Windows 7: Safely removing USB External Hard Disk Drive

I appreciate all the information - a wealth.

Do not worry I understand that some people think that there will be some programs and downloads that may be fine for them to operate - others just could make a situation more complex and post more screen shots that you could bargain for.

I have got a friend to take the physical drive to be tested - bad sectors and nearly at end of life - two years. Been informed two years to eight years for some external hard drives usually.

I did try task manager and everything before posting my silly post on here then people can go to the chillout room and complain about me.

I am backing up for a complete reinstall of Windows 7. I am going to keep it simple stupid. Follow all your instructions and inform you of all steps that I have taken.

I am thinking of changing my profile name soon - honestly.

I am having now brain surgery - I will ask for a transplant and post better responses.



This was Seagates link to my issue on FB - Windows will not allow me to safely remove my drive. It keeps reporting the drive is busy or in use

If I have any more issues - will you lovely people assist me?

I also am going to resort to hospital food in the name of technology - additional external hard drive after the epic fail of equipment and user.

Melissa if I may put indexing in user friendly terms.
Indexing is kind of like a book. When one look for something in a book lets say shoes. You would look in the index of the book for the chapter named shoes. Once you are in the chapter shoes you want to know about Red shoes so you go to the sub index and look for Red shoes.
Now you want to know about Shoes that are red with high heels. Looking down through the index farther you find high heels. You end up with this in the book index.
-Shoes
--Red shoes
---High heels
The author of the book has put things in the proper order in the index so you can find things quickly with out looking through all the pages of the whole book.

That is what Windows 7 does when it is indexing. It puts things in a proper order and remembers where they are.
When you ask Windows 7 to do a search for something it can find things quicker because they are in a index of proper order. Other wise Windows will look all over the hard drive looking for your request. Just like you would have to do in a book without a index.
When a hard drive is first indexed it take a lot of time. It depends how big the drive is and how much information is on the hard drive. Just let it complete the indexing. Windows will update the index as things change do to your use. It will do this when the computer is not in a heavy use but still on. Without indexing it will take Windows 7 forever to find something you are searching for because it doesn't know where it's located on the hard drive. It's not indexed. Indexing is also used for Restore Points. That is how Windows finds Restore points and applies them when requested.
I always use indexing.

Your post #12
I do not know what the function of indexing is anyway. I used it mainly to search documents - will that still function?

Hope this helps.

OMG.

Hello Layback Bear,

Thank you.

Now I do feel very dumb.

I understand that Windows has to index files. I gather that I am wondering if I am doing the instructions correctly.

My first forum question was regarding problems with the search function and I always used to reindex after doing a transfer of a batch of files to my USB 1TB External Hard Drive. I gather that is why it is taking so long.

I also referenced this website as I was told that most of my posts are available via Google. Problem is that I am not confident and want to ensure that I am doing the correct way.

carwiz - I am a very poor user and should be banned.

I am just wondering if the following screenshot is correct and that I do not follow the instructions from these websites

Q&A: USB Flash Drive is write protected - How do I remove it? | TechRepublic


Curt Kobain: 100% working Method to Remove Write Protection from USB drives

I have taken your advice and downloaded - USB Disk Ejector | Quick And Easy Software
As I can not afford anything currently.

I nearly went in a ended the process of the indexing by


Hope any of the methods listed above solves your problem.
Update 1:
After the low level format, you may need to “Partition the drive“. Dont worry, partitioning a pen drive means allocating it its File System and Cluster Size that was lost after the Low Level Format.
For that:
Run diskmgmt.msc in Run.
In the disk management window, select the pen drive, right click on it and click on Format.
Now choose the File System and Allocation Unit Size and do not check the boxes below.

Click OK and the drive will be reusable after this.

Update 3 (Solution Working):
Thanks to one of our readers Jim, who let us know about the tool called Neo 9, using which we can easily this write protection problem.
For transcend drive users, try the tool at this link, it has been found to work.

I went to this supply and tried stopping the indexing - but not too sure what file to look for - like what process/

Curt Kobain: 100% working Method to Remove Write Protection from USB drives

Thanks - and I now feel honestly stupid

It wasn't your posts to which I was referring. Sorry if you mistook the sarcasm. It was the chauvinist response of another. You're doing fine.

I do hope carwiz you are not referring to my post and or me as chauvinist.

That is alright.

I just really require assistance with ensuring that I am safely removing the USB device and hopefully I am causing any issues for anyone trying to assist me

Melissa you are doing fine. Because their is so much technical information on indexing and your post #12 I did my best to put it in non-technical terms. Questions on indexing comes up often on many threads by many other people. My attempt might of been to non-technical but hopefully it will help you and others who read our post around the world why letting Windows complete it's indexing is a good thing.
Sorry for my interruption and interference.
By, have a nice day.

So I should keep the indexing on.
I have loaded the USB Disk Ejector.
I actually have found that the data that was on one of the Removable Disk now has transferred it's contents to the other one and I have two sets of data.
I gather the one that is not write protected - which I will post in another thread on how to change the properties to make it so I can alter and add data to what is currently on here.

You should keep the Indexing switched on.

You do not need to re-index the complete data when you add additional files to the system, this will be performed in the background automatically, as long as it is added within an indexed area

eg. if you have a folder called images which has sub-folders that contain files, any addition of files or folders under in or under that folder, will be added to the index without you doing anything.
If you add a completely new folder outside this area eg. a folder called Videos, you may need to re-index the system to include the files in the index, though an easier option is to add any new folders to the index using the Indexing Options, (type index in the start search bar to acces this).

The amount of time it takes to add files to the index depends on the number of files the speed of the drive and the workload on the system, if you add a large number of files it's often worthwhile leaving the PC on for an hour or so to give the system time to process them