Removable Media Tips
Windows treatment of removable media
Thumb drives and other popular USB external media are simple and effective ways to store and -transfer files, and keep some files handy. But there can be a price to pay- Windows keeps files open. You shouldn't remove thumb drives or other media until Windows says it's OK. When you insert a USB memory device, you'll see an icon in the notification area (bottom right on most computers) that says "Safely remove hardware", when you hover over it.
Click it, it will list whatever USB drives you have connected. Click the appropriate drive letter (whatever drive letter Windows assigned to your memory stick, you can find out using Windows Explorer). A warning like below means Windows thinks the device is "open" and active, and shouldn't be removed.
Don't simply yank a USB drive cable until Windows thinks it's safe, or you may end up with frazzled files or a frazzled USB Drive!
If you write a file directly from Embird to a Thumb drive, Windows will expect there will be more, so the drive is open, active, and waiting for further activity. You'll probably need to shut down Embird before Windows gives you the OK. Or, you can establish a temporary file area on a permanently mounted drive like your "C:" drive and write your Embird files there, then use Windows Explorer to transfer the files to the Thumb Drive, then shut down Windows Explorer.
Below is the message you want to see when you tell Windows you want to remove a USB drive:
If you don't see the above message, there's a chance you'll lose data on the USB device.
Memory stick manufacturers usually format their Thumb Drives as FAT32 devices, for greater compatibility with older operating systems.
But FAT32 devices cannot store "File Summary Information" that is used by many people to help categorize and locate files by keywords, author, etc. If you need File Summary Information, you can reformat the device to NTFS, so you can store the ""File Summary Information". You can do this without losing data, here is a Microsoft link.
Thumb Drives
Thumb drives, or "memory sticks". Wikipedia - Thumb Drives
Network drives
Many users have multiple computers linked by a home network, so any computer can access the internet, use the printer, etc. If you have a home network, you should consider a "network drive". It's similar to an external hard drive, except it connects via network cables, instead of USB cables. This makes it faster than external hard drives, and (typically) accessible to all members of your home network. And if your modem has a Wi-Fi capability, you can use the contents of your network drive on your laptop, anywhere in the house. File protection is provided by Windows and your modem /switch / firewall hardware, so be sure that's set up for privacy.
CD and DVD Media
CD-ROM and DVD-ROM drive media is "write once, read-many (worm)". Once written, the data can not be erased.A CD-R can be created as a MULTI-SESSION disk. This means it can be written to in several sessions, provided that the total size doesn't exceed the capacity of the disk. Multi-session usage does not write over anything already burned to the disk. It simply creates a new directory entry in addition to the old one, when it writes the new files. The new directory typically requires about 50MB of additional space on the CD, so only a few sessions can be written to each CD.
CD-RW and DVD-RW drive media is "write many, read many" media. The media can be erased several times, usually about a thousand times. Older CD drives may not be able to read CD-RW media.
Floppy Disks
Floppy Disks are pretty much outmoded now, but are handy for transferring small files such as embroidery designs to embroidery machines. Their standard is 3.5" form factor, 1.44MB capacity. Wikipedia - Floppy Drives
Removable Hard Drives
Usually refers to a drive similar to the one mounted inside your computer, but mounted in a plug-in case which can be plugged in to your computer. Sometimes an option on higher-end desktops. Multiple removable drives are the fastest and slickest way to backup data, and can be used for privacy.ZIP, JAZ, and similar are removable drives similar to the above, especially made to be removable. They tend to be quickly outmoded and less reliable than the removable hard drives described above.
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