Hibernate and files vanishing from Disk

I am not certain about Windows 7, but in XP the only way to ensure that the write cache is flushed is to dismount the drive via the "Safely Remove Hardware" wizard. I thought write-behind caching is now disabled by default for removable drives, but I could be wrong. If not, you may want to consider just disabling the write cache for your card reader. Here's a guide on how to do this in Windows 7: http://www.recipester.org/Recipe:Enable_or_Disable_Write_Cache_in_Windows_7_26937759

I also found a tool to force the write cache to flush to disk. I've never used, so I can't say how well it works. It was designed for XP, but it may work in Windows 7 as well: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897438.aspx

personally, i never trust valauable data to "automatic' systems; i copy them myself; then i'm sure it's there.
you can always do a search on the whole drive for the documents that should be there..

Never, never, never (enough?) place files on the desktop. Shortcuts only. If a profile corrupts they are gone. If you are on a domain, they can be gone just by connecting to the network. If safely remove is enabled for the device, then write behind caching is enabled also. This means if you pull it out, you can lose data. You can disable this in Device manager - optimize for quick removal.

Chris B

So you have a  'safely remove hardware' feature that you don't want to use and complain about getting files corruption ?
==>  What about just using the 'safely remove hardware' feature ? That is 1 single left-click + 1 single select only!

The problem I have with the 'Safely remove hardware' feature is that occasionally it insists that the device is still in use when it obviously isn't.  There have been times when I've closed all programs and to 'safely remove' the device 10 hours later and it still won't let me.

Your "Safely remove hardware" feature has a problem with a background antivirus process...
Most anti-virus acts that way on USB hw

if you want to fix the safe ly remove problems, here a good program : http://safelyremove.com/?pid=1

You need to wait for your antivirus to stop its background scan on your SD card to safely removed it.
One way may be to configure the AntiVirus NOT to start a background scan on your card...but it HAS to be replaced by a read SCAN on all potentially harmful files on those external storage.

A very easy way to confirm that this is the AntiVirus which avoids a normal usage of the remove safely feature is to plug-in a SAFE external media AFTER having stopping the antivirus, copy some large files locally, and try to use the safely remove feature.

Another way to confirm which application is locking down your external media is to use the "Process Monitor" tool ( http://technet.microsoft.com/fr-fr/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx ) - FileMon although would allow to track down which application is using a E:\ like path

So, what I'm understanding with all your helpful comments is that Window's Standby and Hibernate features do nothing to ensure the integrity of write-cached data and that currently the easiest way to determine what processes are currently accessing a drive (in order to force flush the write-cache) is a $20 program?
SafelyRemove is a slick program; yet another 3rd-Party replacement utility that provides functionality that really should be default in Windows.

Please read me previous post...with at least 3 FREE MS tool !

I looked at Process Monitor, which seems to be a lot of sysinternals tools lumped into one package (including Filemon) but after a little bit of playing with the interface, I couldn't find a good way to identify what processes are accessing what drives; however, I haven't looked for any manuals for the utility yet.

I already use Process Explorer on my desktop, but it doesn't provide a search for identifying current write/read locks on a drive.

you're free to use it or not, but it is helpful in many ways - and has a free trial !

Using ProcessMonitor, you have a Menu allowing to search for a reference.
Search for the USB drive letter in the form "E:\" for example
==> Keep in mind this is just to be used ONCE to CONFIRM which process is locking your USB device.

I still think the process locking it is your AntiVirus and you should have a look at some ways to force it unlock the USB device.

I've played with the Process Manager's Filters and it displays process events, but I can't find a way for it to identify what processes retain read or write intent such as to prevent 'Safely Remove Hardware'
I've mostly been testing the Process Manager on my desktop since the Windows Explorer plugin FolderSize for pre-Vista Windows predictably locks removable storage devices in this way.

The antivirus softwares that I use are pretty innocuous (avast! for XP, AVG for Windows 7).  By default they don't scan removable media upon mounting; however, avast! does scan applications if I show a possible intent to execute them from the removable storage (mouse-over in Windows Explorer). I haven't tested to see if AVG does this, but neither of them are set to be proactive enough to prevent 'Safely Remove Hardware' from working.

On the old version of Process Explorer that I was running, the find feature didn't work.  I downloaded the new version and it actually returned some process names. The one process it shows accessing my usb drive on my destop (drive M) is

Process: FolderSizeSvc.exe
Type: Handle
Handle: M:\

This is after mounting the drive, viewing the drive in Windows Explorer (which triggers FolderSize to display the size of the folders), then closing Windows Explorer.
I've tried using this find feature on my laptop for both USB drives and flash cards, but since I've been checking with Process Explorer (or SafelyRemove) I have yet to find a case where 'Safely Remove Hardware' wouldn't work when it should (FolderSize doesn't work on Vista or Windows 7).  Of course, since I'm not on a road trip right now, it's unlikely for me to encounter the problem in my initial post in the near future.

Is there a way to run the Process Explorer's search command via the command line (to streamline searching for processes that are accessing any removable media)?

Sorry, it seems that one answer leads to more questions.  As for the original question, I think I've a few better ideas as to the possible cause but I'm unsure how I would go about testing for them.  
Write caching is still disabled for removable drives on both my computers; however, write caching was enabled on internal hard-drives of both my computers.  I thought I disabled it on my laptop, but that must have been before installing Windows 7.  

Uninstalling the "Folder Size for Windows" utility would ALLOW your Safely Remove feature to WORK AGAIN !

FolderSize is usefull, but it's old and in need of recoding.  
Thanks for all your help