Using the Safely Remove Hardware icon?

[Terry Pinnell]

I have a few questions about using the 'Safely Remove Hardware' icon
please. The background is that I had not been using it. I'm not even
sure it was present in my tray for months. But after a recent problem
with a memory stick which *might* have been down to this, I'm
considering whether I should use it consistently in future if really
necessary, to avoid all possible risk of similar trouble.

At present, with things working reasonably sweetly, the icon's message
has 3 lines:
Safely Remove USB Mass Storage Device - Drive(K
Safely Remove USB Mass Storage Device - Drive(J
Safely Remove USB Mass Storage Device - Drive(E:, F:, G:, H

So the first issue that arises is which device these refer to. It
seems that drive letters change and can't be relied upon. Of course, I
can establish a 'mapping' right now, using Control Panel >
Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Storage > Disk
Management. That gives the conclusion:
E = CF Reader (part of multi-reader unit on front panel)
J = 4 GB USB2 memory stick (part of multi-reader unit on front panel)
K = Old (USB1) Iomega external HD (part of 4-port USB extension)

But I sure wouldn't want to have to go through that chore every time I
simply want to pull out a stick or SD card. How do others manage this
please?

Also, that leaves me puzzled why EFGH are grouped together?
I'd have guessed that E, F, G, H referred to my 4-socket extension
unit, but plainly that's not so.

Anyway, the main issue is whether this Safely Remove procedure is
still necessary even though I see my devices are all set up with
Properties > Policies > 'Optimize for quick removal'?

I understand that it's the other alternative setting, 'Optimize for
performance' that uses the Removal feature:
"This setting enables write caching in Windows to
improve disk performance. To disconnect this device from the computer,
click the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the taskbar notification
area."

So does this mean that with my current setting I can simply plug and
unplug without using the icon? If so, why is it present in the tray?

Any advice on this rather confusing subject would be appreciated
please. Happy to provide any other info, screenshots etc if it helps.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I have a few questions about using the 'Safely Remove Hardware' icon
please. The background is that I had not been using it. I'm not even
sure it was present in my tray for months. But after a recent
problem with a memory stick which *might* have been down to this,
I'm considering whether I should use it consistently in future if
really necessary, to avoid all possible risk of similar trouble.

At present, with things working reasonably sweetly, the icon's
message has 3 lines:
Safely Remove USB Mass Storage Device - Drive(K
Safely Remove USB Mass Storage Device - Drive(J
Safely Remove USB Mass Storage Device - Drive(E:, F:, G:, H

So the first issue that arises is which device these refer to. It
seems that drive letters change and can't be relied upon. Of
course, I can establish a 'mapping' right now, using Control Panel >
Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Storage > Disk
Management. That gives the conclusion:
E = CF Reader (part of multi-reader unit on front panel)
J = 4 GB USB2 memory stick (part of multi-reader unit on front
panel) K = Old (USB1) Iomega external HD (part of 4-port USB
extension)

But I sure wouldn't want to have to go through that chore every
time I simply want to pull out a stick or SD card. How do others
manage this please?

Also, that leaves me puzzled why EFGH are grouped together?
I'd have guessed that E, F, G, H referred to my 4-socket extension
unit, but plainly that's not so.

Anyway, the main issue is whether this Safely Remove procedure is
still necessary even though I see my devices are all set up with
Properties > Policies > 'Optimize for quick removal'?

I understand that it's the other alternative setting, 'Optimize for
performance' that uses the Removal feature:
"This setting enables write caching in Windows to
improve disk performance. To disconnect this device from the
computer, click the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the taskbar
notification area."

So does this mean that with my current setting I can simply plug and
unplug without using the icon? If so, why is it present in the tray?

Any advice on this rather confusing subject would be appreciated
please. Happy to provide any other info, screenshots etc if it
helps.

Use a third party product to assign drive letters to the different devices
(so they stick or don't show at all unless something is put in them - in the
case of the multi-reader.

http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbdlm_e.html

You'd be better off using it - to ensure things are not open and are fully
written to the drive/etc.

