When removing USB cable..........

[Kraftwerk]

I'm just wondering: When I connect my Kindle 4 to my computer to charge or sync with Calibre and then eject when finished, do I just pull the USB cable out of the Kindle?

I'm not supposed to do anything else first?

I just want to make sure I'm doing everything correctly.

Thanks

[RainingLemur]

Yeah, just pull the usb connector out and you'll be fine.

[twowheels]

That depends... it's not quite as simple as RainingLemur says.

If you use Windows XP, definitely be sure to "safely eject" first, and it'll tell you when/if it's OK. If you use Windows Vista or Windows 7, be sure to close any programs that might be using the Kindle (Calibre, etc), wait a second for the program to truly go away (even if you don't see it, it might still be runnning for a few seconds), then unplug the device.

If you use Linux, it depends on your distribution, too many to answer here.

And for MacOS I'm not sure...

The reason has to do with what's called a "write-behind cache". When a program (like Calibre) writes something to disk it can optionally go first to an area of RAM (the computer's memory) known as a cache. RAM is very fast, which allows the program to go back to interacting with you. Once the data is in RAM, the operating system (Windows, MacOS, etc) finds idle time when it's not busy directly servicing your needs and writes that data out to the much slower disk. Until that data is written out to disk, if you remove the disk or the computer loses power, the data is GONE, even if you thought that you saved it.

Windows XP used write-behind caching for removable media, thus the need to be sure that you eject the disk (or, in this case, Kindle internal storage) to tell Windows to write out anything that it's holding in cache. Windows 7, on the other hand, recognizes that it's a removable device and doesn't use the write-behind cache, and writes directly to the disk. Once the program thinks that it's done writing the data, it truly is on disk, so as long as your programs aren't writing to the disk (thus my suggestion to close them) you're OK to just unplug.

[krazy4katz]

If you are on a Mac and you use the Eject command, wait for the kindle icon to disappear from the desktop. You should be fine after that.

[Mike L]

In Windows, you can also globally disable write caching. In XP, you do that from Control Panel (System Settings / Hardware / Device Manager / Disk Drives); choose the drive; right-click; choose Properties / Policies; and select "Optimize for quick removal").

That way, it will always be safe to remove the device without going through the eject process, but at the cost of a very slight increase in the time it takes to write to the device (which you probably will never notice).

Mike

[twowheels]

Originally Posted by Mike L

In Windows, you can also globally disable write caching. In XP, you do that from Control Panel (System Settings / Hardware / Device Manager / Disk Drives); choose the drive; right-click; choose Properties / Policies; and select "Optimize for quick removal").

That way, it will always be safe to remove the device without going through the eject process, but at the cost of a very slight increase in the time it takes to write to the device (which you probably will never notice).

Globally: At the high cost of increasing the time it take for everything to write to everything, including the internal hard drive. I highly discourage this.

Per drive: Yes, that's OK, but I'm not sure how well XP tracks that the Kindle that you plug in is the same device next time you plug it in. I'm not sure how much I'd trust this, just use the safely remove command.

[twowheels]

Originally Posted by krazy4katz

If you are on a Mac and you use the Eject command, wait for the kindle icon to disappear from the desktop. You should be fine after that.

Yes, but I was addressing the suggestion by RainingLemur that it was OK to just unplug it without going through the eject process.

[varnie]

if you use linux then the following link may help.

[twowheels]

Originally Posted by varnie

if you use linux then the following link may help.

Good point, but...

Originally Posted by me

If you use Linux, it depends on your distribution, too many to answer here.

Just to clarify... I was commenting on whether or not it was safe to just yank the cable depended on your distribution, I wasn't talking about the steps to take to eject it.

[Mike L]

Originally Posted by twowheels

Globally: At the high cost of increasing the time it take for everything to write to everything

Yes, that's true, although I doubt the extra time is significant. Writing to the internal hard drive isn't a major bottleneck these days - at least, not with the sort of work I do on the computer. Still, it's a good point, and worth keeping in mind.

Originally Posted by twowheels

Per drive: Yes, that's OK, but I'm not sure how well XP tracks that the Kindle that you plug in is the same device next time you plug it in.

I'm not sure either, but I think it's based on the USB port. So you'd have to be sure of plugging the device into the same port every time. (But don't take my word for that.)

Actually, I see that I have disabled write caching globally. I must have done that several years ago, because I don't remember doing it. But I always eject any writable device in any case, to be on the safe side.

Mike

[ixtab]

Originally Posted by Mike L

Yes, that's true, although I doubt the extra time is significant. Writing to the internal hard drive isn't a major bottleneck these days - at least, not with the sort of work I do on the computer. Still, it's a good point, and worth keeping in mind.



I'm not sure either, but I think it's based on the USB port. So you'd have to be sure of plugging the device into the same port every time. (But don't take my word for that.)

.
Nope. The USB port doesn't matter, the "disk ID" embedded in the boot sector of the drive does. So unless you completely reformat your Kindle drive (including rewriting the Master Boot Record), it should always be recognized as the same device.

[Kraftwerk]

Originally Posted by twowheels

That depends... it's not quite as simple as RainingLemur says.

If you use Windows XP, definitely be sure to "safely eject" first, and it'll tell you when/if it's OK. If you use Windows Vista or Windows 7, be sure to close any programs that might be using the Kindle (Calibre, etc), wait a second for the program to truly go away (even if you don't see it, it might still be runnning for a few seconds), then unplug the device.

If you use Linux, it depends on your distribution, too many to answer here.

And for MacOS I'm not sure...

The reason has to do with what's called a "write-behind cache". When a program (like Calibre) writes something to disk it can optionally go first to an area of RAM (the computer's memory) known as a cache. RAM is very fast, which allows the program to go back to interacting with you. Once the data is in RAM, the operating system (Windows, MacOS, etc) finds idle time when it's not busy directly servicing your needs and writes that data out to the much slower disk. Until that data is written out to disk, if you remove the disk or the computer loses power, the data is GONE, even if you thought that you saved it.

Windows XP used write-behind caching for removable media, thus the need to be sure that you eject the disk (or, in this case, Kindle internal storage) to tell Windows to write out anything that it's holding in cache. Windows 7, on the other hand, recognizes that it's a removable device and doesn't use the write-behind cache, and writes directly to the disk. Once the program thinks that it's done writing the data, it truly is on disk, so as long as your programs aren't writing to the disk (thus my suggestion to close them) you're OK to just unplug.

Thanks for the all the replies.
twowheels: I have a Vista computer, so does it work the same way as Windows 7 which you mention above?
Once I have finished with Calibre I 'eject' the Kindle, then pull the usb cable out, without closing Calibre.
That's alright isn't it?

[pidgeon92]

Originally Posted by Kraftwerk

Once I have finished with Calibre I 'eject' the Kindle, then pull the usb cable out, without closing Calibre.
That's alright isn't it?

Yes, just fine.

[DreamWriter]

According to Amazon, here are eject instructions for various operating systems:

• Windows Vista and 7: Click on the Start button, select "Computer" from the options, right-click on the Kindle drive icon and select "Eject" from the pop-up menu.
• Windows XP: Right-click on the "Safely remove hardware" icon in the lower right-hand corner of the task bar and follow the on-screen instructions to remove Kindle.
• Mac OS: Control-click on the Kindle device icon and choose "Eject."

[Mike L]

Originally Posted by ixtab

.
Nope. The USB port doesn't matter, the "disk ID" embedded in the boot sector of the drive does.

Thanks for the explanation.

Mike