What will happen if I bump the USB drive Ubuntu is running from?
I am considering creating a Live Ubuntu USB drive and running Ubuntu just from it.
So, what bad things would happen if I was running Ubuntu and doing stuff and my flash drive got bumped out of socket? I'm pretty certain that I'd lose whatever I hadn't saved, but what other corruptions or disasters might occur? And are there settings that could be set to minimize the damage?
Can anyone help me know the risks? I'd rather not just wait and find out.
boot usb live-usb
asked May 24 '14 at 20:33
Robbie WxyzRobbie Wxyz
207218
add a comment |
I am considering creating a Live Ubuntu USB drive and running Ubuntu just from it.
So, what bad things would happen if I was running Ubuntu and doing stuff and my flash drive got bumped out of socket? I'm pretty certain that I'd lose whatever I hadn't saved, but what other corruptions or disasters might occur? And are there settings that could be set to minimize the damage?
Can anyone help me know the risks? I'd rather not just wait and find out.
boot usb live-usb
asked May 24 '14 at 20:33
Robbie WxyzRobbie Wxyz
207218
2
Exactly the same that will happen if you unplug your main hard disk while running on it. It can happen everything, from a simple crash to a completely unusable file system.
– Rmano
May 24 '14 at 20:37
I am really looking for personal experience with Ubuntu. I have read posts on SuperUser all over on the theoretical side of things.
– Robbie Wxyz
May 24 '14 at 21:14
Try it, it's not so difficult at all. Mind you, there are USB bootable distribution that copy all the needed thing in RAM and free the USB disk, but the one I know are quite old. A normal linux use the disk as page cache at least for executables, libraries, and a lot of things; remove the disk and a crash is guarantee. The disk can be corrupted or not, depending on the moment, the luck and the phase of the moon.
– Rmano
May 25 '14 at 3:38
add a comment |
I am considering creating a Live Ubuntu USB drive and running Ubuntu just from it.
So, what bad things would happen if I was running Ubuntu and doing stuff and my flash drive got bumped out of socket? I'm pretty certain that I'd lose whatever I hadn't saved, but what other corruptions or disasters might occur? And are there settings that could be set to minimize the damage?
Can anyone help me know the risks? I'd rather not just wait and find out.
boot usb live-usb
asked May 24 '14 at 20:33
Robbie WxyzRobbie Wxyz
207218
I am considering creating a Live Ubuntu USB drive and running Ubuntu just from it.
So, what bad things would happen if I was running Ubuntu and doing stuff and my flash drive got bumped out of socket? I'm pretty certain that I'd lose whatever I hadn't saved, but what other corruptions or disasters might occur? And are there settings that could be set to minimize the damage?
Can anyone help me know the risks? I'd rather not just wait and find out.
boot usb live-usb
boot usb live-usb
asked May 24 '14 at 20:33
Robbie WxyzRobbie Wxyz
207218
asked May 24 '14 at 20:33
Robbie WxyzRobbie Wxyz
207218
asked May 24 '14 at 20:33
Robbie WxyzRobbie Wxyz
207218
asked May 24 '14 at 20:33
Robbie WxyzRobbie Wxyz
207218
asked May 24 '14 at 20:33
Robbie WxyzRobbie Wxyz
207218
207218
2
Exactly the same that will happen if you unplug your main hard disk while running on it. It can happen everything, from a simple crash to a completely unusable file system.
– Rmano
May 24 '14 at 20:37
I am really looking for personal experience with Ubuntu. I have read posts on SuperUser all over on the theoretical side of things.
– Robbie Wxyz
May 24 '14 at 21:14
Try it, it's not so difficult at all. Mind you, there are USB bootable distribution that copy all the needed thing in RAM and free the USB disk, but the one I know are quite old. A normal linux use the disk as page cache at least for executables, libraries, and a lot of things; remove the disk and a crash is guarantee. The disk can be corrupted or not, depending on the moment, the luck and the phase of the moon.
– Rmano
May 25 '14 at 3:38
add a comment |
2
Exactly the same that will happen if you unplug your main hard disk while running on it. It can happen everything, from a simple crash to a completely unusable file system.
– Rmano
May 24 '14 at 20:37
I am really looking for personal experience with Ubuntu. I have read posts on SuperUser all over on the theoretical side of things.
– Robbie Wxyz
May 24 '14 at 21:14
Try it, it's not so difficult at all. Mind you, there are USB bootable distribution that copy all the needed thing in RAM and free the USB disk, but the one I know are quite old. A normal linux use the disk as page cache at least for executables, libraries, and a lot of things; remove the disk and a crash is guarantee. The disk can be corrupted or not, depending on the moment, the luck and the phase of the moon.