 

[Twayne]

I have a few questions about using the 'Safely

Remove
Hardware' icon please. The background is that I
had not
been using it. I'm not even sure it was present
in my
tray for months. But after a recent problem with
a memory
stick which *might* have been down to this, I'm
considering whether I should use it consistently
in
future if really necessary, to avoid all
possible risk of
similar trouble.

At present, with things working reasonably
sweetly, the
icon's message has 3 lines:
Safely Remove USB Mass Storage Device -
Drive(K
Safely Remove USB Mass Storage Device -
Drive(J
Safely Remove USB Mass Storage Device -
Drive(E:, F:, G:,
H

So the first issue that arises is which device
these
refer to. It seems that drive letters change and
can't be
relied upon. Of course, I can establish a
'mapping' right
now, using Control Panel > Administrative Tools
Computer Management > Storage > Disk Management.
That
gives the conclusion:
E = CF Reader (part of multi-reader unit on
front panel)
J = 4 GB USB2 memory stick (part of multi-reader
unit on
front panel) K = Old (USB1) Iomega external HD
(part of
4-port USB extension)

But I sure wouldn't want to have to go through
that chore
every time I simply want to pull out a stick or
SD card.
How do others manage this please?

Also, that leaves me puzzled why EFGH are
grouped
together?
I'd have guessed that E, F, G, H referred to my
4-socket
extension unit, but plainly that's not so.

Anyway, the main issue is whether this Safely
Remove
procedure is still necessary even though I see
my devices
are all set up with Properties > Policies >
'Optimize for
quick removal'?

I understand that it's the other alternative
setting,
'Optimize for performance' that uses the Removal
feature:
"This setting enables write caching in Windows
to
improve disk performance. To disconnect this
device from
the computer, click the Safely Remove Hardware
icon in
the taskbar notification area."

So does this mean that with my current setting I
can
simply plug and unplug without using the icon?
If so, why
is it present in the tray?

Any advice on this rather confusing subject
would be
appreciated please. Happy to provide any other
info,
screenshots etc if it helps.

Well, technically, "optimize for quick removal"
says that you shouldn't have to worry about the
safely remove hardware icon. That said, I have
simply removed my external drives before without
any problems. Most of the time though, since I've
trained myself to the systray icons, if it's there
I'll use it, so ... it gets used<g>.
Knowing windows and its past history etc., I
guess I'd say that if the machine were known to be
in good shape, no malware and no problems in the
Event Viewer, I would expect no problems just
removing the device.
I have had the experience of not useing the
remove hardware icon and where Explorer, for
instance, still thinks it's installed and shows me
the last view of its files, as though they were
still there; I have to do a Refresh to get it
accurate. But if I use the icon, Explorer then
knows for sure it's gone and doesn't show me files
that are no longer there.
Mostly I use the setting for a "just in case"
value where I or someone else forgets to use the
removal icon. At least I know all the data made
it to the drive that way. Or, highly likely at
least.

In your case you have a lot more than just the
external drive goign on though, and apparently the
icon is an all or nothing type thing, so it stays
all the time anyway. I've never fiddled with my
desktop to see how it relates there.

I guess it's just a "that's how they coded it"
thing, so ... I have to live with it. To me
anyway, it's not worth special software to fiddle
with it.

Just my 2 ¢

Twayne


I don't have card readers, etc., so the only thing
I see in the safely remove icon are my two
external drives if they're both powered up and
nothing else.

 

[Leonard Grey]

Safely Remove Hardware ensures that no data is waiting to be written
from the disk cache. If you remove an external drive before these
so-called delayed writes have completed, you risk corrupting the
external drive.

Windows automatically assigns the next available drive letter to
external devices. You cannot reserve a drive letter, at least not reliably.

If you find that your drive letters are getting jumbled due to all the
external devices you have attached and detached, go to the Disk
Management snap-in and straighten them out.

 

[Terry Pinnell]

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Hash: SHA1

So the first issue that arises is which device these refer to. It
seems that drive letters change and can't be relied upon.

