Hi, John.

I'm resurrecting this old thread to remind those who know and tell those who
don't know about a well-hidden setting that might avoid future such
problems.

In Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc - one of my favorite utilities!), you can
right-click on Disk 5 - or whichever is the Disk # for your removable
device, then click Properties. On the Policies tab, choose whether to
optimize for Quick Removal or for Better Performance. If you choose Quick
Removal, you never need to wait for the "Safe to remove..." signal. You can
"pull the plug" at any time because this disables write caching on that
device.

As you know, John, but others may not, Vista speeds up operation when saving
data to a device by first writing it to a cache in RAM, then, when it has
time, leisurely writing from RAM to the relatively slower device. But if
the plug is pulled before the RAM-to-device write is completed, the data can
be garbled or lost. When we set Policies to optimize for Quick removal,
Vista does not use the cache, but immediately writes the data directly to
the device. Thus, unless we are lightning-quick in pulling the plug,
there's no chance for data loss. This does make writes to the device
slower, but few of us will ever notice the slight difference. The delay
time is usually measured in milliseconds.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX

Microsoft Windows MVP
Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8064.0206) in Win7 Ultimate x64 RC 7100

"John Barnett MVP" wrote in message
...
As Malke has pointed out you haven't physically damaged the drive you have
simply corrupted the data. This has probably been cause by the fact that
you unplugged the drive while data was being written to it.

I use an external drive, but if you also mean a standard hard drive that
has been put into an outer casing with a USB connection, then yes they are
basically the same and yes I do also have one like that and it gets the
same treatment as my other external drive.

--

--
John Barnett MVP

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable
for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of
the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..


"Walter Goldschmidt" wrote in message
...
I've ruined 2 drives by accidently unplugging them. Afterwards I could
not copy some of the files. Do you use a regular hard drive plugged into
usb port instead of a external hard drive or are they the same?

"John Barnett MVP" wrote in message
...
Walt I can't say I've ever ruined a drive by simply pulling the plug.
Vista is supposed to be more 'hot swappable' than XP. In fact I rarely
use the remove hardware button now. However, turning the computer off
does allow you to unplug the device without causing any damage because
it effectively shuts down the disk drive.

I have a Verbatim USB stand alone hard drive now which sits on top of my
PC case. This is permanently connected to the power supply and the USB
port, all I need do is press the switch at the back to turn it on or
off. When I have finished using it I simply press the switch to turn it
off and then unplug the USB if I need to use the drive elsewhere. The
disk also shuts itself off when the PC is powered down (assuming I
forget to switch it off at the back) and then powers itself up again
when I switch the computer back on.

--

--
John Barnett MVP

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of
any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable
for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of
the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..


"Walter Goldschmidt" wrote in message
...
I have several external hard drives and to remove them from usb port
your suppose to double click remove hardware icon in task bar near
clock. I have ruined 2 of them by accidentally unplugging them. If the
computer is turned off is it a different story. Can you go ahead and
unplug it without clicking remove hardware icon without harming device?

Walt