Many functions of operating systems seem to be not entirely necessary, but, nevertheless, it would be silly to assume that they were created “just like that”. Safely Remove Hardware - what is this feature and do I have to use it?
Safely remove hardware. Principle of operation
Safely Remove Hardware is the name of a component in the Windows operating system that prepares a device for removal. This component is represented by the file hotplug.dll, and you cannot find it in the Taskbar.
Before answering the question of whether you need to use this function, you need to understand the principle of its operation …
Any files copied in Windows are first saved in the so-called "cache" (RAM, short-term memory), and then they are completely copied to a medium or hard disk. The process of writing files to the cache is called pre-copying. The fact is that an ordinary user has no idea about this copying.
In the process of copying files to a usb media, exactly the same thing happens - the files are first transferred to the computer's memory, and then to the USB flash drive itself. Sometimes the allegedly copied files on a USB flash drive can have the size, name and format corresponding to the original file, but if you pull out the USB flash drive without using the "safe removal" function, there is a small chance of data corruption - in the future, an attempt to open the copied file from the USB flash drive will be unsuccessful.
An interesting feature is the difference in the method of “safe removal” in Windows XP and Vista: in the first version, when the function is activated, the power of the flash drive is turned off, but when the function is activated in Vista, it is not.
Do I need to safely remove the USB flash drive? Possible problems
Modern technologies to protect local data from damage are evolving, so there is no real need to use Safely Remove Hardware, but, nevertheless, it remains an integral feature of any OS released by Microsoft.
Fun Fact: The fear of using this feature among iPod users first surfaced when speculation began to emerge that using this feature on Windows Vista would damage iPod data.
The need to use the function becomes even lower if we take into account that the "caching" function is disabled on the computer - when files are not copied to the cache, but directly to removable media, then there is no point in safely extracting them.
A common reason for unsuccessful activation of the "safe removal" function is the fact that one of the files on the removable media is still in use by the local machine (even a document opened in Word can prevent "safe removal"). This "bug", if you can call it that, has led to the emergence of many applications such as "Remove in one click" (1 Click Safely Remove Device), which automatically closes all files in use and saves them, and only then activates the function of safe removal.
