Unpluging external HDD backup drive.

[Paul]

On 28/02/2013 21:35, Paul wrote:

Thanks for the link, but I have never heard of it. I had a look at the
page, but am not certain it would help. If it does find out what is
holding on to the USB drive, am I then supposed to use the -c switch?
Quote "Closes the specified handle (interpreted as a hexadecimal
number). You must specify the process by its PID. WARNING: Closing
handles can cause application or system instability.". Is that any
better than pulling the plug?!

<<snip>>

I was recommending Handle as a diagnostic tool.
Get it to display which process is holding up things.

For example, if it reports Explorer is the culprit, you're
really no further ahead. Then it's a Microsoft problem.

I would never "use the hammer option" inside such a tool.
It requires human judgment and context, to decide what
is safe or appropriate to "kill"

Paul

 

[Stan Brown]

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"?

There should be a "safely remove hardware" icon in the notification
area. Left-click that and select your device.

It it doesn't appear I'd be surprised. I get that with every
external hard drive I attach, not just flash drives.

There's also a nifty little program called "USB Disk Ejector" that
you can run as a GUI or in a batch file.

 

[Stan Brown]

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

I think not. Windows buffers external hard drives, just like
internal ones, and when a program is closed Windows may not yet have
written the whole buffer to the drive.

 

[charlie]

I think not. Windows buffers external hard drives, just like
internal ones, and when a program is closed Windows may not yet have
written the whole buffer to the drive.

If setup properly, windows sees the drive as removable. a USB "idle"
external drive with delayed write and buffering turned off can be
removed safely. Power on or off depends upon the drive and any adapters.
Some have protective circuitry, some don't. The protective circuitry can
be in either the adapter, the drive, both, or neither.

One of our OEM sources is the Mfr of a sound effects related card using
an SD card.
Occasionally, the SD cards contents are received with the last file
corrupt. A windows XP machine was used by the OEM to "load" the SD card.
What USB adapter? A no name USB to SD adapter was used by the Mfr, and
included.