Here's how to easily identify your thumb drives if you plug and
unplug them a lot. Also great when using them on other computers.

Using your favorite icon editor, create a different icon for each USB
thumb drive (or camera card drive, etc.) you have. Use the default
icon size for your system. E.g., I use 32 X 32 pixels. Copy the icon
to the thumb drive's root.

Now, create an autorun file as below in Notepad. Replace "file1.ico"
with the name of the new icon. Type exactly what is below, including
the brackets and the word "autorun".

[autorun]
ICON=file1.ico

Name the file "autorun.inf", and put in the thumb drive's root.

Unplug the thumb drive, then plug it back in. Open Windows Explorer
and you'll see the drive, identifiable by its new icon.

Note #1, if you make a desktop shortcut for the drive and unplug it,
upon reboot the icon will change to the drive default with a red "X"
on it.To prevent this, first copy the new icon to your hard drive,
then right-click on the drive and change the icon to point to the new
one.

Note #2, if you have a lot of thumb drives but don't have an open USB
port for each, the drive letters will change when you unplug them and
reboot. In this case, don't bother with desktop shortcuts. ;-)

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Thanks all, appreciate those helpful replies. Some interesting new
ideas I'll pursue.

 

[Richard]

You seem to be knowledgeable on the subject, so I thought I would ask
you.

I accidentally unlplugged my Western Digital Passport but got it right
back in... The problem is I have it set on the optimize for speed so I
should have used the "Safely Remove Hardware" button before breaking
that connection. There was nothing going on, nothing writing to the disk
so I should be all right, right?

Hi (What's your name?

Maybe not all right. Windows detects the disconnect, and any Delayed Write
data pending does not get sent to the drive. Windows can delay up to an hour
to write some data, like last access time, so it is important to use the
Safely Remove Hardware feature. If Windows will not release the drive,
close all open programs and shutdown your computer, and unplug the drive.

To be sure the file system was not corrupted, you should run Check Disk.
The following instructions use drive letter E.
Change it to whatever yours is:

Click Start, click Run, type CMD and press Enter for Command Prompt.
You should be at the C:\>[YourUserProfile] prompt. Type next line:
CD \
and press Enter. The prompt should say: C:\>

First try read-only mode. Type next line and press Enter:
CHKDSK E:
(Change the E: to whatever your drive is.)

You may get this message:
Windows found problems with the file system.
Run CHKDSK with the /F (fix) option to correct these.

If so, then at C:\> prompt, type next line and press Enter:
CHKDSK E: /X

Substitute your drive letter for E: if necessary. The /X parameter is the
same as the /F parameter, but also dismounts and locks the drive for the
exclusive use of Chkdsk. You do not need to use the /R command. If the drive
is formatted NTFS, there are 3 stages, each of which goes from 0 to 100%.
(Odd numbered stages are fairly fast. Even numbered stages are slow.)

CAUTION: Do NOT interrupt CHKDSK /X (or /F or /R) once it has started.
Do not start CHKDSK if there is possibility of power loss due to storm or
wind downed branches within 24 hours or so. If you have millions of files on
the drive, CHKDSK could take days, rather than hours to complete. The
progress percentage indicates tasks completed, not necessarily elapsed time.
Directories (folders) with a lot of files and subfolders take longer to
check, so it is normal in such case for Chkdsk to appear to be stuck on a
certain percent number. As long as there is occasional drive activity, it is
still working. (Keep the environment around the drive cool.)

If there has been no sign of drive activity for 10 minutes, wait another 10
minutes. Press Alt+Ctrl+Delete to start Task Manager, click Process (tab),
and look for chkdsk.exe CPU activity. Click Performance (tab) and look at
the CPU Usage History graph. Double click to enlarge it. (Double click again
to reduce it.) If there is still no drive activity and no chkdsk.exe CPU
activity after 30 minutes, go to the Command Prompt window and press Ctrl+C
to stop it. Type EXIT to close Command Prompt. Use the Shut Down menu in
Task Manager to Turn Off the computer. Wait 10 minutes. Start computer. Try
the CHKDSK E: /X above only once more. (If no joy, let us know.)

