MacMost Q&A Forum • View All Forum QuestionsAsk a Question

What will happen if you just take out a USB stick without ejecting first?

I was wondering would you please explain to me in a easy way that I can understand: what will happen if you just take out a usb stick without ejecting first?

—–
Cameron

Comments: One Response to “What will happen if you just take out a USB stick without ejecting first?”

    7 years ago

    When you add a USB thumb drive (AKA flash drive) you are connecting an entire external drive to your Mac. The Mac then accesses it to read and write files to that drive. Even when you are not directly using it, your Mac could be looking on that drive to prepare it for searching, optimizing the file locations, or other things.

    When you pull the drive out, your Mac has no way to know that is about to happen. It can't read your mind that you are about to do that. So it could be in the middle of accessing that drive when you do it. If it is in the middle of doing something with that drive, and you pull it out, it could damage the files on that drive.

    So to pull it out safely, you should use the Eject function first. This tells the Mac to stop using the drive. Then you can physically pull it out safely.

Comments Closed.