Will the force ejection (by force eject option) of an external SSD drive cause memory corruption?

I did move a folder with around 130,000+ csv files to an SSD drive, but I changed my mind and move back to computer. However, the moving bar stuck at "preparing to move" for around 30 minutes, with frustration I decided to relaunch finder and eject the SSD drive, I tried this again but this time to delete the folder and it still stuck so I relaunch finder and eject again.


My question: is it possible by "relaunch finder and eject" an external drive while the moving/copying/deleting bar stuck at "preparing to ..." can cause memory corruption of some other files (not in the folder I'm trying to move) in the disk?


Thanks.

Posted on Feb 15, 2022 11:03 AM

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Posted on Feb 15, 2022 5:16 PM

First memory and storage are two different things. Memory is volatile and temporary so anything stored in memory disappears when rebooting a computer. Storage is meant to be more permanent. Data stored on a drive should still be there after rebooting a computer.

https://www.crucial.com/articles/about-memory/what-is-the-difference-between-memory-and-storage


Yes, you can corrupt the file system on any volume that is not properly unmounted which could affect any file on that drive. Whenever you see macOS show a notification about not properly ejecting a drive, then potentially the file system and data on that drive could be damaged or lost.


When moving files to a different volume/drive, I recommend copying files, then deleting the files from the original location instead of moving the files. If a "move" is interrupted for any reason, then you may end up losing all those files even from the original location while the destination won't have all the files either. At least by "copying" the files first if the process is interrupted, then all the files will still exist at the original location so you can try again.


FYI, you should always have frequent and regular backups of your computer and all external media which contains important and unique data.

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Feb 15, 2022 5:16 PM in response to np2314

First memory and storage are two different things. Memory is volatile and temporary so anything stored in memory disappears when rebooting a computer. Storage is meant to be more permanent. Data stored on a drive should still be there after rebooting a computer.

https://www.crucial.com/articles/about-memory/what-is-the-difference-between-memory-and-storage


Yes, you can corrupt the file system on any volume that is not properly unmounted which could affect any file on that drive. Whenever you see macOS show a notification about not properly ejecting a drive, then potentially the file system and data on that drive could be damaged or lost.


When moving files to a different volume/drive, I recommend copying files, then deleting the files from the original location instead of moving the files. If a "move" is interrupted for any reason, then you may end up losing all those files even from the original location while the destination won't have all the files either. At least by "copying" the files first if the process is interrupted, then all the files will still exist at the original location so you can try again.


FYI, you should always have frequent and regular backups of your computer and all external media which contains important and unique data.

Feb 16, 2022 7:22 PM in response to np2314

Is this drive a standard data drive, or a Time Machine drive, or macOS boot drive? If the external drive is just a standard data drive, then I would avoid using the APFS file system since these types of issues seem to be common. APFS is a new file system which still has some growing pains and First Aid is unable to repair many types of failures. Unfortunately there are no third party utilities for repairing the APFS file system since Apple has not yet released the necessary APFS documentation. For a data only drive I would recommend using HFS+/MacOS Extended (Journaled) file system instead.


If this drive is a TM backup drive or macOS boot drive, then you must use APFS.


You should run First Aid on the hidden Container to see if it can be repaired. Within Disk Utility you may need to click "View" and select "Show All Devices" so that the hidden Container appears on the left pane of Disk Utility.


If this is a data drive, are you backing up this drive? I'm wondering why there is a snapshot. If the errors are just in a snapshot, then once the snapshot is deleted the problem will no longer exist. I don't know whether all those errors are in a snapshot. If this is a backup snapshot, then I honestly don't know if it is a problem for the backup.


If this is for your macOS boot drive, then you should run try running First Aid from Recovery Mode, Internet Recovery Mode, or a macsOS USB installer. Just make sure to boot the same or newer OS so that Disk Utility will understand the drive layout and file system properly since later versions of macOS have introduced changes which may not be properly recognized by older versions.


If there are any unfixed errors outside of the snapshots, then the only way to "fix" them is by erasing the whole drive or volume (possibly the Container) and restoring the files from a backup or clone.


File system issues do not necessarily mean a hardware issue with the drive.


FYI, I'm not completely certain which drive has the errors you have listed since you were discussing force ejected external drives, but I'm getting the impression the errors are on your macOS boot drive.

Feb 16, 2022 6:25 PM in response to HWTech

I have received these error while running on Mac HDD itself (the external SSDs are fine, they don't exhibit these error)


error: directory valence check: directory (oid 0x7004c): nchildren (1) does not match drec count (0)

warning: snapshot fsroot tree corruptions are not repaired; they'll go away once the snapshot is deleted

error: directory valence check: directory (oid 0x70050): nchildren (1) does not match drec count (0)

error: Unable to perform deferred repairs without full space verification

error: Try running fsck against the entire APFS container instead of a volume

The volume /dev/rdisk1s1 could not be verified completely.


Even the operation is successful, but these error leave me in doubt. Should I take any action, or to replace the disk?


Feb 16, 2022 7:41 PM in response to HWTech

I suspected that the error/file corruption may occur to some other files (not the 100,000 files I'm trying to move) in the external SSDs that I,


(1) try moving 100,000 files out of it (I cancel the process by stopping it but this takes so long)

(2) I then relaunch finder, in order to safely eject, using the "Force eject..." option

(3) proceed to check that external SSD to detect any error (none appears)

(4) did also check the built-in Macintosh HD drive, to check for sign of errors as I'm using this mac for quite a long time -> this is what I asked in the second option (and this is somehow gone off-topic)

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Will the force ejection (by force eject option) of an external SSD drive cause memory corruption?

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