Memory cards (not what you think)

N01Chris

N01Chris

Messages
334
Name
Christian
Edit My Images
Yes
I was just wondering, do you actually have to eject a memory card from your computer (or drag it to the bin on a mac) before pulling it out, you don't do it when you pull it out of your camera or other device?
 
Providing you are not accessing the information on the card through a specific (image viewing) program at the time of ejection, it shouldn't be an issue. In fact, it shouldn't cause an issue even if you are, but you probably know how tempremental technology can be!
 
thanks, so soon as its finished importing from lightroom it should be fone to just pull it out?
 
It should be, but it's like a woman. What's fine on a Monday will not work the rest of the week. No need to rush pulling it out is there? (oooh eerrrr missus);)
 
thanks and Just Dave i have a sd card reader in my laptop so I don't actually plug my camera into my laptop but now thinking about it you could mean when i take the sd card out of my camera :bonk:
 
N01Chris said:
thanks and Just Dave i have a sd card reader in my laptop so I don't actually plug my camera into my laptop but now thinking about it you could mean when i take the sd card out of my camera :bonk:
Click to expand...
yeah always turn your cam off before removing
 
Last edited:
I've never safely ejected (oooer!) and have never had a problem with any SD card, USB stick or anything else for that matter. As you say, there is no option to eject from the camera.

As a side note - why is there not even the option to "safely plug in"?
 
Even when it is not being actively used, power is being supplied to it whilst connect to the pc (or mac). When you select to eject it, the power is cut off to enable it to be safely removed.

You should always turn your camera off before inserting/removing cards for the same reason.

Why take the risk of damaging the card/camera.
 
I've buggered up a flash drive and memory card (Memory card wasn't permanent). Always eject safely.
 
I always drag the icon to the trash to eject. I'm fussy but I've never had a fritzed card either. It only adds ~2 seconds to your workflow.
 
The card reader port on a PC has the same hot swappable technology as a USB port. As long as the card isn't being read or transferring data you'll have no problem just pulling it out. On most laptops you have to 'push in' to release and that action cuts all power to the card port so it's safe to pull out.

You don't need to use the safe removal tool to make it safe, that just tells the computer that it's been removed so it can close the drive icon and close the port. I'm not 100% certain if it's the same with a mac, but I can't see why it should be any different.
 
modchild said:
The card reader port on a PC has the same hot swappable technology as a USB port. As long as the card isn't being read or transferring data you'll have no problem just pulling it out. On most laptops you have to 'push in' to release and that action cuts all power to the card port so it's safe to pull out.

You don't need to use the safe removal tool to make it safe, that just tells the computer that it's been removed so it can close the drive icon and close the port. I'm not 100% certain if it's the same with a mac, but I can't see why it should be any different.
Click to expand...

Just not true. Power is supplied until you eject. Ejecting doesn't just remove the icon, that disappears whether you eject or just yank it out.

They don't just invent this stuff for the sake of it, there is a valid reason they want you to eject it first, and that is to do with power and not damaging things.
 
If the card is not in a read/write process then cutting the power seems to make no difference. The option to do it 'properly' is there but doesn't mean there is any harm in not using it.

I don't think my wife has ever bothered, she just yanks the camera out, all still powered up and has had no ill effects (although she does get a warning on the screen but just clicks through that!)
 
The issue isn't power-related. Rather, it's how the host computer implements the filesystem - the magic being the issue of caching. If you write a file to a device, be it a hard drive or SD Card, the data might indeed all be written and the file closed - but not necessarily. Depending on what other activities are going on, the changes might not actually occur until some point in the near future. This is why a sudden loss of power on most computers means the system will check the disk next time it powers up, as there's the possibility then that not quite everything was actually written out, potentially leaving the filesystem in an inconsistent state.

Thus, a "safe eject" simply ensures that everything's completed and committed, before the device is unmounted.

If you're designing a camera, you simply implement the filesystem routines such that there's never any data left uncommitted - it gets written out as soon as possible. Hence, there's no need for such a "safe eject" on cameras.
 
N01Chris said:
thanks, so soon as its finished importing from lightroom it should be fone to just pull it out?
Click to expand...

If you want to be 'safe' there is an option in Lightroom to 'Eject after import'.

If you select that option for the device when you import, it should always be selected on future imports too.
 
On a mac, you should ALWAYS eject it either in finder , dragging to the trash, or a right click..
 
acetone said:
On a mac, you should ALWAYS eject it either in finder , dragging to the trash, or a right click..
Click to expand...

Or just pull it out without doing anything and find that it is perfectly okay. I only do this after I have uploaded and then removed the images though.
One day I may be proved wrong and damage my £4 memory card but I can live with that :)
 
ernesto said:
Or just pull it out without doing anything and find that it is perfectly okay. I only do this after I have uploaded and then removed the images though.
One day I may be proved wrong and damage my £4 memory card but I can live with that :)
Click to expand...

:cuckoo:

Or blowing the USB port, or even worse the motherboard.
 
Ploddles said:
:cuckoo:

Or blowing the USB port, or even worse the motherboard.
Click to expand...

Sounds very dramatic. Have seen that happen and if not how do you think it is going to happen exactly?

