Phil, I don't think that taking them out without stopping would kill them outright. You see, the port is constantly under current. Stopping just tells Windows to finish doing whatever they do with the disk so the data doesn't get corrupted by an abrupt loss of connection. BTW, I just got a USB stick that comes packaged into a nylon baggie with water inside. Waterproof. Gog, you'd need that, although the temperature might still kill the stick. :-)

-- erlik