Rick said:
Hi -- how do I remove my camera's SanDisk memory card from my computer
after I've copied its files? I tried right-clicking and then choosing
'Safely Remove' and then pulling it out, and then inserting another one
in, and afterwards my computer got (temporarily) very screwed up and I
couldn't reboot the computer. Maybe it was the re-insertion that caused
the problem? I sure did something wrong. Does the computer have to be off
when you insert a card, or remove a card? Thanks.
'Safely remove hardware' is typically used to unplug a USB hard drive or USB
card reader and some but not all other USB stuff. It makes sure no software
has a 'hold' on anything related to that USB port, then disables the port.
The computer won't see any changes to that port until you plug something
into that port (meaning unplug the current thing and plug in the same or
different USB device).
'Eject' is used to remove a flash card from a card reader. It verifies that
no software has a 'hold' on the flash card but does not disable the port.
If your flash card slots are built into your computer, you can't unplug the
slots and replug them in, so DON'T use 'safely remove hardware'. Use
'Eject'.
Typically you will be in the computer window (the window formerly known as
my computer) when you do this. With no flash cards plugged in, one or more
of the flash card slots will have drive letters associated with them, each
typically labelled 'removable device' but it varies from one computer to the
next.
Flash cards emulate a disk drive which can be formatted and can have an
internal label. Depending on your camera or how you format the flash card,
the label may be blank or have the flash card brand or camera brand or other
info.
When you plug a flash card into a slot on your computer, the label typically
shows up in the computer window, but of course this varies from one computer
to the next. If the flash card is unlabeled or blank, it typically shows up
as 'removable device', or no change from when nothing was plugged in to that
slot.
My recommendation is to make sure your flash cards have unique labels so you
can tell them apart and so that you can see in the computer window that they
are plugged in. When you want to unplug them, right click on them in the
computer window and choose eject. When it is safe to remove them the label
displayed in the computer window will change to 'removable device' or
whatever your system displays when that slot is empty.
-Paul Randall