I don't actually use a USB, I use the inbuilt SD card slot but that is by the by.
 
ernesto said:
Sounds very dramatic. Have seen that happen and if not how do you think it is going to happen exactly?

I don't actually use a USB, I use the inbuilt SD card slot but that is by the by.
Click to expand...

Yes I have seen quite a few blown USB ports, not all that uncommon and all the users used to just pull the drives out without ejecting them first.

Inbuilt SD readers use the same principal and that it why they have the eject option to SAFELY remove them as well.
 
Ploddles said:
Yes I have seen quite a few blown USB ports, not all that uncommon and all the users used to just pull the drives out without ejecting them first.

Inbuilt SD readers use the same principal and that it why they have the eject option to SAFELY remove them as well.
Click to expand...

Okay, will take your word for it. Guess I have had a lucky few years :)
 
Ploddles said:
Yes I have seen quite a few blown USB ports, not all that uncommon and all the users used to just pull the drives out without ejecting them first.

Inbuilt SD readers use the same principal and that it why they have the eject option to SAFELY remove them as well.
Click to expand...

any evidence that was caused by pulling the drives?

USB is approx 500mA @ 5V (ignoring chargeable devices which can draw 5A), cant really see pulling a memory card blowing a motherboard to be honest.
 
And you really think that Apple would release a machine where the motherboard could be blown by pulling out an SD card without ejecting it?

Think about how many people would inadvertently pull without ejecting and think about how many broken Mac's there would be and the fuss on internet/forums/news etc,.
 
blown USB ports are not because of pulling out SD card, it's usually because of the stuff attached to the USB ports are not built to spec.

as mentioned, USB spec dictates 0.5A at 5V. this can't cause damage to anything. only when you buy cheap evil-bay far East USB devices.

SD cards operate at 20–100mA at a supply voltage of 3.3V, even less power to cause any electrical blow outs.


safely remove option is there because FAT file system could become corrupt if you pull out the card while writing. that is pretty much the only reason for it. we read data from SD cards on our computers, so it won't matter.
 
Last edited:
ernesto said:
And you really think that Apple would release a machine where the motherboard could be blown by pulling out an SD card without ejecting it?

Think about how many people would inadvertently pull without ejecting and think about how many broken Mac's there would be and the fuss on internet/forums/news etc,.
Click to expand...

You get a big red warning box pop up on Macs!

The actual chance of it happening to you are slim but it does happen.

As said earlier, not all drives are build to spec and fake drives abound and fake stuff is often sub standard. Just think of all the fake chargers out there that blow up, melt etc.

If you want to risk your machine for the sake of a second or so to eject the drive that is your prerogative.
 
Ploddles said:
You get a big red warning box pop up on Macs!

The actual chance of it happening to you are slim but it does happen.
Click to expand...

The warning is for the sake of the storage device, not the computer. I agree it could cause a problem for the card and as I said I will take that risk with a £4 card. It WILL NOT damage the computer.

I am also talking about an SD card not a drive - I am definitely not talking about dodgy chargers and the like and really not sure what that has to do with it?
 
ernesto said:
The warning is for the sake of the storage device, not the computer. I agree it could cause a problem for the card and as I said I will take that risk with a £4 card. It WILL NOT damage the computer.

I am also talking about an SD card not a drive - I am definitely not talking about dodgy chargers and the like and really not sure what that has to do with it?
Click to expand...

An SD card is just another drive. I only mentioned chargers as an example of cheap & shoddy fakes that do make the news and are a risk most people are aware of or have heard of.

There are quite a few threads on here about fake SD & CF cards, bought from the likes of eBay or even Amazon. As they are fakes they could well be substandard as well.

As I said, if you want to risk your own computer then that is down to you. As for me, I'll continue to just eject the drive, it doesn't take very long.
 
I always eject them, as I back up to a few places and would rather the data on the card didn't get corrupted before i'd done all my backups! As knowing my luck I'd pull the card and then my HDD would die within 5 seconds.

I know this will never happen but for less than 2 seconds I don't mind doing it!
 
Never, ever used safe eject on memory cards, USB sticks or ipad.

I did use it once on a new ipod touch, then forgot the next time!

Never, ever, ever had a problem at all.

I do however make sure all the power to my PC is off before disconnecting my main USB backup drive.
 
Ploddles said:
There are quite a few threads on here about fake SD & CF cards, bought from the likes of eBay or even Amazon. As they are fakes they could well be substandard as well.
Click to expand...

Ignoring the facts raised by many people around how an SD card cannot cause any damage, why do you think a fake card would only cause an issue if not ejected properly?
Why would it not cause an issue when first inserted, read, written to etc,.?
 
ernesto said:
Ignoring the facts raised by many people around how an SD card cannot cause any damage, why do you think a fake card would only cause an issue if not ejected properly?
Why would it not cause an issue when first inserted, read, written to etc,.?
Click to expand...

I never said that it would ONLY cause an issue if not ejected properly!!

Seem to remember posts on TP about people having read/write issues with fake cards, some originals as well for that matter, things can & do develop faults.

You do as you please and just yank it out & I'll do it the proper way and eject first.

This is getting a bit boring now so I'm probably done with this thread.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top