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On 31 Aug 2009, at 06:38, Jesús Guerrero wrote: |
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> ... |
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>> I see Windows users do this all the time, without any problem |
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>> yet. Of course, the wait a little after writing to it, but a few |
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>> seconds |
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>> after the blinking stops seem to be enough. |
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> |
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> Lucky guys. That, or when the file is not on the drive they come back |
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> and copy it again without you noticing it. This happens lots of times. |
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> I've seen it and I'll continue to see it as long as users don't |
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> understand what's going under the hood. That's what the safe removal |
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> feature in Windows is about, it's not there just to decorate your |
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> try, it exists for a reason. |
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|
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Indeed. |
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Macs complain if you pull a USB drive without safely removing it |
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first, and this warns users against doing it again in the future. |
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The problem with XP is that the "safely remove" icon is so small that |
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typical users don't ever notice it, and consequently don't know any |
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better. They're used to hot-plugging USB mice, keyboards & printers |
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into & from their laptops, so they don't see why a USB drive should be |
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any different. XP doesn't complain about a USB drive unsafely removed; |
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Vista's "safely remove" is slightly more obvious (available from a |
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right-click menu) but I don't know if any other improvements (IMO a |
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warning is important) have been made in Vista or Windows 7. |
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Windows does have an option which implies immediate syncs to USB |
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drives, and I'd guess that if this is selected the copy or save file |
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dialogues should remain on the screen until the whole file has been |
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written, thus discouraging the user from unplugging the drive mid- |
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write. I'm sceptical, however. |
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Stroller. |