Hello:
I'm new to Portable Apps, so please excuse if this question is somewhat naive.
I use a Flash Drive USB to run Portable Firefox ...I might wish to use it for other Port Apps as well. I never use it on any other PC but this one.
Questions:
How safe is it to simply leave the Flash Drive in the USB port? Say even when I reboot the PC. It's often a nuisance to remove it and re-insert it as the computer often tells me to wait for long intervals before safely removing it.
1) Is this safe in terms of the PC itself, such as when I reboot while the Flash Drive is still inserted?
2) Is it safe to leave it in in terms of the data and durability of the Flash Drive?
Thanks in advance:
-Eliuri
Windows XP Professional Edition SP3
HP 8 Gig Flash Drive
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I don't know about other people's experiences or knowledge on the subject, but I used to leave a USB stick in my computer pretty much every weekend from Friday night through Monday morning without hassle.
The reason I stopped is because I lost a few weeks worth of homework (not to mention the USB stick, motherboard and video card) when a residual current device that had been installed incorrectly in my building short-circuited and took out my computer.
These days I leave my computer on overnight as little as possible and leave USB sticks in only while using them.
If you trust the wiring where you live, though, you shouldn't have any issues. PC's are fine to reboot with a USB connected, and a USB drive will survive being plugged in for long stints quite easily.
I leave mine in all the time and have never had a problem.
There are many thousands of people who leave mass storage devices (external hard drives) plugged in to USB all the time. As far as your computer and its universal serial bus is concerned, a flash drive is just another mass storage device.
It should be safe for the flash drive too. It's a solid state device so leaving it plugged in won't age it (provided nothing writes to it).
That said, leaving it plugged in does increases it's exposure (lightning strikes, PC failures, data-corrupting viruses, whatever). If you leave it plugged in you should be diligent about including it in back ups.
That bothersome delay you experience with the USB on computer shutdown is because Windows is shutting down open programs and writing any data needed back to the USB drive. If you don't wait for the normal Windows processes to complete, you risk corrupting data.
Ordinarily, with programs on your hard drive, the shutdown takes time anyway, but with a USB drive, the process is soooooo much slower. And it could be worse depending on the USB port you're using, and worse even more depending on the speed of your particular USB drive.
It would be a very good idea to keep backups of your data.
Here's an idea.... if you are using only this PC, why don't you install the FirefoxPortable to the hard drive in the computer, and use the USB stick to back up your data? If you are worried about sensitive stuff (like sites you might uhhhh "accidently" visit) you could always have FirefoxPortable clear all history when you quit, or better yet, run in privacy mode all of the time so nothing is ever saved regarding these sites.
We might be able to offer other ideas if you could tell us WHY you think you should use PortableFirefox from the USB drive (I was only making assumptions, etc...)
neutron1132 (at) usa (dot) com
Hi J Neutron:
You wrote:
"That bothersome delay you experience with the USB on computer shutdown is because Windows is shutting down open programs and writing any data needed back to the USB drive. If you don't wait for the normal Windows processes to complete, you risk corrupting data."
Actually, this delay is NOT when I shutdown the PC, but when I close the PortApp program I was using the Flash Drive for. It's not a very big program. Just Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition. So it is puzzling why I'm often told that the flash drive cannot be removed and that I need to wait. Sometimes, I continue getting that same notice to wait before it's safe to remove the drive for over an hour. this can at times continue well after both PortApps-related entries are no longer showing in the Task Manager: FirefoxPortable.exe and firefox.exe .I have no idea why this sometimes happens and sometimes does not. Would help to know ..But as I've said, its not when I shut the PC,it's when I close the only program I run from that flash drive. Would you have some idea why this happens?
Neutron wrote:
"Here's an idea.... if you are using only this PC, why don't you install the Firefox Portable to the hard drive in the computer, and use the USB stick to back up your data?"
This is exactly what I would like to do! But since I run two different versions of Firefox, it might "confuse" the PC somewhat. If I can get clarification as to how to install Firefox Portable 4.0 directly to my HDD without "upsetting" the resident Firefox 3.6 already installed, it would help matters. I recall reading somewhere on this site that if a non-portable and a portable version of Firefox are both installed in the Programs directory of Windows , even if they're assigned different sub-directories within the Program Files, it "confuses the operating system". Wish I recalled where on the Port Apps site I had read this. If this is not so, I can resolve this quite easily I guess.
Thanks:
-Eliuri
Windows XP Pro SP3
Firefox 3.6.16
Portable Firefox 4.0
As long as you don't open them at the same time, nothing should happen. Heck, no matter which drive each Firefox is on, it won't let you open multiple instances at the same time.
Firefox Portable has its own separate profile, in its own separate place, so the custom settings on each won't confuse each other.
I've found on my school computers (Windows XP SP3), when I boot up the machine with a flash drive plugged in, Windows goes through an additional screen before the log-in screen comes up. Its nothing dangerous (ran its course without corrupting flash drive) and you can cancel it.
"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
My use of Google indicates that I am insane.
The profile is what makes the FirefoxPortable installation "yours". The idea is to back up the profile and if a disaster happens, you can reinstall the basic application, copy your saved profile into the right place, and you are back in action.
Obviously, if you want to pick up the USB drive with this backed up profile and actually use it somewhere else without reinstalling the basic application, then you'd better have the basic application on that USB already. Right?
So, merely backing up the profile won't confuse anything. However, if you want to swap the one profile between permanent and portable versions, just have them be the same version.
And as long as you don't try to run two copies of Firefox AT THE SAME TIME you'll be OK.
Edit: And I guess you didn't see the answer I gave you to your other question about profiles?
https://portableapps.com/node/27486
neutron1132 (at) usa (dot) com
Just to make it clear, "Portable" Apps should Never be used from the "Program Files" directory (I assume that's where you meant by "the Programs directory of Windows").
Many programs detect that they are in Windows'
Program Filesdirectory and stop being Portable despite the PortableApps.com Launcher telling them to be, also Windows handles programs differently when they are in it'sProgram Filesdirectory thus making another way they could stop being portable.I don't know how affected FirefoxPortable is by any of these, but If you want to "install" a "Portable" App, then you should simply run the PortableApps.com Installer, which will detect a pre-existing PortableApps installation (if one is present that is) and if you want to "install" it on your hard drive (e.g. C:\) then simply change the "Install To" directory while installing to, for example,
C:\PortableApps\FirefoxPortable(rather than the default which would be something likeF:\PortableApps\FirefoxPortable).~3D1T0R