Does Windows 7 still require you to notify the OS before you remove your USB Flash drive, etc.? If so, is there a way to work around this? Thanks.
are you kidding right? <----sorry that was my first reaction to your first question.. Yes you have to click on "Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media" then choose your device... Here is a Real Answer to your second question... This option is usually the best choice for storage devices that you are likely to remove from the system frequently, such as USB flash drives, SD, MMC, Compact Flash, or similar memory cards, and other similar externally attached storage devices. When you select the Quick Removal option, Windows 7 manages commands sent to the device using a method called write-through caching. In write-through caching, the device operates on write commands as if there were no cache. The cache may still provide a small performance benefit, but the emphasis is on treating the data as safely as possible by getting the commands to the storage device. The main benefit is that you can remove the storage device from the system quickly without risking data loss. For example, if a flash drive were to be accidentally pulled out of its port, the data being written to it is much less likely to be lost. 1. Open the Control Panel (All Items view), and click on the Device Manager icon. 2. In Device Manger, double click on Disk drives to expand it, then double click on the listed storage device that you want to disable write caching for. 3. Click on the Polices tab. Under the upper Removal policy section, select (dot) Quick removal, or check the Turn off Windows write-cache buffer flushing on the device box, and click on OK. 4. Click on Yes to restart the computer to apply. WARNING: This will restart the computer immediately. You should save and close anything else that you are working on first.
If you don't safely remove you will corrupt files on the drive at least wait to remove the drive until the light on it stops blinking and goes solid.
You can optimize the usb drive for quick removal, that way you dont have to click on "Safely remove...". Right-click your flash drive and go to properties. In the properties dialog box click on the Hardware tab and click to select your flash drive. Click on the properties button. The general tab will appear by default in the pop up dialog box. Now click on the policies tab and ensure that the radio button beside the option "Optimize for Quick Removal" is checked. I use that on some of my usb drives but I do take care to close all open windows and finish copy/paste activities before yanking the drive out.