External Hard Drive not safely removable

GrayGhost2 said:

Lady Fitzgerald +1 (post #26)
Aggree 100%. I have been developing for AutoCad and Excel since ... too long now.
I could not have done my job without trusting third party programs/downloads.
(dinosaur .. punch-card main frames and 256kb Amstrad ... shudder)

Computer0304 :)
... hang in there (we know it is frustrating)
I have found this forum (especially) extremely helpful.
... life is all about risk. Every day we all make choices and we learn by our mistakes. Nothing (unfortunately) in life or PCs is perfect.
Google the name of suggestions, read user comments (remembering one bad experience does not always mean the suggestion is a dud)..
Nothing like homework/research and this forum to learn.

(DuckDuckGo is another good search engine for research, I use google for shopping)

Always check downloads with a good AV and Malwarebytes.
Create a restore point before installing new stuff. If the install causes problems you can easilly reconfigure your PC back to before you installed the download. Restore Point tutorials (homework)
LadyFitgerald is giving good "cool" advice. All is not lost. Hang in there and the helpers on this thread will work out a resolution and you will have learnt something new. And so will have I
And when you get it figured ... write back here what you did.
(As a personal tip .. write what you learn into a text (TXT) file. You will always have a record. I have 4,280 txt files at last count, and I use a third party program to search the contents of those files, because Win7/8 "find-contents" has been dumped by MS)

MilesAhead #27 :)

I downloaded "Sync" (... for "Computer0304" ... published by Microsoft Corporation)
When I ran the extracted "sync.exe" a command window opened but I had to agree to terms and conditions first. As soon as I agreed, the cmd window was gone. Since then not a murmur of life from "sync.exe"
Neither Search nor Run recognise Sync.exe.
Authors site offers no "how to use" nor guidance.

How do I use "Sync.exe" ? Command line? If so what is the parameter protocol exactly.?
I gather from ""Computer0304" concerns he is not very familiar with geek talk. Nor am I always in the know.

I am willing to try anything to resolve problems especially if they are simple.
As a volunteer helping seniors to come to grips with PCs and the virtual world -- your promotion of "sync" could be a very handy tool if I can write a script that users can just click on.

The paid version of "USB Safely Remove" provides access to a list of causes of the sticky USB-storage + a forced disconnection when I am desperate.
I have found some ancient (5 yrs old) HDDs can be more problematic. Best binned (after retrieving the data) sometimes. :)

Win-XP(32), Win-7(32/64), Win-8(32/64)

I do have antivirus and I ran it on both system and external hard drive. But this is annoying me so much. Maybe I should use my laptop to copy files instead because of this problem.

Computer0304 said:

...But this is annoying me so much. Maybe I should use my laptop to copy files instead because of this problem.

I understand your frustration but, again, until you get another HDD to backup your photos to, the beat thing right now is to do nothing and leave the problem drive turned off and disconnected from your computer.

Computer0304 said:

...Ok ok I know I will get a new hard drive. What external hard drive do you recommend? I just want to know if theres a hard drive better than my current external hdd, a WD My Passport 1TB.

Actually, the WD My Passports are good drives; you may have just been unlucky with this one or we may be able to help you fix it once you get your photos onto another HDD.

Take a look at this one. It gets good reviews and should be a solid drive. It's also USB powered so you won't have to horse around with a separate power supply for it and is compatible with both USB 3.0 and USB 2.0. Even if all you have on your computer now is USB 2.0, being USB 3.0 compatible will future proof the drive for you.

I selected a 2TB drive because you mentioned you had another drive with photos on it and I'll wager you don't have that one backed up, either.

GrayGhost2 said:

Computer0304 said:

I do have antivirus and I ran it on both system and external hard drive. But this is annoying me so much. Maybe I should use my laptop to copy files instead because of this problem.

Sorry I might have mislead you. Now that I re-read my post.
I was "hinting" at how to ensure third party down loads can be installed/utilized with a minimum of risk.

Do you recall how much space you have used on the "1TB WD MyPassport" ?
I would suggest you look at the WD forum
I have never used it but you might get some specific feedback on your problem "1TB WD MyPassport".
On the wd-forum there is a sub-forum "WD External Drives" and beneath that entry is a string/list of sub-sub forums. External Drives for Mac .. and... External Drives for PC
Are you running a PC or Mac ?

I agree with Lady Fitzgerald future proofing.
And you might (or not!) have a faulty "1TB WD MyPassport" too.

Further down the track when your current dilemma is resolved and your stress levels are not so high, you might consider a NAS drive.
Let me explain ...

One copy of anything is extremely risky.

My wife would never backup. Her PC HDD spat its dummy and she lost everything.
Years of baby photos, weddings etc.

WD make a small 2 bay (2 HDDs) model. Your data is stored on both drives. If one drive fails the second HDD still has all your data until you replace the dud HDD. Although lower end WD multi-drives are semi sealed (the HDD are soldered inside the unit)
I personally use a 5 HDD NAS (slight overkill at the moment)- if one disc fails the other 4 make my data available. We have decades of music we do not want to lose + I have decades of work related stuff on it too. All part of a home network, so any PC/laptop/tablet can access the NAS.
The discs slide/click into each bay, so changing a disc/HD is like inserting a DVD into your DVD player.
NAS units start at 2 discs upto a lot of discs. eg, 2,4,5,6,8 ... 12 + etc.

But first to get your current problem sorted.

Hope my contribution has not been to much "overload" for you.

Regards ... :)

If a NAS is used to backup data that is also on another drive, it would be a good idea. However, if the NAS is the only place data will be stored, then it would be a bad idea. The parity of RAID will protect data if one or more HDDs should fail (depending on the kind of RAID), allowing continuous operation (as long as no more drives than what are redundant fail: I've heard of RAID 5 arrays failing because a second drive failed before the first failed one could be replaced), but if something takes out the entire NAS (blown PSU, virus, user error, fire, theft, etc.), then the data is gone forever. Data is not backed up unless it is in a bare minimum of two places: the original location and a second, separate location. Even better than one backup is two: one onsite and one offsite.

I'm not anti-RAID. Far from it. RAID has it uses but serving as a backup to the data stored on it is not one of them.

In the case of the OP, it would be easier and cheaper to just have one backup drive for each drive with data stored on it.