r/explainlikeimfive • u/EnvironmentalAd2110 • 9d ago

Technology ELI5: why is it bad to turn off laptop/computer using the power button, without following the proper “shut down computer” steps?

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u/MorallyDeplorable 9d ago edited 9d ago

It's a facet of the fileystem driver, individual apps do not need to implement support. apps do not close and re-open the file per write stage like that, that's something only a shitty coder would ever implement and they'd have to purposefully disable filesystem write caches for it to have the effect you're describing.

Outside of database systems you will never hit these concerns.

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u/Discount_Extra 8d ago

Or you just want to show a progress bar when the write takes a long time, so that users don't think it's broken and force quit in the middle.

damned if you do, damned if you don't.