Editorial

Unplugging an iPod: Harder Than it Should Be

Monday, February 12th, 2007 at 3:55 PM - by

Anyone who has scrambled the data on their iPod, in an absentminded moment, by unplugging it without first ejecting it has wondered why Apple Apple has not addressed the issue. Certainly for other devices, such as scanners and printers, we can plug them in and disconnect without peril. But with the file system handshaking protocol, it has always remained perilous to interrupt a data stream between a computer and a mounted volume.

In a recently revealed patent filing, Apple has proposed a mechanism for validating the connection between the two devices and leaving the iPod unmounted unless there is a communication in progress. Even so, it's a very tricky business. The original patent goes back to August 2004, and since we haven't seen a commercial implementation yet in an iPod, it just goes to show how very difficult the technique must be.

Perhaps the Apple iPhone will be the first device to use this technology. Now that would be very cool indeed.

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L0u13 said:

member since 26 Dec 2001 with 4110 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Feb 12, 2007 5:15 pm

It would make sense to many for the iPod to to sync when plugged (pending preferences in iTunes) in then unmount while still charging.

However, many people such as myself use the iPod for storage besides music. This requires the iPod to be mounted on the desktop.

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gslusher said:

member since 13 Nov 2002 with 2063 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Feb 12, 2007 5:21 pm

L0u13 wrote:
It would make sense to many for the iPod to to sync when plugged (pending preferences in iTunes) in then unmount while still charging.

However, many people such as myself use the iPod for storage besides music. This requires the iPod to be mounted on the desktop.

the article wrote:
Anyone who has scrambled the data on their iPod, in an absentminded moment, by unplugging it without first ejecting it has wondered why Apple Apple has not addressed the issue. Certainly for other devices, such as scanners and printers, we can plug them in and disconnect without peril. But with the file system handshaking protocol, it has always remained perilous to interrupt a data stream between a computer and a mounted volume.

If you do not enable disk mode, the iPod will automatically dismount after updating, yet continue charging. If, as L0u13 (cool way to write "Louis"!) implied, if you enable disk mode, the iPod will be mounted on the desktop and must be ejected. Have you ever unplugged an USB flash drive without ejecting it--and waiting for several minutes, sometimes, for it to finish ejecting? The iPod is no different. I don't use Windows, so I don't know if this is the case for Windows computers.

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vasic said:

member since 09 Aug 2005 with 252 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Feb 12, 2007 5:43 pm

This is the same in all worlds (Windows, Mac, etc.). The volume must be unmounted (ejected, released, whatever) before it can be physically disconnected. The world will be a better place once this wrinkle is ironed out and we're able to unplug without thinking...

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gslusher said:

member since 13 Nov 2002 with 2063 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Feb 12, 2007 6:06 pm

vasic wrote:
This is the same in all worlds (Windows, Mac, etc.). The volume must be unmounted (ejected, released, whatever) before it can be physically disconnected. The world will be a better place once this wrinkle is ironed out and we're able to unplug without thinking...

Thanks for the information.

That would be nice, as long as it could prevent corruption if the connection is broken during a transfer. Perhaps something like the way that some browsers and FTP clients can pause and resume downloading a file.

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Feb 12, 2007 7:30 pm

Apple should make the iPod plug one connects to the bottom of the iPod light up red to not disconnect and green when it can be disconnected. It would also look way cool. Think of the power adapters for the macbook/pro models.

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geoduck said:

member since 30 Dec 2003 with 1797 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Feb 12, 2007 8:44 pm

They (the royal they to include all computer mechanical and electrical engineers) came up with a way to have SCSI drives in servers hot swappable without messing around with unmounting. There's no reason that a USB2 drive such as the iPod can't do this.

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed Jul 04, 2007 3:43 pm

so i unplugged my nano without ejecting and have since had problems, like it not playing, but rather starting to play music then just going back to the front menu once, and then today it wouldnt stop playing....is there anything i can do, or do i need to return my nano just because i pulled the plug on it once? seems ridiculous that a child or dog walking by and yanking a wire can kill such a nice gadget....

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Intruder said:

member since 07 Jul 2004 with 2993 posts, TMO Mac Specialist, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Jul 04, 2007 4:41 pm

No. Plug it back in and restore the iPod (this WILL erase all of the music et al on the iPod, so be forewarned).

This will put a fresh OS on the iPod and load all of your music back on it. It should fix the problems you are having. If it doesn't then a disk utility may have to be run on it.

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