GoKawiilGuide explains why external drives should be ejected before unplugging
A technology explainer details how safely removing external drives depends on the operating system, noting that Windows 10 defaults removable drives to a 'Quick removal' policy that reduces risk but lowers performance. It warns that Mac background tasks like Time Machine and Spotlight, and Linux's reliance on write caching, can make sudden disconnection more likely to cause data loss or corruption.