[plug] USB Flash Drives - A word to the wise...

[Jim Householder]

Hi

A word of caution.  When removing a USBKey flash memory device, the proper removal process is *highly* recommended.  I assumed that the only purpose was to make sure buffers were flushed, and if I had made no changes just pulled it out.  (However after the odd problem with linux I decided it was best to explicitly umount it first.)

My USBKey has failed after only 3 months and only 20 or so uses.

It appears that another function of the removal process is to make it *electrically* safe to remove the device.  A $39 lesson...

HTH
Jim