Kevan, On Friday 28 October 2005 14:01, Kevanf1 wrote:
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Well, again, I may be missing something here, but.. surely the only reason not to simply unplug a USB device when you want to is if any data was being cached instead of written direct to the disk (or storage device). Does this happen in this case? I know that you couldn't simply unplug old style serial or parallel port drives etc because of the risk of burning the port out, this shouldn't happen with USB. Should it?
Not keeping such unwritten cached data is what the "sync" option is all about. By using it for all writeable, removable mass storage devices, the opportunity for data loss exists only if one disconnects _while data is being transferred_. Because synchronous transfers prevent the user-level calls from returning before the data has reached its final desination, you usually know positively when it's safe to disconnect the device. And yes, as I said before, USB is hot-pluggable. If the device's design and manufacture is correct, the hardware will never be damaged by connecting and disconnecting the devices.
Kevan Farmer
Randall Schulz