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arspr · 01-30-2014, 02:22 AM

Hey, guys with the problem of "not recognizing eReaders because you haven't select the 'link-to-Pc-option'". This is a COMMON feature with lots of devices/readers/whatever.

When you plug something through an USB the device can:
+ Continue working like always. It's just using the USB connection as a power source to charge its battery.
+ Charge its battery but also "linking" with the PC so the PC can have access to its content in order to update/change/manage/whatever the device from the PC. When in this mode, the device stops working "normally".

So either the device ALWAYS jumps to the second mode (example my Sony PRS-650 unless PRS+ installed), or it somehow prompts you about how you do want the connection to work.

The main thing to consider here is that "normally" it's dangerous/impossible to get the device AND the PC working at the same time because imagine that you delete from the PC the book you are currently reading (I mean you have it actually opened in page 34). So because of that if the device is just in "Charge mode", it continues working like always but, although it is connected to the PC, you cannot see it from the PC. The PC has no real access to it. And if it is in "Management mode", then you can see it from the PC but you cannot use it directly.

And also when you are in "Management Mode" you usually get an advice on your device screen about "Disconnect it before unplugging" or something like that. This advice just means that you don't actually know if because of whatever program running on the PC there's been data flowing through the USB connection and therefore WIP changes in the files of the device (bytes running through the copper wires are not usually visible ;-) ).

So if you directly unplug the device without doing that procedure there's a risk of corrupting your device because of interrupted files modifications.

The way to safely unplug the device is selecting the "Disconnect" option from the PC (in the task bar over the device icon, as example). Then Windows will previously check if there's no active working process over the device, before actually disconnecting. And after that, Windows won't allow any other logical connection with the device anymore, till the next phisical connection. Windows "stops seeing" the device anymore.

The only problem is that sometimes you are always told "the device is still in use, I cannot disconnect right now" because of whatever "magical" reason and you have to directly unplug it nevertheless. In this case, just be careful to check your copy/paste, your calibre jobs, etc. are actually finished before doing this "hard" unplug.

01-30-2014, 02:22 AM	#23
arspr Dead account. Bye Posts: 587 Karma: 668244 Join Date: Mar 2011 Device: none	Hey, guys with the problem of "not recognizing eReaders because you haven't select the 'link-to-Pc-option'". This is a COMMON feature with lots of devices/readers/whatever. When you plug something through an USB the device can: + Continue working like always. It's just using the USB connection as a power source to charge its battery. + Charge its battery but also "linking" with the PC so the PC can have access to its content in order to update/change/manage/whatever the device from the PC. When in this mode, the device stops working "normally". So either the device ALWAYS jumps to the second mode (example my Sony PRS-650 unless PRS+ installed), or it somehow prompts you about how you do want the connection to work. The main thing to consider here is that "normally" it's dangerous/impossible to get the device AND the PC working at the same time because imagine that you delete from the PC the book you are currently reading (I mean you have it actually opened in page 34). So because of that if the device is just in "Charge mode", it continues working like always but, although it is connected to the PC, you cannot see it from the PC. The PC has no real access to it. And if it is in "Management mode", then you can see it from the PC but you cannot use it directly. And also when you are in "Management Mode" you usually get an advice on your device screen about "Disconnect it before unplugging" or something like that. This advice just means that you don't actually know if because of whatever program running on the PC there's been data flowing through the USB connection and therefore WIP changes in the files of the device (bytes running through the copper wires are not usually visible ;-) ). So if you directly unplug the device without doing that procedure there's a risk of corrupting your device because of interrupted files modifications. The way to safely unplug the device is selecting the "Disconnect" option from the PC (in the task bar over the device icon, as example). Then Windows will previously check if there's no active working process over the device, before actually disconnecting. And after that, Windows won't allow any other logical connection with the device anymore, till the next phisical connection. Windows "stops seeing" the device anymore. The only problem is that sometimes you are always told "the device is still in use, I cannot disconnect right now" because of whatever "magical" reason and you have to directly unplug it nevertheless. In this case, just be careful to check your copy/paste, your calibre jobs, etc. are actually finished before doing this "hard" unplug.