– Rmano
May 25 '14 at 3:38
2
2
Exactly the same that will happen if you unplug your main hard disk while running on it. It can happen everything, from a simple crash to a completely unusable file system.
– Rmano
May 24 '14 at 20:37
Exactly the same that will happen if you unplug your main hard disk while running on it. It can happen everything, from a simple crash to a completely unusable file system.
– Rmano
May 24 '14 at 20:37
I am really looking for personal experience with Ubuntu. I have read posts on SuperUser all over on the theoretical side of things.
– Robbie Wxyz
May 24 '14 at 21:14
I am really looking for personal experience with Ubuntu. I have read posts on SuperUser all over on the theoretical side of things.
– Robbie Wxyz
May 24 '14 at 21:14
Try it, it's not so difficult at all. Mind you, there are USB bootable distribution that copy all the needed thing in RAM and free the USB disk, but the one I know are quite old. A normal linux use the disk as page cache at least for executables, libraries, and a lot of things; remove the disk and a crash is guarantee. The disk can be corrupted or not, depending on the moment, the luck and the phase of the moon.
– Rmano
May 25 '14 at 3:38
Try it, it's not so difficult at all. Mind you, there are USB bootable distribution that copy all the needed thing in RAM and free the USB disk, but the one I know are quite old. A normal linux use the disk as page cache at least for executables, libraries, and a lot of things; remove the disk and a crash is guarantee. The disk can be corrupted or not, depending on the moment, the luck and the phase of the moon.
– Rmano
May 25 '14 at 3:38
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
It would be the same as removing your hard drive while your computer is on, most likely it will cause a crash that may not be recoverable from unless you reinstall.
Here is one example
I will add that this has happened to me and I had to reformat the flash drive and reinstall.
answered May 24 '14 at 20:41
Wild ManWild Man
6,49732640
The supplied link doesn't seem to have to do with multi-boot. It looks like he was formatting the drive when he removed it (which obviously destroys all data). Am I missing the connection?
– Robbie Wxyz
May 24 '14 at 20:48
This is the connection "Oops, I accidentally unplugged my USB hard drive, now I can't access it"., it really does not matter what you are doing when your device gets unplugged it is all bad.
– Wild Man
May 24 '14 at 20:51
1
@WildMan Not quite the same. When formatting, the file table of the FS gets wiped as well, so even if some data is still on the drive, you don't know where to look for it. (Special case: Some fast formatting tools will ONLY wipe the file table so all data is still there after formatting). Open files being written to will be malicious, some files maybe lost, your system will prob. crash. I had several power outages on different OSes and it didn't destroy all of my data.
– Lukas
May 25 '14 at 3:18
add a comment |
That has happened to me before. I installed Ubuntu on a usb hard disk so I wouldn't have to wipe my windows installation off this computer. However, since it is a laptop, I often use it on the couch. So, one day I ended up accidentally unplugging the disk when I had to run for the phone. What happened was not a bluescreen-like crash as I expected. Instead, some weird things happened to the os. All the programs I had open stayed open in memory, although all of them began throwing errors whenever they tried to access storage. Unity also bugged up badly and eventually crashed. I wonder if a tool could be created that runs in memory and throws a system killswitch if this happens to me again. Either that or actually re-mounting the drive, if possible.
answered Apr 14 '15 at 21:43
yea55yea55
291
add a comment |
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2 Answers
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2 Answers
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votes
It would be the same as removing your hard drive while your computer is on, most likely it will cause a crash that may not be recoverable from unless you reinstall.
Here is one example
I will add that this has happened to me and I had to reformat the flash drive and reinstall.
answered May 24 '14 at 20:41
Wild ManWild Man
6,49732640
The supplied link doesn't seem to have to do with multi-boot. It looks like he was formatting the drive when he removed it (which obviously destroys all data). Am I missing the connection?
– Robbie Wxyz
May 24 '14 at 20:48
This is the connection "Oops, I accidentally unplugged my USB hard drive, now I can't access it"., it really does not matter what you are doing when your device gets unplugged it is all bad.
– Wild Man
May 24 '14 at 20:51
1
@WildMan Not quite the same. When formatting, the file table of the FS gets wiped as well, so even if some data is still on the drive, you don't know where to look for it. (Special case: Some fast formatting tools will ONLY wipe the file table so all data is still there after formatting). Open files being written to will be malicious, some files maybe lost, your system will prob. crash. I had several power outages on different OSes and it didn't destroy all of my data.
