Why doesn't Win2k like removable media, and how can I fix it?

[yukichigai]

I'm having enormous difficulty getting some new Compact Flash stuff to cooperate with me here at work. I've got USB readers for the Compact Flash cards, and they seem to work... kind of. See, you have to unplug the CF card, then plug it back in and hit Refresh in Explorer to make sure the data has actually been written to the card. Sometimes you have to write data 2 or 3 extra times, unplugging and plugging back in each time, just to get the data actually on there. This happens irrespective of the card manufacturer or CF adaptor, (two different kinds of each) so it's all but certain that hardware is to blame. XP doesn't seem to have this problem. What can I do to make sure the data gets on there the first time? Registry modification? External program? I'm game for just about anything, besides upgrading the OS.

 

[BlueWeasel]

I know there was change to the way XP handled writing to removable media compared to W2K.

When you write to the flash card the first time, are you unplugging it immediately? I know I always had to wait 20-30 seconds after writing large files to it before it could be removed. Unplugging it too early usually resulted in data loss.

This was mainly in W2K Pro -- the problem isn't as noticeable in XP.

 

[nweaver]

in the system tray, click the "removable devices" icon and choose remove on the USB adapter. It will then write anything that may have been "chached" and tell you when it's ready to eject.

 

[yukichigai]

Originally posted by: nweaver
in the system tray, click the "removable devices" icon and choose remove on the USB adapter. It will then write anything that may have been "chached" and tell you when it's ready to eject.

That only allows you to eject the entire adaptor, not just the CF card. And more to the point, even if you eject the entire adaptor, card included, the same thing still happens half the time. XP is definitely superior in that regard.

I'm not unplugging the card immediately, just after about 5 seconds. If it takes 20~30 seconds to write then waiting is even slower than unplugging and re-plugging.

 

[corkyg]

When W2K came out in 1999, removable media was not very prevalent. USB 2 was still in development, and Firewire belonged to Apple. I have a lot of removable media drives - f, g, h, i, j, and l. This is one reason I never attempted to use W2K - it is not a hardware friendly OS. (And it is getting pretty long in the tooth.)