[1809, ou] Microsoft confirms you really, really don't need to 'safely remove' USB flash drives

[Arthur]

Source: Microsoft (via The Verge)

 

You know how every tech expert in your life told you how crucially important it was to safely eject a flash drive before ripping it out of your PC? Have you been that tech expert yourself?

 

Well, Microsoft is confirming once and for all that — in Windows 10 — it’s no longer a thing you need to worry about. Windows 10 has a feature called "quick removal" that lets you yank a drive at any moment you like, and it’s now the default setting for each new drive you plug in as of Windows 10 version 1809, according to Microsoft’s own support guidance. Basically, "quick removal" keeps Windows from continuously trying to write to a flash drive, which could help in the event you disconnect it.

 

Technically, Microsoft flipped this switch back in October when version 1809 first started rolling out, so this won’t be a revelation for every reader. It just so happens to be making the rounds now that the company's notifying IT professionals that the update is being deployed more broadly. Plus, the company’s had protections to keep your flash drives safe since Windows 7, according to my Microsoft-expert colleague Tom Warren.

 

But it's also true that Microsoft has been sending mixed messages about the need to safely remove drives for a while, and the operating system definitely still features a vestigial "Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media" feature. (I just checked my System Tray, and it’s totally still there.)

 

So now, the process of safely ejecting a flash drive can be one of those things you tell your kids about, one of those “Do you remember this thing that olds used to do?”, like adjusting the tracking on a VHS tape or screaming at your family not to pick up the telephone while you’re downloading a new webpage.

[XiJ]

Ha, I had a tech work for me who always used to tell me off for just pulling the drive out. I don’t think I’ve ever done the safe removal. Just waited until the drive access light had stopped.

[mikeprice]

I have noticed that, on the type that still has a flashing light, the light stops flashing much quicker as the versions of Windows moves forward. XP sometimes flashed after a slight delay - Win 10 seems to do it much quicker

 

to be fair - there must still be a very short time where the data is still cached and not yet written to the flash drive - I have been telling people for ages that it will be fine if you leave it for a second or so after saving it (or whatever). So ripping it out very quickly could still cause problems

 

 

People seem to come into 2 categories of not believing me about leaving it for a short time

1) it doesn't matter - ignore me and just rip it directly out - some have ended up with corrupted files - but not for a long time (win XP/7)

2) insist in carefully clicking on the safe removal icon before removing it - they never have trouble ( but take several seconds to go through the process ) - but then nor do I and I never click on the safe removal icon

 

just annoying that I understand the logic behind the concept but no-one believes me

[Dos_Box]

I 'generally' try to go through the correct ejecting procedure, but I do feel that it is a teensy bit badly implemented, it's one click beyond convenient to do.

Then I have removal guilt if I just pull it out.

[flyinghaggis]

What annoys me is that most of the time Windows will complain that "the device is in use" and you end up wasting time closing down all your apps then retrying the "safely remove hardware" option several times before it eventually works!