Whenever you use a USB drive, aka flash drive, aka thumb drive or a memory card, you should always eject it properly. (See our blog, "Old Wives' Tale?" by clicking HERE.) Failure to do so, may cause you to lose some or all of the data stored on the device. If you're using an Apple (iMac) computer, here are the instructions for properly ejecting the drive or card:

1) In the menu, click on the FINDER icon (it looks like a face) - usually the farthest to the left:

2) Once the FINDER window opens, look in the left-hand column for the USB drive or the memory card you have plugged in. Next to the name of the device you will see a small eject icon. (It looks like an underscore with an up arrowhead on top.)

 

3) Next, click on the eject icon and your USB drive or memory card will be ejected. It is now safe to remove.

 

4) If you receive a message saying that the device cannot be ejected, you should wait a reasonable amount of time and try ejecting the device again. If you continue to get the "Problem" message, you may need to turn off your computer to safely remove the item.