Just wondering.............

Someone-Else · Post by **Someone-Else** » Sat Jan 25, 2020 11:09 am

Had this before a few times. Plug memory stick into PC and it complains there is a problem with said stick and it must be scanned to fix errors before i can use it. Since there is no choice I have to let it scan the stick, the "insult" is it scans it and say "no errors were found" so I am just wondering why does it do that, and have you had the same "error" and it can be any stick at any time that it happens to. The sticks don't leave the house, and only go into one of the pc's here.

ayjay · Post by **ayjay** » Sat Jan 25, 2020 12:28 pm

I keep wondering why the floor has to be so far down.

jaeger · Post by **jaeger** » Sat Jan 25, 2020 5:39 pm

Are you ejecting them properly or just pulling them out? (Yes I know most of us just pull them out but there is a proper procedure to ejecting storage media) https://www.online-tech-tips.com/compu ... removing/

stevei · Post by **stevei** » Sat Jan 25, 2020 5:50 pm

I've got a few memory sticks that I use to back up important stuff. One of them, a 32gb Kingston data traveller, does that. I used to let it scan but gave up as it gave the same result you get. I just don't use it for important stuff anymore as they are so cheap and not worth the risk.

Someone-Else · Post by **Someone-Else** » Sun Jan 26, 2020 8:45 am

jaeger wrote: ↑Sat Jan 25, 2020 5:39 pm Are you ejecting them properly or just pulling them out? (Yes I know most of us just pull them out but there is a proper procedure to ejecting storage media) https://www.online-tech-tips.com/compu ... removing/

I had heard of that before, but as it says, most of us don't do it,

Someone-Else · Post by **Someone-Else** » Sun Jan 26, 2020 8:46 am

stevei wrote: ↑Sat Jan 25, 2020 5:50 pm I've got a few memory sticks that I use to back up important stuff. One of them, a 32gb Kingston data traveller, does that. I used to let it scan but gave up as it gave the same result you get. I just don't use it for important stuff anymore as they are so cheap and not worth the risk.

I am happy it is not just me.

Someone-Else · Post by **Someone-Else** » Sun Jan 26, 2020 8:47 am

Maybe its because I don't eject them? but why not all the time.

Dave54 · Post by **Dave54** » Sun Jan 26, 2020 12:42 pm

Perhaps it's because the memory stick is being written to when you pull it out. Don't ask me what or why, but Windows always seems to be paging any memory that's connected.
If you tell it to eject, then it doesn't do that any more. So it's safe to eject.
FWIW, I normally do eject the drive first, but only the other day, I forgot and pulled a micro CF card without doing so. It wouldn't read after until it had been formatted again.
Weird cheap card that came with some other gear anyway, but it can happen.

jaeger · Post by **jaeger** » Sun Jan 26, 2020 11:57 pm

someone-else wrote: ↑Sun Jan 26, 2020 8:47 am Maybe its because I don't eject them? but why not all the time.

Like Catholic sex, works sometimes

windmill john · Post by **windmill john** » Tue Jan 28, 2020 9:18 am

It is only on Macs that you should eject the correct way and right click, eject. Not doing this can perform a bad write and damage the drive, or mean you need to format it at least.

You can just pull it out of a Windows PC, as long as you are not writing to the pen drive at the time.

Not sure about Linux. Mac is Unix based, so I'd probably follow the Mac principle.

John

Someone-Else · Post by **Someone-Else** » Tue Jan 28, 2020 7:45 pm

windmill john wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2020 9:18 amYou can just pull it out of a Windows PC, as long as you are not writing to the pen drive at the time.

If what you say is true, why does my memory stick (not only mine) do what you say it should't?

As for pulling one out of a mac (yep, got one of those too) it only ever complains that I never ejected it, it never scans it when I plug it in. (like the PC does)

windmill john · Post by **windmill john** » Wed Jan 29, 2020 6:53 am

I just recall reading it. Never have known why they throw up error messages, usually ignore them. Obviously if data is important, I make a copy is elsewhere.

I work in IT support, it’s just one of those things I read about. Apparently it’s just the way Mac and Windows write. As long as you are not using the stick at that moment, okay to pull out of Windows, should eject from Mac. There was a lot of technical blurb about it, but my mind is already full of useless stuff!

seppo66 · Post by **seppo66** » Tue Feb 18, 2020 1:10 am

someone-else wrote: ↑Sat Jan 25, 2020 11:09 am Had this before a few times. Plug memory stick into PC and it complains there is a problem with said stick and it must be scanned to fix errors before i can use it. Since there is no choice I have to let it scan the stick, the "insult" is it scans it and say "no errors were found" so I am just wondering why does it do that, and have you had the same "error" and it can be any stick at any time that it happens to. The sticks don't leave the house, and only go into one of the pc's here.

Hi SE,
Just thought I'd reply to you as you just responded to my first ever post on the forum.

Memory sticks are not a good backup solution at all. They have a limited number of write operations and when they are used up they begin failing rapidly and as a number of people have pointed out, they need to be 'ejected' to make sure all data is properly written before being unplugged. In addition, 'fake' memory cards are everywhere which falsely state their storage capacity. Your computer will try to write to non-existent space and fail causing corruption. They can also just fail. If you want secure backup, go for cloud storage. It's accessible from all your devices, employs safe technology you'd struggle to match at home, it's offsite and is stored in multiple places. If you really must store stuff at home, have at look at RAID (duplicated data technology). You can get a modest RAID storage device for around £300 and they come with a number of apps which make life easier.

burnsco · Post by **burnsco** » Wed Jan 26, 2022 4:07 pm

Hi SE

If you on Windows 10 its not necessary anymore from Windows 10, version 1809 has write-caching turned off by default This ensures your PC and the flash drive aren’t still ‘talking’ so-to-speak when the user cuts off the conversation by yanking out the drive. You can check out Microsoft’s complete article on the matter here:" Microsoft's Change in Removal of External Media Policy I use USB sticks a lot and have never really had issues, SD cards are a different matter, I take a lot of photos for my and have lost 100s over the years with faulty cards.