Unpluging external HDD backup drive.

[Peter Jason]

Win7 SP1
There seems to be no "eject" in the Windows
Explorer like for flash drives. Do I have to go
to Computer Management/Disk Management and send it
"offline"?
Peter

 

[Ashton Crusher]

Win7 SP1
There seems to be no "eject" in the Windows
Explorer like for flash drives. Do I have to go
to Computer Management/Disk Management and send it
"offline"?
Peter

I'm assuming you are talking about ext HDD via USB port. I have been
using them for years and just wait a few minutes after file operations
are done and yank the USB cable out. Never had a problem.

 

[Peter Jason]

I'm assuming you are talking about ext HDD via USB port. I have been
using them for years and just wait a few minutes after file operations
are done and yank the USB cable out. Never had a problem.

Thanks. Also I have one with a Firewire
connection.

 

[Paul]

Win7 SP1
There seems to be no "eject" in the Windows
Explorer like for flash drives. Do I have to go
to Computer Management/Disk Management and send it
"offline"?
Peter

In the lower right hand corner, is an icon that stores
"excess icons". Included in that square of icon goodness,
is the safely remove icon. Hidden for your convenience...

http://media.wiley.com/Lux/80/147380.image0.jpg

Recipe here, if you can't figure it out.

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-safely-remove-hardware-in-windows-7.html

And yes, I continue to use the icon, because I can't
afford to find out the hard way, what is safe, and
what is not. If there was NTFS on there, and it
was set for optimize for performance, it might not
be safe to unplug. FAT32, less so.

So if I'd followed this recipe, my guess is it would be a
good idea to "Safely Remove" this drive later.
"Optimize for performance", implies there is a cache
that might not be flushed.

http://www.addictivetips.com/window...sh-drive-or-memory-card-with-ntfs-in-windows/

Paul

 

[philo]

Thanks. Also I have one with a Firewire
connection.

NO...I do not advise "just yanking it out"

Be safe and opt to safely remove drive.

Just hit the little "up" arrow on the right side of your task bar and
the "disconnect USB" icon will be there.

For the two seconds it takes to do it the right way...
you can save a lot of time if a CHKDSK /F is forced.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

And yes, I continue to use the icon, because I can't
afford to find out the hard way, what is safe, and
what is not.

Amen.

 

[Buffalo]

"Paul" wrote in message news:[email protected]...

In the lower right hand corner, is an icon that stores
"excess icons". Included in that square of icon goodness,
is the safely remove icon. Hidden for your convenience...

http://media.wiley.com/Lux/80/147380.image0.jpg

Recipe here, if you can't figure it out.

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-safely-remove-hardware-in-windows-7.html

And yes, I continue to use the icon, because I can't
afford to find out the hard way, what is safe, and
what is not. If there was NTFS on there, and it
was set for optimize for performance, it might not
be safe to unplug. FAT32, less so.

So if I'd followed this recipe, my guess is it would be a
good idea to "Safely Remove" this drive later.
"Optimize for performance", implies there is a cache
that might not be flushed.

http://www.addictivetips.com/window...sh-drive-or-memory-card-with-ntfs-in-windows/

Paul

"Paul" wrote in message news:[email protected]...

In the lower right hand corner, is an icon that stores
"excess icons". Included in that square of icon goodness,
is the safely remove icon. Hidden for your convenience...

http://media.wiley.com/Lux/80/147380.image0.jpg

Recipe here, if you can't figure it out.

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-safely-remove-hardware-in-windows-7.html

And yes, I continue to use the icon, because I can't
afford to find out the hard way, what is safe, and
what is not. If there was NTFS on there, and it
was set for optimize for performance, it might not
be safe to unplug. FAT32, less so.

