Pulling Flash Memory

[Talal Itani]

Hello,

I have an external USB flash memory reader. Is it safe to pull the memory
card, without clicking: safely remove hardware? How do I guarantee that XP
finished accessing the card?

Thanks

 

[Detlev Dreyer]

I have an external USB flash memory reader. Is it safe to pull the
memory card, without clicking: safely remove hardware?

Why don't you check with the device manager > drives > drive (double-
click) > Policies tab.

How do I guarantee that XP finished accessing the card?

Logon with administrative privileges and tick the "Optimize for quick
removal" option.

[X-Post: 3 Groups]

 

[Noozer]

Hello,

I have an external USB flash memory reader. Is it safe to pull the memory
card, without clicking: safely remove hardware? How do I guarantee that
XP finished accessing the card?

If you need that data I'd do it properly. It does make a difference.

For example... I stick an SD card into my reader and copy some MP3s to it,
then copy some more. If I pull the SD card out and put it in my player the
second bunch of MP3s will be missing. This happens even if I leave the card
in the reader for an hour or more. If I don't flush before removing I lose
that last batch of files.

 

[Talal Itani]

If you need that data I'd do it properly. It does make a difference.

For example... I stick an SD card into my reader and copy some MP3s to it,
then copy some more. If I pull the SD card out and put it in my player the
second bunch of MP3s will be missing. This happens even if I leave the
card in the reader for an hour or more. If I don't flush before removing I
lose that last batch of files.

Is the flush done by doing the: 'Safely Remove Hardware?'

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Hello,

I have an external USB flash memory reader. Is it safe to pull the memory
card, without clicking: safely remove hardware?

No.


How do I guarantee that XP
finished accessing the card?

Click "Safely Remove Hardware."

 

[Noozer]

Is the flush done by doing the: 'Safely Remove Hardware?'

Yes...

Also, I didn't mention this, but my SD reader is set to "Optimize for quick
removal", but that doesn't seem to matter. I still need to use the Safely
Remove Hardware icon before I take it out.

 

[Talal Itani]

No.

I think there are three ways:

1- Safely remove hardware
2- Eject
3- Set: Optimize for quick removal

Do all the above accomplish the same thing?

 

[Phil Weldon]

'Talal Itani' wrote:
| I think there are three ways:
|
| 1- Safely remove hardware
| 2- Eject
| 3- Set: Optimize for quick removal
|
| Do all the above accomplish the same thing?
_____

Why don't you experiment to find out? This will not harm the flash memory,
but you may lose some of the files. Then post the results.

Phil Weldon

|
| >> Hello,
| >>
| >> I have an external USB flash memory reader. Is it safe to pull the
| >> memory
| >> card, without clicking: safely remove hardware?
| >
| >
| > No.
| >
|
| I think there are three ways:
|
| 1- Safely remove hardware
| 2- Eject
| 3- Set: Optimize for quick removal
|
| Do all the above accomplish the same thing?
|
|

 

[M]

Hello,

I have an external USB flash memory reader. Is it safe to pull the memory
card, without clicking: safely remove hardware? How do I guarantee that
XP finished accessing the card?

Thanks

If your Safely Remove Hardware icon is not in the notification area then you
can create a shortcut to do the same thing.

Shortcut
%SystemRoot%\System32\RUNDLL32.EXE shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll

Icon
%SystemRoot%\system32\hotplug.dll

 

[Talal Itani]

If your Safely Remove Hardware icon is not in the notification area then
you
can create a shortcut to do the same thing.

Shortcut
%SystemRoot%\System32\RUNDLL32.EXE shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll

Icon
%SystemRoot%\system32\hotplug.dll

Thanks for the info. I would like to run the flush from the command line
prompt. Do you know if there is a command for that?

 

[Noozer]

I think there are three ways:

1- Safely remove hardware
2- Eject
3- Set: Optimize for quick removal

Do all the above accomplish the same thing?

NO! #3 does NOT save you if you yank a drive out at the wrong time. #3 does
not sync the last writes to my SD cards, no matter how many HOURS I wait.

 

[Paul Randall]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Talal Itani" <[email protected]>
Newsgroups:
microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general,microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware
Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2007 10:02 AM
Subject: Pulling Flash Memory

Hello,

I have an external USB flash memory reader. Is it safe to pull the memory
card, without clicking: safely remove hardware? How do I guarantee that
XP finished accessing the card?

Thanks ....
I think there are three ways:

1- Safely remove hardware
2- Eject
3- Set: Optimize for quick removal

I have never trusted or used 3. I prefer to see something actually indicate
that the card can be removed.

Safely remove hardware can be used, but should only be used when you are
actually going to unplug the USB connection. The 'safely remove hardware'
option is for removing the card reader -- it deactivates the reader and pops
up a message. When you get the 'safe to remove hardware message', it is
safe to unplug the card reader from the USB port and it is equally safe to
just unplug the card from the USB reader. You will run into a problem,
though, if you don't unplug the card reader from the USB port because no
more cards can be seen until the reader has been unplugged and replugged in.
On systems with built-in card readers, using 'safely remove hardware'
disables all the card reader slots until you reboot -- a real pain.

Eject is for removing the card from the reader, but leaves the reader active
so that another card is recognized when it is plugged into the reader. But
there is no 'safe to remove card' message, so how do you know when it is
safe to remove the card? There is no 'one size fits all' solution. On most
systems, each card slot may show up as a separate drive letter. Each of
these drives has a 'label'. With no card in the slot, it might say
'removable drive', or might say something like 'CF Reader' or 'SD Reader'.
With a card inserted, it might display the actual lable of the card, which
you can change when you reformat the card. So, for example, if you have a
card inserted that says 8 MEG CF (H in My Computer, and you do the Eject
option, it will probably change to 'Removable Disk (H)' when it is safe to
remove the card. Some USB multicard readers show up in My Computer as only
one drive letters and others may show up as four drive letters. You have to
play with your system and learn how it works, and that knowledge may or may
not apply to the next computer with the same OS.

-Paul Randall

 

[M]

Thanks for the info. I would like to run the flush from the command line
prompt. Do you know if there is a command for that?

You can paste the shortcut into the command line and it just works.