Windows XP: How to use Safely Remove Hardware
How to use Safely Remove Hardware
by marla9 - 6/25/09 5:37 PMWhen I hit the Safely Remove Hardware icon, a bar pops up that says something like "mass storage device". Am I supposed to hit on that bar before removing the hardware? When I hit on it it disappears. That makes me think I shouldn't hit on it, but need to know.
Thanks
No need
by Jimmy Greystone - 6/25/09 6:33 PM In reply to: How to use Safely Remove Hardware by marla9No need. In XP, Microsoft set the default configuration so that USB devices sacrifice a little performance for the convenience of being able to pull them out at any time without harm. So unless you know that you went and altered this setting, you don't need to worry about that, it's mostly a remnant of a previous age.
This applies to XP and later versions of Windows, but NOT to Windows 2000 and earlier.
What I do.
by MarkFlax
- 6/26/09 4:39 AM
In reply to: How to use Safely Remove Hardware by marla9
I defer to Jimmy's greater knowledge, but I must admit I still use the "Safely remove hardware" utility for my external drives. I still see posts here and elsewhere where the user has pulled the connection and then lost access to the drive when they next attempt to connect it, so personally I prefer to play safe.
But perhaps your Safely remove hardware is different to mine. When I want to disconnect an external drive I click on that icon and a window appears on the Desktop. I select, (highlight), the drive I want to dsconnect and then click Stop. A new window opens, I select the drive again, then click OK.
As soon as I see the message that is is now safe to disconnect the device, that is what I do.
Mark
I can safely ignore 'Safely Remove Hardware'
by 7Fred7 - 6/26/09 7:19 PM In reply to: How to use Safely Remove Hardware by marla9Jimmy Greystone appears to be right. I use WinXp Pro SP2, and I regularly use USB backup devices. It makes no difference whether I use 'Safely Remove Hardware' or not. So I no longer do. No problem.
Better safe than sorry...
by Zouch - 6/26/09 7:38 PM In reply to: How to use Safely Remove Hardware by marla9How much do you trust Microsoft design? It's supposed to work that way but for the short time it takes, it's always worth stopping a device before you pull it out. The option to stop isn't even offered for sch things as printers and scanner, so you can just pull them out as you like. I've never seen a hard drive give any problems butI still stop mine first.
The same cannot be said of Flask drives (as in thumb or pen drives, rather than SSDs). There have been any number of requests for help on this forum and others to get back data from a flash drive that has been pulled out with out stopping. Try it with a Sandisk Cruzer - the ready light goes out when you stop it, so you KNOW it isn't doing anything. I've had several times when these drives won't stop because Windows thinks they are active in another program.
Better safe than sorry, I think.
Your question asked if you need to do anything when you get the message. Just click on the green icon in the task bar, which will bring up a list of devices that can be stopped. click on the one you want to stop and wait for the "Safe to remove hardware message" then just pull it out.
..but use common sense!
by DouginSC - 6/27/09 6:03 PM In reply to: Better safe than sorry... by ZouchIt would be VERY unwise to unplug a USB drive while it is active. ...especially if is being written-to ...even though you supposedly do not have to stop it (in WinXP or higher) before unplugging it. If the LED on the drive is flashing, it is likely active. ...so at least wait until it quits flashing before unplugging it. I also like to assure it is not open in the desktop tray in any way before I unplug it. Stopping it is such a quick thing, and the unlikely consequences are so severe, I usually just do the "stop" thing for the peace of mind.
Well yeah
by Jimmy Greystone - 6/27/09 7:47 PM In reply to: Better safe than sorry... by ZouchWell yeah, if you pull it out while it's being written to, of course you can expect problems. It's no different from a floppy disk in that sense, or any other kind of storage device. But if you wait a few seconds after it's finished writing the last file, you can pull it out without any worries, unless you intentionally set it so that it uses delayed writes to improve performance.
Close Windows
by genepool--2008 - 6/28/09 10:41 PM In reply to: How to use Safely Remove Hardware by marla9Just make sure you close any windows associated with the USB thumb drive before removing. I use my USB thumb drive for backups and never lost any data without using the SRH.
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