When I attempt to "safely remove" a USB drive but I can't because it's "in use,"

[Orrex]

Why the hell doesn't the system tell me which programs/apps/services/processes are using it?

Sure, it tells me to close any programs that might be using it, but if I don't know what they are (or if I do know what they are and have already closed them), how can I tell for certain which ones are at issue?

[unblock]

1. better yet, why can't it gracefully handle a sudden disconnection?

operating systems should be able to gracefully handle peripheral devices going offline, running out of power, or getting disconnected.


for me, windows explorer is usually the culprit. close that and wait a minute, that usually does the trick for me.

[Orrex]

2. Yes--there can be a substantial penalty for early withdrawal

It's a lot like clicking for "details" when a program crashes, and you get an incomprehensible string of numbers that mean nothing to the untrained eye and can only be Googled about half the time, not least because you can't always copy-and-paste them.


Madness.

[malthaussen]

15. And the drive will get pregnant anyway. n/t

[eppur_se_muova]

20. If you turn off write-caching, it's usually safe to remove the USB drive at any point.

https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/10392-write-caching-enable-disable.html

I've gotten in the habit of always disabling write-caching on all USB drives.

[PJMcK]

3. Has anyone ever removed a drive unsafely?

It's happened to me numerous times where a USB drive or Firewire hard drive were improperly disconnected. The warnings came up but then there weren't any problems with the drives or the data. I use Macs but I know this isn't a recommended procedure.

[Orrex]

4. Yes, actually. Hence my skittishness

I had to leave in a hurry and couldn't get the "all clear" message. Also, it was a computer lab where I couldn't simply power down on my own initiative.

I yanked the drive (a tiny 256 megs, because this was years ago) and lost the entirety of its contents. At least, I couldn't access any of it thereafter, though I could still see it in the folder list.

I also have a friend who says that he crashed an external hard drive the same way.

[Skittles]

14. you want I should kick your skittish ass, Orrex?

LEMME AT YOU

[unblock]

6. try keeping outlook archives on an external hard drive, connected by usb.

exiting "unexpectedly" can cause it to take over an hour to relaunch as it tries to check and possibly repair the outlook file.

sometimes that fails and you need to use other outlook tools to repair the file.

sometimes that fails and you lose items in your archive unless you restore from backup, in which case you lose anything since the last backup *of your archive*.


i continue to marvel at how microsoft can screw up an archive that's conceptually a read-only file.

anyway, yes, i'm now always careful to remove it "safely", usually by shutting down my computer just to sure.

[Binkie The Clown]

5. Shut down. Remove the USB drive while the power is off. Reboot. n/t

[Orrex]

8. Well, yeah, but that shouldn't be necessary.

Isn't the whole point of transportable media that you can easily use it/remove it?

[Binkie The Clown]

9. You're right. Ive had that same problem on occasion though.

It shouldn't happen, but saying "It shouldn't happen" doesn't solve the immediate problem at hand. That's why I have no qualms about using work-arounds.

[Orrex]

11. LOL. Well...

Truth be told, I'm often tempted either to kick the tower or beat the laptop against the desk, so I guess we all have our workarounds!

[earthshine]

7. If you have any file manager (Windows Explorer) windows open, try shutting those first.

Something to try before following Binkie's matter-of-fact advice given above.

[steve2470]

12. +1 nt

[steve2470]

10. I usually find that if I close all possible programs and then do the Safely Disconnect routine...

I have the best luck. Sometimes I have to wait an extra minute. Finally I'll just get impatient and yank the USB drive. I've never lost anything this way.

[Yonnie3]

13. I often get that message.

I wait about a minute and try again with success. Unless I've stupidly left File Explorer open.

I can't prove it, but I am suspicious that the operating system is parsing the files on the drive in order to index them for quick search.

[DetlefK]

16. Nowadays that warning means little to nothing, because data-transfer has changed.

There are two ways to write data: Slow and space-efficient, or fast and space-inefficient.

Years ago, it was actually important to safe space when storing data. But nowadays data is written on USB-drives in a manner that is very fast but uses up more space than it actually needs.



Close all programs. Close the Windows Explorer. Wait 10 seconds. And you are good to go. No matter what the warning says. You don't even need to "safely remove the drive". If your computer has finished writing on the USB-drive (plus a few spare seconds), that's enough.
(I still "safely emove" it every time though.)

Or if that's too risky, reboot and unplug while the PC is starting the OS (or turned off).

[blogslut]

17. It might have to do with the program(s) you use to run the files on your USB drive.

Example: You open a Word document that resides on your USB drive. Just because you close the document and MS Word, MS Word could still be running in the background and that file is still in its recent memory.

You might try clearing your recent files list in your start menu and see if that helps. Or you can install an advanced task manager program like Daphne that will allow you to see exactly what processes are running and let you "kill" (close) them selectively.

[Orrex]

18. The "advanced task manager" option interests me

Many's the time I've been frustrated at the limited and dubious info the default task manager provides. I'd like to play around with something more informative.

Thanks!

[blogslut]

19. I love Daphne.

Very handy for me and my old machine.