* While following these instructions, you should be disconnected from the
internet and close all open programs except Command Prompt, and NotePad with
a copy of these instructions. Triple-click here to select only the text of
this message and press Ctrl+C to copy. Open Notepad and paste there and File
SaveAs to your desktop. Start> (all)Programs> Accessories> NotePad

If uncertain about any of the above, ask questions. Report your results.

HTH. (Hope This Helps.
--Richard

 

[Twayne]

Richard,

Good job on this write-up. I like it well enough I 'thieved" it for my
own future purposes; hope you don't mind<g>. You "write good" <G>.

Twayne`

You seem to be knowledgeable on the subject, so I thought I would ask
you.

I accidentally unlplugged my Western Digital Passport but got it
right back in... The problem is I have it set on the optimize for
speed so I should have used the "Safely Remove Hardware" button
before breaking that connection. There was nothing going on, nothing
writing to the disk so I should be all right, right?

Hi (What's your name?

Maybe not all right. Windows detects the disconnect, and any Delayed
Write data pending does not get sent to the drive. Windows can delay
up to an hour to write some data, like last access time, so it is
important to use the Safely Remove Hardware feature. If Windows will
not release the drive, close all open programs and shutdown your
computer, and unplug the drive.
To be sure the file system was not corrupted, you should run Check
Disk. The following instructions use drive letter E.
Change it to whatever yours is:

Click Start, click Run, type CMD and press Enter for Command Prompt.
You should be at the C:\>[YourUserProfile] prompt. Type next line:
CD \
and press Enter. The prompt should say: C:\>

First try read-only mode. Type next line and press Enter:
CHKDSK E:
(Change the E: to whatever your drive is.)

You may get this message:
Windows found problems with the file system.
Run CHKDSK with the /F (fix) option to correct these.

If so, then at C:\> prompt, type next line and press Enter:
CHKDSK E: /X

Substitute your drive letter for E: if necessary. The /X parameter is
the same as the /F parameter, but also dismounts and locks the drive
for the exclusive use of Chkdsk. You do not need to use the /R
command. If the drive is formatted NTFS, there are 3 stages, each of
which goes from 0 to 100%. (Odd numbered stages are fairly fast. Even
numbered stages are slow.)
CAUTION: Do NOT interrupt CHKDSK /X (or /F or /R) once it has started.
Do not start CHKDSK if there is possibility of power loss due to
storm or wind downed branches within 24 hours or so. If you have
millions of files on the drive, CHKDSK could take days, rather than
hours to complete. The progress percentage indicates tasks completed,
not necessarily elapsed time. Directories (folders) with a lot of
files and subfolders take longer to check, so it is normal in such
case for Chkdsk to appear to be stuck on a certain percent number. As
long as there is occasional drive activity, it is still working.
(Keep the environment around the drive cool.)
If there has been no sign of drive activity for 10 minutes, wait
another 10 minutes. Press Alt+Ctrl+Delete to start Task Manager,
click Process (tab), and look for chkdsk.exe CPU activity. Click
Performance (tab) and look at the CPU Usage History graph. Double
click to enlarge it. (Double click again to reduce it.) If there is
still no drive activity and no chkdsk.exe CPU activity after 30
minutes, go to the Command Prompt window and press Ctrl+C to stop it.
Type EXIT to close Command Prompt. Use the Shut Down menu in Task
Manager to Turn Off the computer. Wait 10 minutes. Start computer.
Try the CHKDSK E: /X above only once more. (If no joy, let us
know.)
* While following these instructions, you should be disconnected from
the internet and close all open programs except Command Prompt, and
NotePad with a copy of these instructions. Triple-click here to
select only the text of this message and press Ctrl+C to copy. Open
Notepad and paste there and File SaveAs to your desktop. Start>
(all)Programs> Accessories> NotePad
If uncertain about any of the above, ask questions. Report your
results.
HTH. (Hope This Helps.
--Richard

 

[Richard]

Hi Twayne,

Thanks for the encouraging words. Feel free to use whatever helps.

