc]

Can shutting down the pc harm the drive??

 

[DelJo63]

Can shutting down the pc harm the drive??

NO

What does one do when this happens?

Usually you have the File Explorer viewing a directory which is on that device -- internally the directory file structure is then still open. QUIT the window and the eject again.

 

[learninmypc]

If you're saying to click OK & try it again, I just did & it still does the same thing which is why I asked if shutting down the pc harms the USB.
Originally all I did was insert it just to see what was on it, 12 hours plus later it still says the same thing. Thanks for your reply

 

[DelJo63]

I said CLOSE THE WINDOW and then retry

 

[learninmypc]

Thank you