Run check disk while doing something important. :) The drive should disappear from everyone’s view as check disk opens it under exclusive RW access.
This brings us to some things, some tests I would like to run on many applications. Typical happens as I write this.
1- Visual Studio setup just hangs. *
2- Firefox crashes upon close when running from that drive. *
3- Tortoise SVN background process will crash. **
4- Opening any MS Office program will invoke windows installer instead (expected). If office was installed on that drive.
5- OneNote’s background keystroke monitor will crash. **
There are lots of things programs access file system for.
1- Custom logging: Not essential enough to actually crash the application. I would love to see some example program doing exactly that.
2- User data: Nothing should ever crash for this. Instead prompt for an alternate location.
3- On demand functionality: User invoked something. You need to load code/resources/configuration from a disk not available. What will you do? Crashing is very gross.
4- Configuration data: This can happen anytime. Don’t tell me you don’t keep a default copy of your required, must-have, 24/7 available, configuration ready at hand in resource form. Embedded right into your executable images.