– Lukas
May 25 '14 at 3:18
add a comment |
It would be the same as removing your hard drive while your computer is on, most likely it will cause a crash that may not be recoverable from unless you reinstall.
Here is one example
I will add that this has happened to me and I had to reformat the flash drive and reinstall.
answered May 24 '14 at 20:41
Wild ManWild Man
6,49732640
The supplied link doesn't seem to have to do with multi-boot. It looks like he was formatting the drive when he removed it (which obviously destroys all data). Am I missing the connection?
– Robbie Wxyz
May 24 '14 at 20:48
This is the connection "Oops, I accidentally unplugged my USB hard drive, now I can't access it"., it really does not matter what you are doing when your device gets unplugged it is all bad.
– Wild Man
May 24 '14 at 20:51
1
@WildMan Not quite the same. When formatting, the file table of the FS gets wiped as well, so even if some data is still on the drive, you don't know where to look for it. (Special case: Some fast formatting tools will ONLY wipe the file table so all data is still there after formatting). Open files being written to will be malicious, some files maybe lost, your system will prob. crash. I had several power outages on different OSes and it didn't destroy all of my data.
– Lukas
May 25 '14 at 3:18
add a comment |
It would be the same as removing your hard drive while your computer is on, most likely it will cause a crash that may not be recoverable from unless you reinstall.
Here is one example
I will add that this has happened to me and I had to reformat the flash drive and reinstall.
answered May 24 '14 at 20:41
Wild ManWild Man
6,49732640
It would be the same as removing your hard drive while your computer is on, most likely it will cause a crash that may not be recoverable from unless you reinstall.
Here is one example
I will add that this has happened to me and I had to reformat the flash drive and reinstall.
answered May 24 '14 at 20:41
Wild ManWild Man
6,49732640
edited May 24 '14 at 21:06
answered May 24 '14 at 20:41
Wild ManWild Man
6,49732640
answered May 24 '14 at 20:41
Wild ManWild Man
6,49732640
answered May 24 '14 at 20:41
Wild ManWild Man
6,49732640
6,49732640
The supplied link doesn't seem to have to do with multi-boot. It looks like he was formatting the drive when he removed it (which obviously destroys all data). Am I missing the connection?
– Robbie Wxyz
May 24 '14 at 20:48
This is the connection "Oops, I accidentally unplugged my USB hard drive, now I can't access it"., it really does not matter what you are doing when your device gets unplugged it is all bad.
– Wild Man
May 24 '14 at 20:51
1
@WildMan Not quite the same. When formatting, the file table of the FS gets wiped as well, so even if some data is still on the drive, you don't know where to look for it. (Special case: Some fast formatting tools will ONLY wipe the file table so all data is still there after formatting). Open files being written to will be malicious, some files maybe lost, your system will prob. crash. I had several power outages on different OSes and it didn't destroy all of my data.
– Lukas
May 25 '14 at 3:18
add a comment |
The supplied link doesn't seem to have to do with multi-boot. It looks like he was formatting the drive when he removed it (which obviously destroys all data). Am I missing the connection?
– Robbie Wxyz
May 24 '14 at 20:48
This is the connection "Oops, I accidentally unplugged my USB hard drive, now I can't access it"., it really does not matter what you are doing when your device gets unplugged it is all bad.
– Wild Man
May 24 '14 at 20:51
1
@WildMan Not quite the same. When formatting, the file table of the FS gets wiped as well, so even if some data is still on the drive, you don't know where to look for it. (Special case: Some fast formatting tools will ONLY wipe the file table so all data is still there after formatting). Open files being written to will be malicious, some files maybe lost, your system will prob. crash. I had several power outages on different OSes and it didn't destroy all of my data.
– Lukas
May 25 '14 at 3:18
The supplied link doesn't seem to have to do with multi-boot. It looks like he was formatting the drive when he removed it (which obviously destroys all data). Am I missing the connection?
– Robbie Wxyz
May 24 '14 at 20:48
The supplied link doesn't seem to have to do with multi-boot. It looks like he was formatting the drive when he removed it (which obviously destroys all data). Am I missing the connection?
– Robbie Wxyz
May 24 '14 at 20:48
This is the connection "Oops, I accidentally unplugged my USB hard drive, now I can't access it"., it really does not matter what you are doing when your device gets unplugged it is all bad.
– Wild Man
May 24 '14 at 20:51
This is the connection "Oops, I accidentally unplugged my USB hard drive, now I can't access it"., it really does not matter what you are doing when your device gets unplugged it is all bad.
