Before now, I thought it was a waste of time to safely eject my USB devices whenever I was done reading or writing on them. I just yank them off the PC without care, not realizing that the consequences of those actions will come, and it did come in replete measures.
A USB device is any peripheral device that plugs into the computer via the USB port e.g flash drives and external hard drives – which are the most common USB devices. Other devices also plug into the USB port, making it the most widely used interface on a computer.
How Does The USB Interact With The PC?
Connecting a USB device to a computer is one of the simplest tasks when making use of a computer. Most USB ports can be seen at the side and sometimes at the back of the computer where it draws power from. If it is a new USB device, the operating system auto-detects, check for the device driver. If the device driver has already been installed, the computer activates it and starts interacting with it.
When you are done with reading(to copy data/information)or writing(saving/storing) on the USB device, it is expected that you unplug from the port to save power and system utilities. Most often we find ourselves unplugging a USB abruptly, which may have dire consequences on the information stored on the flash drive or hard disk or even to the host PC.
Why Should You Safely Eject A USB Device?
Even if your transfer reads 100% and says completed. A lot could happen within the split seconds you hastily pull out a USB device from its port. The safest way to unplug a USB is by safely ejecting it.
By safely ejecting a flash drive, you are notifying the operating system that the drive is about to be disconnected. The operating system then completes any read or write operations on the drive and unmounts it safely from the computer.
In situations where you fail to eject a USB flash drive before unplugging it, information can become corrupt, because the operating system must have been using the drive when it was disconnected. Therefore, it is best to always eject or safely remove your USB drive before unplugging or pulling it from your USB port.
2 Ways To Safely Eject Or Unplug A Flash Drive Or USB Device.
To guard against losing data or vital information stored on your USB device, I think is it best to do things the right way. I will show you many 2 simple ways to safely eject your USB without any hassle.
1. Eject USB Drive from Taskbar
To eject a USB for the taskbar menu, -click on the USB icon in the taskbar to locate plugged devices. If you can’t find it there, click on the up arrow to show all items in the taskbar.
A small window will appear listing all the devices plugged in via USB. Find the device you want to eject and click on it.
Once Windows has safely dismounted the USB flash drive, you will see a confirmation pop-up on the screen. You may safely remove your drive now.
If the system doesn’t show the small window, then your USB is likely still in use or is being accessed by some program on the computer. If this is the case, the system will display a dialog box telling you that you can’t remove the hardware because it’s still in use.
2. Ejecting USB From File Explorer
The shortest way to get to the file explorer on your PC is by pressing CTRL + E which will take you to my computer window.
On the file explorer window or “my computer” window, you will see the list of devices plugged in or resident in your PC. Find the USB flash drive you want to eject in the File Explorer window and right-click on it. In the menu that opens, click on Eject.
Wait for a few seconds to get the confirmation pop up which reads “You can now safely remove your flash drive”
As I come to a close, if I knew how to safely remove my flash drives before unplugging them, I would not only have saved my data from corruption, but also my drives from becoming unreadable.
The right way is not always the hard way if we decide to become cautious, more patient and open to learning. The conclusion of the matter is, “DON’T UNPLUG UNTIL YOU SAFELY EJECT”