--Richard

Richard,

Good job on this write-up. I like it well enough I 'thieved" it for my
own future purposes; hope you don't mind<g>. You "write good" <G>.

Twayne`

Leonard Grey;4197086 Wrote:
Safely Remove Hardware ensures that no data is waiting to be written
from the disk cache. If you remove an external drive before these
so-called delayed writes have completed, you risk corrupting the
external drive.

Windows automatically assigns the next available drive letter to
external devices. You cannot reserve a drive letter, at least not
reliably.

If you find that your drive letters are getting jumbled due to all
the external devices you have attached and detached, go to the Disk
Management snap-in and straighten them out.
---
Leonard Grey
Errare humanum est

<snip>

You seem to be knowledgeable on the subject, so I thought I would ask
you.

I accidentally unlplugged my Western Digital Passport but got it
right back in... The problem is I have it set on the optimize for
speed so I should have used the "Safely Remove Hardware" button
before breaking that connection. There was nothing going on, nothing
writing to the disk so I should be all right, right?

Hi (What's your name?

Maybe not all right. Windows detects the disconnect, and any Delayed
Write data pending does not get sent to the drive. Windows can delay
up to an hour to write some data, like last access time, so it is
important to use the Safely Remove Hardware feature. If Windows will
not release the drive, close all open programs and shutdown your
computer, and unplug the drive.
To be sure the file system was not corrupted, you should run Check
Disk. The following instructions use drive letter E.
Change it to whatever yours is:

Click Start, click Run, type CMD and press Enter for Command Prompt.
You should be at the C:\>[YourUserProfile] prompt. Type next line:
CD \
and press Enter. The prompt should say: C:\>

First try read-only mode. Type next line and press Enter:
CHKDSK E:
(Change the E: to whatever your drive is.)

You may get this message:
Windows found problems with the file system.
Run CHKDSK with the /F (fix) option to correct these.

If so, then at C:\> prompt, type next line and press Enter:
CHKDSK E: /X

Substitute your drive letter for E: if necessary. The /X parameter is
the same as the /F parameter, but also dismounts and locks the drive
for the exclusive use of Chkdsk. You do not need to use the /R
command. If the drive is formatted NTFS, there are 3 stages, each of
which goes from 0 to 100%. (Odd numbered stages are fairly fast. Even
numbered stages are slow.)
CAUTION: Do NOT interrupt CHKDSK /X (or /F or /R) once it has started.
Do not start CHKDSK if there is possibility of power loss due to
storm or wind downed branches within 24 hours or so. If you have
millions of files on the drive, CHKDSK could take days, rather than
hours to complete. The progress percentage indicates tasks completed,
not necessarily elapsed time. Directories (folders) with a lot of
files and subfolders take longer to check, so it is normal in such
case for Chkdsk to appear to be stuck on a certain percent number. As
long as there is occasional drive activity, it is still working.
(Keep the environment around the drive cool.)
If there has been no sign of drive activity for 10 minutes, wait
another 10 minutes. Press Alt+Ctrl+Delete to start Task Manager,
click Process (tab), and look for chkdsk.exe CPU activity. Click
Performance (tab) and look at the CPU Usage History graph. Double
click to enlarge it. (Double click again to reduce it.) If there is
still no drive activity and no chkdsk.exe CPU activity after 30
minutes, go to the Command Prompt window and press Ctrl+C to stop it.
Type EXIT to close Command Prompt. Use the Shut Down menu in Task
Manager to Turn Off the computer. Wait 10 minutes. Start computer.
Try the CHKDSK E: /X above only once more. (If no joy, let us
know.)
* While following these instructions, you should be disconnected from
the internet and close all open programs except Command Prompt, and
NotePad with a copy of these instructions. Triple-click here to
select only the text of this message and press Ctrl+C to copy. Open
Notepad and paste there and File SaveAs to your desktop. Start>
(all)Programs> Accessories> NotePad
If uncertain about any of the above, ask questions. Report your
results.
HTH. (Hope This Helps.
--Richard

- - -