– Wild Man
May 24 '14 at 20:51
1
1
@WildMan Not quite the same. When formatting, the file table of the FS gets wiped as well, so even if some data is still on the drive, you don't know where to look for it. (Special case: Some fast formatting tools will ONLY wipe the file table so all data is still there after formatting). Open files being written to will be malicious, some files maybe lost, your system will prob. crash. I had several power outages on different OSes and it didn't destroy all of my data.
– Lukas
May 25 '14 at 3:18
@WildMan Not quite the same. When formatting, the file table of the FS gets wiped as well, so even if some data is still on the drive, you don't know where to look for it. (Special case: Some fast formatting tools will ONLY wipe the file table so all data is still there after formatting). Open files being written to will be malicious, some files maybe lost, your system will prob. crash. I had several power outages on different OSes and it didn't destroy all of my data.
– Lukas
May 25 '14 at 3:18
add a comment |
That has happened to me before. I installed Ubuntu on a usb hard disk so I wouldn't have to wipe my windows installation off this computer. However, since it is a laptop, I often use it on the couch. So, one day I ended up accidentally unplugging the disk when I had to run for the phone. What happened was not a bluescreen-like crash as I expected. Instead, some weird things happened to the os. All the programs I had open stayed open in memory, although all of them began throwing errors whenever they tried to access storage. Unity also bugged up badly and eventually crashed. I wonder if a tool could be created that runs in memory and throws a system killswitch if this happens to me again. Either that or actually re-mounting the drive, if possible.
answered Apr 14 '15 at 21:43
yea55yea55
291
add a comment |
That has happened to me before. I installed Ubuntu on a usb hard disk so I wouldn't have to wipe my windows installation off this computer. However, since it is a laptop, I often use it on the couch. So, one day I ended up accidentally unplugging the disk when I had to run for the phone. What happened was not a bluescreen-like crash as I expected. Instead, some weird things happened to the os. All the programs I had open stayed open in memory, although all of them began throwing errors whenever they tried to access storage. Unity also bugged up badly and eventually crashed. I wonder if a tool could be created that runs in memory and throws a system killswitch if this happens to me again. Either that or actually re-mounting the drive, if possible.
answered Apr 14 '15 at 21:43
yea55yea55
291
add a comment |
That has happened to me before. I installed Ubuntu on a usb hard disk so I wouldn't have to wipe my windows installation off this computer. However, since it is a laptop, I often use it on the couch. So, one day I ended up accidentally unplugging the disk when I had to run for the phone. What happened was not a bluescreen-like crash as I expected. Instead, some weird things happened to the os. All the programs I had open stayed open in memory, although all of them began throwing errors whenever they tried to access storage. Unity also bugged up badly and eventually crashed. I wonder if a tool could be created that runs in memory and throws a system killswitch if this happens to me again. Either that or actually re-mounting the drive, if possible.
answered Apr 14 '15 at 21:43
yea55yea55
291
That has happened to me before. I installed Ubuntu on a usb hard disk so I wouldn't have to wipe my windows installation off this computer. However, since it is a laptop, I often use it on the couch. So, one day I ended up accidentally unplugging the disk when I had to run for the phone. What happened was not a bluescreen-like crash as I expected. Instead, some weird things happened to the os. All the programs I had open stayed open in memory, although all of them began throwing errors whenever they tried to access storage. Unity also bugged up badly and eventually crashed. I wonder if a tool could be created that runs in memory and throws a system killswitch if this happens to me again. Either that or actually re-mounting the drive, if possible.
answered Apr 14 '15 at 21:43
yea55yea55
291
answered Apr 14 '15 at 21:43
yea55yea55
291
answered Apr 14 '15 at 21:43
yea55yea55
291
answered Apr 14 '15 at 21:43
yea55yea55
291
291
add a comment |
add a comment |
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2
Exactly the same that will happen if you unplug your main hard disk while running on it. It can happen everything, from a simple crash to a completely unusable file system.
– Rmano
May 24 '14 at 20:37
I am really looking for personal experience with Ubuntu. I have read posts on SuperUser all over on the theoretical side of things.
– Robbie Wxyz
May 24 '14 at 21:14
Try it, it's not so difficult at all. Mind you, there are USB bootable distribution that copy all the needed thing in RAM and free the USB disk, but the one I know are quite old. A normal linux use the disk as page cache at least for executables, libraries, and a lot of things; remove the disk and a crash is guarantee. The disk can be corrupted or not, depending on the moment, the luck and the phase of the moon.
– Rmano
May 25 '14 at 3:38