Force "Safely remove hardware"?

[Noozer]

About 75% of the time, the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon tells me that I
cannot remove my USB drives. No programs are open, so nothing should be
accessing the drive. I wait a while (sometimes 30 minutes or more) and still
I cannot safely remove the drive. This happens on a number of different
drives.

I've tried using a process viewer to see what is accessing the drive, but
haven't had much luck.

Is there any way I can force the safely remove hardware icon to shut down a
device? Windows has no problem shutting the device down when I shutdown
Windows, so why can't I get it the shutdown the device when asked?

Windows XP Pro with SP2 and all recent updates.

 

[Noozer]

I get this with some devices. Mainly extenal HDDs, but flash drives seem
OK.

Anyway, if you have finished with the drive, and nothing is accessing it,
just unplug.

It's not good to just unplug it. I know for a fact that Windows doesn't
always flush the buffer after writing data to a USB drive.

For example, I plug an SD card into my reader. I drag 10 files to it, then
drag 5 files to it. Wait 30 minutes. Pull the SD card and install it in my
MP3 player. I can only see and play the first 10 songs. The device is set
for quick removal, not performance, so it SHOULD have been flushed SOMETIME
in those 30 minutes, but wasn't.

I did find a solution though... Haven't had to use it yet, so can't say how
well it works. Unlocker here: <http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/>

 

[Smirnoff]

It's not good to just unplug it. I know for a fact that Windows
doesn't always flush the buffer after writing data to a USB drive.

For example, I plug an SD card into my reader. I drag 10 files to it,
then drag 5 files to it. Wait 30 minutes. Pull the SD card and install
it in my MP3 player. I can only see and play the first 10 songs. The
device is set for quick removal, not performance, so it SHOULD have
been flushed SOMETIME in those 30 minutes, but wasn't.

Could you expand a bit on "Set for quick removal, not speed", please.
I seem to remember that there was a setting for either option in XP.
I notice you say the "device" is set, not XP.
If I remember correctly, when I set my niece's iPod to Quick Removal, I
didn't see the Safely remove Hardware again.
Can't remember how I did it now, does this option only appear when a
device is detected and shown in My Computer?

 

[Smirnoff]

Could you expand a bit on "Set for quick removal, not speed", please.
I seem to remember that there was a setting for either option in XP.
I notice you say the "device" is set, not XP.
If I remember correctly, when I set my niece's iPod to Quick Removal,
I didn't see the Safely remove Hardware again.
Can't remember how I did it now, does this option only appear when a
device is detected and shown in My Computer?

Have Googled and found the answer for anybody who may be interested.
The device has to be connected.
Open My Computer and right click device, select properties.
Then click Hardware tab, select device and then click properties again.
In the Policies tab you will find the two options.
If you select Quick Removal, you won't have to use Safely Remove
Hardware every time you disconnect.
I have no idea if this is the best option or if it may pose risks of
corrupting data but that is how to do it if you wish.

 

[RalfG]

It's not good to just unplug it. I know for a fact that Windows doesn't
always flush the buffer after writing data to a USB drive.

For example, I plug an SD card into my reader. I drag 10 files to it, then
drag 5 files to it. Wait 30 minutes. Pull the SD card and install it in my
MP3 player. I can only see and play the first 10 songs. The device is set
for quick removal, not performance, so it SHOULD have been flushed
SOMETIME in those 30 minutes, but wasn't.

I did find a solution though... Haven't had to use it yet, so can't say
how well it works. Unlocker here: <http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/>

That's the one I use, convenient and quick. Lost the web link for it.

 

[Noozer]

Have Googled and found the answer for anybody who may be interested.

The device has to be connected.
Open My Computer and right click device, select properties.
Then click Hardware tab, select device and then click properties again.
In the Policies tab you will find the two options.
If you select Quick Removal, you won't have to use Safely Remove Hardware
every time you disconnect.
I have no idea if this is the best option or if it may pose risks of
corrupting data but that is how to do it if you wish.

That's the right place... But I find that, even when set for quick removal,
it still doesn't always flush the contents quickly.

 

[Noozer]

When using the safe removal. I have two XPP boxes that will not see the
drives once I plug them back in. Its doesnt seem to matter which port I
use, they flash drives flash for a minute, then nothing else happens.
Device manager sees them, says they are working fine and the drives
work in other PC's. Anyone have any ideas on how I can these machines
to start using the USB ports again? I figured a simple reboot would
clear it up, but no.

My drives always come back once I plug them back in.

Do you have any network shares? Could be that the drives are getting the
same letter as the network drive.

I use a utility called "USBDLM" that ensures my USB drives always get the
letter I expect. Install the software on your PC and put an INI file on your
USB disk, telling the PC what drive letters you want this drive to be able
to use. Whenever you plug in it will try to use the letters given in the INI
file before any others.

 

[Ron Hardin]

That's the right place... But I find that, even when set for quick removal,
it still doesn't always flush the contents quickly.

Does anybody know if ``sync'' in Cygwin (running under XP) does the necessary
flush? It appears to hit the HD and my passport external HD when I do it.

(It has long become a null command on UNIX, but perhaps has been resurrected
for this application, by Cygwin.)

 

[M.I.5¾]

It's not good to just unplug it. I know for a fact that Windows doesn't
always flush the buffer after writing data to a USB drive.

For example, I plug an SD card into my reader. I drag 10 files to it, then
drag 5 files to it. Wait 30 minutes. Pull the SD card and install it in my
MP3 player. I can only see and play the first 10 songs. The device is set
for quick removal, not performance, so it SHOULD have been flushed
SOMETIME in those 30 minutes, but wasn't.

If the device is set for quick removal, then there should be no requirement
for a flush to take place at all. Quick removal makes the OS write direct
to the device (i.e. not via the cache). It is the performance option that
causes written data to be written to the cache, then requiring a flush to be
forced via 'Safely remove hardware'.

 

[M.I.5¾]

That's the right place... But I find that, even when set for quick
removal, it still doesn't always flush the contents quickly.

Something is wrong with your set up because quick removal should not write
via the cache and thus does not require a flush (that is why you can remove
the device once the write has finished).

 

[Kailasa Ishaya]

Using Unlocker (mentioned above)I found that my background defragger had a handle open to my USB harddrive!!
Closed this handle with Unlocker and removed the USB HDD in a flash using the "safely remove hardware" icon.
Problem solved! (Neat little program that Unlocker!)