Working on a document while it is still inside a flashdisk or external hard disk

Hey guys,

Is it risky for someone to edit an excel document while it is still in the flashdisk or external hard disk? I was told that this habit can lead to loss of data or the data can be affected if someone does this. I was told that I have to copy/cut paste the document onto my desktop, edit/ work on it then move it back to the storage device. Is all that work necessary, or can I simply work on the document while it is still in the flashdisk or external hard disk..

When you save a file, Windows doesn't always save it straightaway - sometimes it will go into a cache ready to be written, and if you then remove the flash memory or external hard disk then it might be that the cache hasn't been written so your file hasn't been updated. It is always safer to use Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media (usually on the hidden icons part of the task bar) as this forces the cache to be emptied.

Is it such a hard task to copy a file over and work on that copy until you want to save it?

Pete

Hi Pete,

Thanks for the reply. So you mean that it is perfectly OK and safe for one to work on a document while still in a flashdisk or external hard disk as long as he follows these steps:

1. Save document when done with editing ( CTRL+S)
2. Close document
3. Close any window and or application that relates to anything in the flash disk/flash memory/ external hard disk
4. Eject the flash disk/flash memory/ external hard disk using Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media

Is that correct?

Yes, I think you've got it all there. It will always be faster reading from and writing to your hard disk, so the advice to copy first and work on the copy may speed things up and that is probably why that advice originated, as well as the extra security that the process gives you. But, USB 2 is fairly quick nowadays, so unless you are dealing with large files it shouldn't make too much difference.

Hope this helps.

Pete

Thanks Pete and Ali. I really appreciate the advice.

Kevin