Policies for Backup External HDD?

[Xirix]

Just some quick questions, I have a few high capacity external HDDs I use to backup my data once a month, I've just seen something about being able to set Policies for them, I haven't had any trouble with the defaults... would setting them to B : better performance do anything noticable?

Also if they refuse to remove safely with safely remove hardware, will Shutting down the computer safely remove it?

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

I have five and I've left them all at the default "Quick Removal" policy which ensures that data gets written to them all straight away. Provided the drive's activity light is NOT flashing, you can safely disconnect that drive without using "Safely Remove".

Now, if you set the removal policy to "Best Performance", that means best performance for your computer. When there's data to be written to the external drive, Windows "caches" it for delayed writing when your PC is less busy. However, you must always remember to use the "Safely Remove" feature before unplugging the drive. This alerts Windows to perform any delayed writes before it tells you that the drive can be safely removed.

Likewise, if you go through the proper shutdown process, Windows won't actually exit until any delayed writes have been written.

Personally, I don't altogether trust that delayed-write feature (sudden power-cut is one concern with a desktop PC), which is why I've kept the default "Quick Removal" setting.