I have been just pulling out my usb and nothing bad has happened.
Maybe a stupid question, but is it really necessary to unmount before pulling out the USB?

I know that things could go wrong, but is it really risky to just pull out?

Not absolutely necessary but a good practise. I have run into a few issues on my Windows system due to delayed write operations. It's just a habit I acquired and hasn't done any harm.

Sent from my GT-P7500 using XDA Premium HD app

will try it on iconia a500

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Originally Posted by jimrob233

I've tried the app on a cheap Chinese WM8850 based tablet running ICS and it doesn't work. It says that the drive is unmounted, but the files are still visible even if USB scanning is disabled. The drive can be unmounted by going through the Settings menu and it's under storage>USB>unmount SD card (sic). That unmounts the drive (and doesn't unmount the SD card). A button on the home page to do the job would be welcome, but I'm not (yet) sufficiently familiar with ICS to have a go at writing one.

I use a usb sticks a lot on iconia. after moving to ics, the unmount disk is a pita, will try this on iconia.
thanks

Originally Posted by M@31

I have been just pulling out my usb and nothing bad has happened.
Maybe a stupid question, but is it really necessary to unmount before pulling out the USB?

I know that things could go wrong, but is it really risky to just pull out?

Ok I'm gonna try my best and explain it, this is certainly the case for windows PCs at least and I'm assuming the option is there in Android, as it does the same thing.

Basically when you write files to a removable storage device, it holds part of the data in a buffer if there isn't enough data for it to warrant the process being carried out. Unless you copy a substantial amount for it to do it in one go of course.

If it has got some data in the buffer, when you tell it to unmount, you're actually telling it to write any remaining data to the removable storage, flush the buffer and eject the device.

The problems occur if you pull out the device before "all" the data has been written, ending up with corrupt files on the device you were copying it to.

Hope this all makes sense and gives you an answer to your question.

Swyped from my finger to your face, on my Samsung Galaxy Note.