I have been religiously clicking the USB symbol in the tray (bottom right) to release the USB drive by emptying the cache before removing it.
It turns out that unless you change the defaults Windows is now clever enough to know USB drives are removable and does not cache data written to them.
It means that once the data has finished transferring you can just remove the thumb drive or HDD from the USB socket without risk of losing data.
I am kicking myself!!
If it worries you and you want to confirm this - open the File Explorer, right-click any drive > Properties > Hardware tab > Double click the USB device > Change Settings > Policies tab
Ah ha! For once I was well informed about the USB drive release. Haven’t had any issues, but thought this was common knowledge.
Thanks for the post, Bruce. I’ll be careful not to hurt my elbow patting myself on the back. It doesn’t happen often enough to make me more flexible.
Thanks, Bruce. Although I know how to do it, I’d got increasingly tired of asking for permission to remove the stick even at the risk of losing data.
It’s reassuring to learn that no data will be lost. I’ve checked that and found that it is as you describe.
I have been putting the theory to the test this morning. It jars a bit but am getting used to it, (fingers crossed behind back) surprising how old habits die hard.