So if I'd followed this recipe, my guess is it would be a
good idea to "Safely Remove" this drive later.
"Optimize for performance", implies there is a cache
that might not be flushed.

http://www.addictivetips.com/window...sh-drive-or-memory-card-with-ntfs-in-windows/

Paul

I am using a PC running Win7 HP 64bit and have two USB devices running at
this time and I have no such icon, not even in the hidden icon box.
Any ideas from anyone? I have just pulled the 'plug' on USB devices on this
system because there is no Safely Remove icon that I can find (unlike what
was on my win2000 OS).
Thanks,
Buffalo

 

[Boscoe]

Win7 SP1
There seems to be no "eject" in the Windows
Explorer like for flash drives. Do I have to go
to Computer Management/Disk Management and send it
"offline"?
Peter

By default write caching is disabled for removable drives because
Microsoft knows that users are impatient and have a tendency to whip out
flash drives and memory cards willy-nilly, without properly ejecting
them first. You can check this is so by connecting your flash drive,
open Device Manager (Winkey + Break), right-click on its entry under
Disk Drives, select Properties and on the Policies tab ‘Optimise for
Quick removal’ or ‘Quick Removal’ should be selected.

 

[Buffalo]

"Buffalo" wrote in message news:[email protected]...

I am using a PC running Win7 HP 64bit and have two USB devices running at
this time and I have no such icon, not even in the hidden icon box.
Any ideas from anyone? I have just pulled the 'plug' on USB devices on this
system because there is no Safely Remove icon that I can find (unlike what
was on my win2000 OS).
Thanks,
Buffalo

OK, when I put in a flash drive, the icon shows up.
I guess neither the mouse or printer needs to be written to,so perhaps that
is why the icon is not there for them.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

"Buffalo" wrote in message news:[email protected]...

OK, when I put in a flash drive, the icon shows up.
I guess neither the mouse or printer needs to be written to,so perhaps that
is why the icon is not there for them.

Yes, you got it figured out.

Good thinking.

 

[Peter Jason]

In the lower right hand corner, is an icon that stores
"excess icons". Included in that square of icon goodness,
is the safely remove icon. Hidden for your convenience...

http://media.wiley.com/Lux/80/147380.image0.jpg

Recipe here, if you can't figure it out.

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-safely-remove-hardware-in-windows-7.html

And yes, I continue to use the icon, because I can't
afford to find out the hard way, what is safe, and
what is not. If there was NTFS on there, and it
was set for optimize for performance, it might not
be safe to unplug. FAT32, less so.

So if I'd followed this recipe, my guess is it would be a
good idea to "Safely Remove" this drive later.
"Optimize for performance", implies there is a cache
that might not be flushed.

http://www.addictivetips.com/window...sh-drive-or-memory-card-with-ntfs-in-windows/

Paul

Thanks, I found it but sometimes it doesn't
appear.

 

[Jeff Layman]

I'm assuming you are talking about ext HDD via USB port. I have been
using them for years and just wait a few minutes after file operations
are done and yank the USB cable out. Never had a problem.

Nor have I, although I use safe removal if it works. I would be
interested to see if /anyone/ has ever had a problem pulling the plug
after allowing a suitable time for any relevant processes to stop. If
not, I wonder if this is one of those "just in case" issues, rather than
a real one?

 

[philo]

Nor have I, although I use safe removal if it works. I would be
interested to see if /anyone/ has ever had a problem pulling the plug
after allowing a suitable time for any relevant processes to stop. If
not, I wonder if this is one of those "just in case" issues, rather than
a real one?

It's one of those situations where there is a good chance no problems
will occur...but all the same, a good precaution.

 

[Jason]

On Tue, 26 Feb 2013 10:52:23 +0000 "Jeff Layman"

Nor have I, although I use safe removal if it works. I would be
interested to see if /anyone/ has ever had a problem pulling the plug
after allowing a suitable time for any relevant processes to stop. If
not, I wonder if this is one of those "just in case" issues, rather than
a real one?

