Protecting Your Data: How to Safely Eject a Disk or Drive
“I just wait a couple of seconds before unplugging a disk..." “I never safely eject a disk, and I’ve never had a problem...” “I waited for the light to go off before I pulled the plug, and everything looks fine...” There’s a lot of different ideas about disconnecting disks, and different ideas about why (and if) it’s necessary. In reality, unplugging a drive without telling the OS is always risky.