Eject before unplugging?

[marp68]

Why do we still have to chose Eject in the Explorer menu before unplugging the reader from the computer?

Does this still serve a purpose? Is the readers that unstable still? Other plug and play units do not generally require this step nowadays.

Or?

[davidfor]

Any device that uses the USB MSD drivers need this. A basic USB Memory stick needs it. And as far as a Windows PC is concerned, that is all a Kobo or Kindle ereader is. Unless Windows has finished writing any changes to the disk before you disconnect, you can get corruption on the file system and hence the files. The eject is the way to ensure this. If something is still using the device, Windows will prevent the eject from happening.

[petercreasey]

Yes, it serves an important purpose; however, having said that, I have never had a problem when I somehow neglected to do the eject.

[marp68]

In the earlier days everyone was talking about how very important, but these days I never hear anyone talk about first ejecting a usb memory, phone, tablet, camera etc. But Kobo is very clear about it in their user manual. So I was just curious, since I haven't had any problems when I by mistake have forgot it.

But thanks for the clarification. I will go on using it.

[DNSB]

You might want to take a look at File Caching. Safely ejecting your device ensures that the cache has been cleared. Not safely ejecting is most likely to cause an issue when you are writing larger files to a slow device.

[marp68]

Originally Posted by DNSB

You might want to take a look at File Caching. Safely ejecting your device ensures that the cache has been cleared. Not safely ejecting is most likely to cause an issue when you are writing larger files to a slow device.

Thanks, interesting

[marp68]

So the conclusion is that you should still always use the Safely ejecting method no matter what unit, like usb memory, phone, tablet, camera etc

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by marp68

So the conclusion is that you should still always use the Safely ejecting method no matter what unit, like usb memory, phone, tablet, camera etc

In the case of ereaders, I eject them from Calibre. All other devices, yep, I always safe eject before disconnecting. Better safe than sorry.

[hobnail]

See the following two three windows captures from the Windows Computer Management console, the Device Manager section; open Disk Drives and right click and select Properties (don't change anything and be sure and close it by clicking Cancel). The one titled Linux File-Stor Gadget is the Kobo, another is for an internal hard drive, the other is for an external USB hard drive.

As you can see, the Kobo and USB drive are automatically set up for quick removal. This is surely why we've been able to accidentally unplug the ereader with no ill effects.

The warning from Kobo may be because some people are still using old versions of Windows (or Macs or Linux) which don't have this.

[NiLuJe]

@hobnail: IIRC, that has changed fairly recently (as in, like, one of the last two Windows FR), and the new "safe" default only applies to *fresh* Windows installs since whenever that was changed.

I still maintain that it's asking for trouble, so, Just Eject(TM).

(On Linux, vfat USBMS devices are *also* generally mounted with frequent sync'ing by default).

[hobnail]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

@hobnail: IIRC, that has changed fairly recently (as in, like, one of the last two Windows FR), and the new "safe" default only applies to *fresh* Windows installs since whenever that was changed.

I still maintain that it's asking for trouble, so, Just Eject(TM).

(On Linux, vfat USBMS devices are *also* generally mounted with frequent sync'ing by default).

Yeah, I do try and remember to eject but when I didn't I don't panic.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by petercreasey

Yes, it serves an important purpose; however, having said that, I have never had a problem when I somehow neglected to do the eject.

But if you do have a problem, that problem would most likely be a correct database. So unless you have a recent enough backup of the database, you'll have to start over.

[NiLuJe]

Also, device write-caching is not available on pre-Mk. 7 devices on my end anyway

H2O:

[419686.877910] usb 1-9: new high-speed USB device number 28 using xhci_hcd
[419687.012933] usb-storage 1-9:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[419687.013320] scsi host8: usb-storage 1-9:1.0
[419688.040068] scsi 8:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Kobo     eReader-4.23.155 0110 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[419688.040198] sd 8:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg5 type 0
[419688.050391] sd 8:0:0:0: Power-on or device reset occurred
[419688.057262] sd 8:0:0:0: [sde] 6646782 512-byte logical blocks: (3.40 GB/3.17 GiB)
[419688.176233] sd 8:0:0:0: [sde] Test WP failed, assume Write Enabled
[419688.286172] sd 8:0:0:0: [sde] Asking for cache data failed
[419688.286174] sd 8:0:0:0: [sde] Assuming drive cache: write through
[419688.520182]  sde:
[419688.746142] sd 8:0:0:0: [sde] Attached SCSI removable disk

Forma:

[405814.787320] usb 1-9: new high-speed USB device number 27 using xhci_hcd
[405814.917122] usb-storage 1-9:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[405814.922323] scsi host8: usb-storage 1-9:1.0
[405815.973843] scsi 8:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Linux    File-Stor Gadget 0401 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[405815.973956] sd 8:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg5 type 0
[405815.976090] sd 8:0:0:0: Power-on or device reset occurred
[405815.976567] sd 8:0:0:0: [sde] 14143101 512-byte logical blocks: (7.24 GB/6.74 GiB)
[405816.085858] sd 8:0:0:0: [sde] Write Protect is off
[405816.085859] sd 8:0:0:0: [sde] Mode Sense: 0f 00 00 00
[405816.195791] sd 8:0:0:0: [sde] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[405816.437763]  sde:
[405816.655789] sd 8:0:0:0: [sde] Attached SCSI removable disk

[JSWolf]

With a Kobo, one really good reason to eject is that I am not unplugging the USB cable until I am ready. I can use NickelMenu to reconnect the Kobo to the computer as many times as I need. It's helpful for when I am trying to figure out patch settings or editing a NickelMenu config and I need to do it again or I want to populate the series info from the batch of books I just loaded using Calibre. So ejecting means less wear/tear on the USB port of the computer.

[hobnail]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

Also, device write-caching is not available on pre-Mk. 7 devices on my end anyway

Thanks, good to know. So it's both old Windows etc. systems as well as old Kobos.