Unplugging my Canon EOS Rebel XTi from my computer leaves me with dozens of error messages

[Friesen1520]

The specific model I have uses CF storage, and I don't have a card reader for that, so I directly plug my camera into my computer to dump my photos. Whenever I turn the camera off or unplug it from my computer, I get anywhere from 3 to 12 error messages about how my Canon EOS Rebel XTi has either stopped responding or been disconnected. The biggest issue I have with it is that I'll be using my computer several hours after having unplugged it last, and the error messages will still randomly come up. I thought maybe to do a safe eject like you would a flash drive, but I can't find any option for that. Is there any solution you're aware of for this?

[rs-eos]

We'll need to know what operating system you're using. macOS? Windows? Other?

[kvbarkley]

And what software you are using to download.

[Friesen1520]

Im using Windows 10 operating system, and no software to my knowledge. I just plugged in the camera to my computer and it was accessible through the file explorer, all of my photos were stored inside a folder called CF then DCIM, then my photos were in there.

[kvbarkley]

Then in the tray on the right there should be a little usb stick. Click on that to eject the drive.

[ebiggs1]

"I thought maybe to do a safe eject ..."

All that does is make sure the thumb drive, or camera in this case, is not being written to at the moment of disconnect.  That would probably corrupt the CF card or lose whatever file that was writing at the moment.

[Tronhard]

Absolutely agree with the comments above.  It is a highly-risky method to just unplug any usb device from a computer without going through the eject process.  This is because the software on your computer sets up links to the files as it uses them and marks them as open.  If the link is broken the links are not closed correctly and you will get error messages and likely to have your card permanently corrupted.

I have seen people lose all of their data, plus the cards when they have unplugged prematurely.