How do you remove your usb devices? Be honest, do you just yank the memory stick out as soon as you’ve finished transferring your files without another thought? Yes? Well, you are not alone. Lots of people do it that way. To be honest, it doesn’t normally cause any problems. The trouble is, however, on occasions it can and in the worst case scenarios, can actually lead to data getting corrupted on your usb device.
So what should you do? Well, depending upon the operating system you are using, the procedure for safely removing usb devices varies very slightly.
If you are running Windows XP, look for the icon with the green arrow above it in the notification area at the bottom right of the screen, hover over it with your mouse, double click, select your device from the Safely Remove Hardware dialogue box and click on Stop. You will be asked to confirm the device to be stopped in a new dialogue window and after a few seconds XP will confirm that it is safe to remove the device.
If you have Vista or Windows 7 and want a more streamlined operation, double click on the computer icon on the desktop. Locate your usb device in the resultant window and right click on it. Choose the safely remove option from the pop up menu and wait for the operating system to tell you it is safe to unplug.
If you have a Mac, the job is even simpler. Just click on the usb device icon on the desktop and drag it into the trash bin.
So there you are. Its not difficult to remove those usb sticks the safe way. Get in the habit of always removing them like this and you’ll avoid unnecessary problems.