is it dangerous to force a mount?

[gusl]

Can anyone explain why XP doesn't offer "Remove Hardware Safely" for my external HD?

When I plug it into Knoppix, it mounts fine, but for read-only. When I unmount and try to mount it as read-write, it fails with approximately this message:

Mount denied because NTFS is marked to be in use. Choose one action:

Choice 1: If you have Windows, disconnect the external devices by clicking on 'Safely Remove Hardware'

Choice 2: you can use the 'force' option for your own responsibility. For example, type:

   mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sdb1 /mnt/sdb1 -o force

Or add the option to the relevant row in the /etc/fstab file:

   /dev/sdb1 /mnt/sdb1 ntfs-3g force 0 0

Is it dangerous for me to force a mount?


also posted here.