How Apple's Files app is getting better in iOS 16 & iPadOS 16

hackintoisier said:
Any option to format empty/un-initialized media into HFS, APFS, or exFAT? If not, then before you can use an empty disk with the iPad and its Files app, you still need a computer first.  What about the option to unmount media, so as to protect from data loss? Android can unmount.. can the iPad safely unmount media?

Most drives are going to be compatible with iPad out of the box. I'd assume if you have a drive that is in an incompatible format, it means you formatted it in the first place and can do it again on your PC/Mac. It is unfortunate that iPad can't do it, but I'd be willing to guess that the number of people who need to do that in 2022 is in the dozens, if that.

As far as un-mounting a drive? You technically don't need to given how modern file systems operate. They run at a buffer to prevent data loss. The drive eject system is archaic and outdated and I wish I could disable the warnings on my Mac. I don't think I've ever unmounted a drive or SD card from my Mac.

The reason you wanted to eject attached drives was because of write caching. But now, unless you're actively writing to a disk, there's not really any need for caching since SSD speeds are so fast.

Do what you like, but I personally don't eject any drive and have yet to run into corrupted data. Don't think I will either.