I see there’s an older thread on this topic, but there wasn’t a resolution. Is there a proper method to eject/unmount the USB drive from the 1F controller?
If I unplug the drive from the controller before powering down, my computer complains about a problem with the drive and needs to scan/fix it. If I power down the controller, then remove the USB drive there are no problems.
I’d really rather not have to power down the controller every time I need to unplug the drive.
Just pull it out and ‘skip’ repairing the drive. (behind the scenes, windows is only removing a bit that says’ this is from linux not windows’ which doesn’t do anything anyways).
It’s my understanding that the purpose of “ejecting” a USB drive is to ensure that all writes from the controller to the USB are complete before it is removed. Pulling the USB while the controller is writing to it will likely corrupt the USB data. However, if the USB is being used to transfer gcode files to the controller, then the data flow is the opposite direction. Once the data is on the controller, there is really nothing to worry about in pulling the USB.
Bottom line - if you are transferring gcode files to the controller, you can pull the USB once the file is loaded. However, if you are backing files up from the controller to the USB stick, I would be very careful to ensure the writing had completed. I would also check the USB stick in your PC to be sure the backup files were readable.
If someone has a different take on this, please chime in…