Computer Questions Not Worth Their Own Thread

[SS-18 ICBM]

Is it really necessary to use Safely Remove Hardware when it's just an Ipod being charged? What would happen if I didn't?

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I think it's only safe to pull it when you're not reading or writing to it. Somebody I know once put a USB stick in at the library, and it wouldn't let her eject it, so I told her (this was through email) to make sure the little light on the USB stick was off for a minute or two then pull it.

If it's flash-based memory, it can get corrupted if you pull the power while reading or writing. If it's hard-drive-based, I'm not sure, but bad things could possibly happen.

EDIT: According to this site, it can cause damage, although it says after syncing. Also some other tips there, I'm not too much of an iPod expert though (personally I think they're expensive toys).

 

[Genocidicbunny]

I think it's only safe to pull it when you're not reading or writing to it. Somebody I know once put a USB stick in at the library, and it wouldn't let her eject it, so I told her (this was through email) to make sure the little light on the USB stick was off for a minute or two then pull it.

If it's flash-based memory, it can get corrupted if you pull the power while reading or writing. If it's hard-drive-based, I'm not sure, but bad things could possibly happen.

EDIT: According to this site, it can cause damage, although it says after syncing. Also some other tips there, I'm not too much of an iPod expert though (personally I think they're expensive toys).

Ive ejected ipods fine. majority of them are not flash based btw, or at least they didnt use to be. The large-capacity ones have an HDD.
Personally, ive never had any corruption, even when writing to the USB drive when I pulled them out before 'ejecting' them.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

That's strange. Everything I heard says you're likely to get corruption if you yank it out. Remind me not to rely on the manuals again.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Is it true the best way to induce a hard drive failure is to put important files on it and delete all the backups?

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Is it true the best way to induce a hard drive failure is to put important files on it and delete all the backups?

No, you're just more likely to notice it and remember it. its not really a computer questions, its a question of how the human memory works. if you have all your files backed up and safe somewhere, then a HDD failure isnt that bad of an event. If it causes you to lose all your data though, then you're gonna remember it quite well.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

How can you tell if a graphics card is overclocked?

I think in its past lives, my graphics card might have been overclocked (which might be why I'm getting artifacts). How exactly can you tell, and is there a way to tell without entering the BIOS? Or is the BIOS for the CPU? Ugh... can't remember. Oh and I have a NVIDIA card.

 

[Zelig]

Ive ejected ipods fine. majority of them are not flash based btw, or at least they didnt use to be. The large-capacity ones have an HDD.
Personally, ive never had any corruption, even when writing to the USB drive when I pulled them out before 'ejecting' them.

If you have "Optimize for quick removal" selected for a device, which is the default for all removable drives, then you're fine just yanking them out.

 

[Synobun]

Is it really necessary to use Safely Remove Hardware when it's just an Ipod being charged? What would happen if I didn't?

Use iTunes to eject.

 

[Turner]

Yeah, use iTunes to eject it. I seem to remember reading something about that in the past, that the iPod can get corrupted if you just yank it out.

I used to just yank my portable hard drives out too, until I tried to mount a NTFS hard drive on a Linux system....it wouldn't mount it because the volume was still in use. I had to plug it into a Windows machine, unload it from the Safely Remove Hardware utility so I could mount it on the Linux box.

 

[Ulyaoth]

How can you tell if a graphics card is overclocked?

I think in its past lives, my graphics card might have been overclocked (which might be why I'm getting artifacts). How exactly can you tell, and is there a way to tell without entering the BIOS? Or is the BIOS for the CPU? Ugh... can't remember. Oh and I have a NVIDIA card.

look up gpuz, open it, see what your card is set to, then find your card on the internet and see what it's settings should be. Also note, some makers of cards overclock them from the factory.

 

[Synobun]

Yeah, use iTunes to eject it. I seem to remember reading something about that in the past, that the iPod can get corrupted if you just yank it out.

Indeed, happened to me the first time I used an iPod. I did not know you had to wait after you click the eject button (iPod needs a bit of time to disconnect) and ended up corrupting all the songs

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

look up gpuz, open it, see what your card is set to, then find your card on the internet and see what it's settings should be. Also note, some makers of cards overclock them from the factory.

thank you.

Not overclocked. That was easy,

 

[lndm]

If you have "Optimize for quick removal" selected for a device, which is the default for all removable drives, then you're fine just yanking them out.

Surely this is just the switch for write back caching. Since WBC hasn't figured into the conversation yet I'd say it's the least you could do, and the risks still apply.

Anyway, the way I prefer to see it is that if I didn't just initiate a transfer on a removable drive then it isn't likely to be active.

Don't know but I imagine an iPod might have buffering on the interface or even a dedicated I/O system that would prevent dependence on the integrity of the USB connection.

 

[kibbles]

It Probably is best to eject your iPod before removing. I remember I used to rip my sis. iPod out all the time cause I didn't like it sapping power while I used the computer. Then eventually it screwed up: it would work unless it was connected, weird huh?

 

[LucyDuke]

Perfs and Till, you were right! It's on the numpad. The icons are a little weird, I think that's why I didn't find 'em before. And the stupid thing is wicked tiny steps. But now I can control volume from inside fullscreen stuff so I'm happy! Thanks.

Haven't installed the SC4 thing yet but I'll post when I do.


What's the deal with this?

It only starts after I use the usb key in XP. I always ignore it.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Do you safely remove hardware or just yank it? That's my suspicion. If not, have you ever yanked it? Maybe it's holding a grudge.

 

[Zelig]

It only starts after I use the usb key in XP. I always ignore it.

Some of my keys do that, I'll sometimes scan (and find no errors) just to make them stop giving me the message, usually I just ignore them.

Some of them also complain about needing formatting, even though they work fine.

Surely this is just the switch for write back caching. Since WBC hasn't figured into the conversation yet I'd say it's the least you could do, and the risks still apply.

Yeah, if WBC is disabled, and you aren't actively writing to the drive, there's no danger from just yanking it.

 

[LucyDuke]

I yank. I give it plenty of time to finish whatever the hell it's doing, but I always yank.

Is "scan and fix" gonna screw anything up? If I'm not in a rush to use it I can do that before ignoring it.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I'm more cautious (or maybe paranoid) but I never yank it unless it refuses to eject.