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

[Jim Householder]

Senectus . wrote:
> On Fri, 17 Dec 2004 20:31:37 +0800, Jim Householder
> <nofixed at westnet.com.au> wrote:
> 
>>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...
>>
> 
> 
> Heh.. I've done this before.. but I've always managed to get the key
> functioning (without the data that was on it) by re-formatting it..
> 

Attempts to format this one under Windows XP results in I/O errors.