I had it happen on an external USB HDD once on my wife's computer. She
had done a backup to the drive. I came along hours after it finished and,
not realizing what had happened just yanked out the plug. Lost data...
But - I had set it to be optimized for performance, not quick
removal. I was surprised that even after at least two hours, not all
the buffers had been written out.

 

[Steve Hayes]

Nor have I, although I use safe removal if it works. I would be
interested to see if /anyone/ has ever had a problem pulling the plug
after allowing a suitable time for any relevant processes to stop. If
not, I wonder if this is one of those "just in case" issues, rather than
a real one?

If copying files, no problem.

If you OPEN a file with a program on an internal drive, for example if you
open a Word file on the external drive, then it is best to use the safe
removal thing to flush the buffers.

My wife once gave a spreadsheet on her USB flash drive to an auditor to look
at, and the auditor pulled it out when she had seen what she wanted to see,
without closing the file or the program, and everything on the flash drive was
lost, not just the file she was looking at -- it was completely scrambled.

 

[Jeff Layman]

If copying files, no problem.

If you OPEN a file with a program on an internal drive, for example if you
open a Word file on the external drive, then it is best to use the safe
removal thing to flush the buffers.

My wife once gave a spreadsheet on her USB flash drive to an auditor to look
at, and the auditor pulled it out when she had seen what she wanted to see,
without closing the file or the program, and everything on the flash drive was
lost, not just the file she was looking at -- it was completely scrambled.

I am not surprised by your and Jason's comments. That's why I
specifically stated "after allowing a suitable time for any relevant
processes to stop". Otherwise, there wouldn't be much difference
between having a file running from an external drive, and having
something running from an internal HD and the sata/Ide/whatever plug
being pulled from that.

Maybe we need a UPS for USB plug-ins. ;-)

 

[Steve Hayes]

I am not surprised by your and Jason's comments. That's why I
specifically stated "after allowing a suitable time for any relevant
processes to stop". Otherwise, there wouldn't be much difference
between having a file running from an external drive, and having
something running from an internal HD and the sata/Ide/whatever plug
being pulled from that.

I don't know about you, but I don't usually remove connectors from internal
drives when the machine is switched on and running.

 

[Paul]

I don't know about you, but I don't usually remove connectors from internal
drives when the machine is switched on and running.

Actually, a number of hardware standards support hot-plugging.
SATA is one of them. PS/2 (keyboard/mouse) is not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_swapping

SATA was specifically designed for server backplanes. You can
unplug a drive "hot" from a server backplane. The connector
has "advanced" pins, that make contact first, to ensure good
electrical conditions for the operation. The only tricky
part with SATA (or SAS), is spinning down the drive before
ejecting it from the enclosure. That's the part that makes
me nervous. You can actually "Safely Remove" SATA (the topic
of this thread) Doing a "Safely Remove", might even
provide an opportunity to issue park and spin-down commands.
The only drive you can't "Safely Remove", is the drive with
C: on it, because "the file system is busy".

The AHCI driver supports Hot Swap. Because I don't use AHCI
on my computers here, I never get to see that "Safely Remove"
icon for my hard drives.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahci

"AHCI is separate from the SATA 3 Gbit/s standard, although
it exposes SATA's advanced capabilities (such as
hot swapping and native command queuing) such that
host systems can utilize them."

Paul

 

[XS11E]

That's why I specifically stated "after allowing a suitable time
for any relevant processes to stop".

Why not just right click on the little USB icon in the lower right and
select the remove option? My understanding is that's just what that
function does, makes sure there is nothing writing to the USB device
and then says it's safe to remove the device....

 

[Fokke Nauta]

NO...I do not advise "just yanking it out"

Be safe and opt to safely remove drive.

Just hit the little "up" arrow on the right side of your task bar and
the "disconnect USB" icon will be there.

For the two seconds it takes to do it the right way...
you can save a lot of time if a CHKDSK /F is forced.

Well, you can yank it out, if you are sure all windows with refer to the
external media are closed.

Fokke