delete or uninstall windows 7pro from old SSD drive?

I want to use an SSD Samsung Pro 850 that has windows7 installed on it as a USB drive. I took it out of an old computer. I've put the drive in a USB case and my new desktop recognizes it. However, I think some of the programs installed on it begin to run while it is attached as a USB drive.



When I attempt to eject, I'm told a program is running and I should close the program first. I think it is something that has kicked in and running on this old SSD. I renamed the Windows folder, thinking that might stop other installed programs on this SSD from running but that hasn't helped. Maybe I'm out in left field and this isn't what is happening but my other USB drives, when attached, allow me to eject them properly. This one won't.



I don't want to damage my new system but this drive is a fairly new big Samsung Pro drive that I'd like to be able to use as a USB storage drive. I have a lot of images and old files on it that I'd like to access so I don't want to reformat it, at least, not right now. I'm wondering if it could be Carbonite or BitDefender or something that runs in the background that might be kicking in while it is attached?



Is there something I can do to remove the operating system and maybe some of the programs installed on the drive that might be causing this problem. Could I safely use REVO to uninstall these programs on this drive while attached as a USB drive? Might that work to stop this behavior?



Or does anyone have an idea of what might be happening? My old monitor went out so I couldn't see to do anything on my old computer. The video connector is an older type so I couldn't easily use my new monitor on the old computer. It just didn't occur to me something like this might happen when I pulled the SSD out of the old computer.


Any ideas or suggestions or advice most appreciated.


My thanks for your time. .... Mary

As I see it, the problem is that the drive is a SATA device. Hence, you need to attach it to one of your MOBO' SATA buses. If you have a laptop, that would be problematic.

I can see and copy the files from this drive when it is connected as a USB drive. It is the ejecting it after I've connected it as a USB drive, accessed some of the files and then try to eject it safely, that is causing concern.



A message window pops up saying a program is running and I need to close it before removing/eject the USB connection. But I don't know what might be running so how can I close it? Could I damage the drive by just pulling the USB connector?

Right click on the taskbar and select 'Start Task Manager'. See what programs are running, and if one of them would be the cause. You do risk corrupting files on an eject, if the drive is being written to. Is the drive being used for any type of cloud app, like Dropbox? If you have your Dropbox folder on that drive, it might cause this.

I'm curious what the USB box is specifically called.

wither 2 said:

I'm curious what the USB box is specifically called.

It is called a USB SSD case or enclosure. You can find them many places, usually priced between $8 and $20 dollars.

arcanek said:

Right click on the taskbar and select 'Start Task Manager'. See what programs are running, and if one of them would be the cause. You do risk corrupting files on an eject, if the drive is being written to. Is the drive being used for any type of cloud app, like Dropbox? If you have your Dropbox folder on that drive, it might cause this.

Yes, there is Dropbox, my anti-virus software, my carbonite backup software and perhaps something else I can't remember right now. They all ran in the background when this drive was installed as the OS drive in my old computer. Maybe I'll have to try and reinstall this drive on my old computer and see if I can purchase an adapter so I can hook up my new monitor to my old computer. Maybe that way I can see to uninstall some of these programs so I can make use of this SSD as a storage drive. I just pulled the darn thing without thinking it through, as I already had a new computer sitting here that I'd just not begun using. Earlier, I had pulled a hard drive out of an old laptop to use as a USB storage drive and that worked nicely but it likely didn't have these types of programs installed on it. Hard lesson learned.



Can you think of anything else I might try before having to go this route? I'm at an age where it is not easy for me to lift and shuffle things around but my bad for creating this situation so if I've got to reinstall, I'll do it.

arcanek said:

Right click on the taskbar and select 'Start Task Manager'. See what programs are running, and if one of them would be the cause.

By starting the Task Manager, might it be possible to stop the program(s) from running? If I could get them turned off, maybe I could then uninstall them so they wouldn't begin running each time I attached the drive. As you can tell, I know just about enough to cause myself problems.

A OS disk has more than one partition and a MBR.
As it has many executable files on it, your antivirus scans the disk every time you plug it on the USB port.
Save the data on it on your main disk and then clean the USB disk.
To clean all disk and use all space, open disk manager (C:\Windows\System32\diskmgmt.msc), delete ALL partitions and then create new partition. Format as NTFS.

Thank you so much. I disabled my Virus Software on my new computer to stop it from scanning this USB drive and I'm now able to connect, use and then safely eject this USB device. I tried it three times and all three times it allowed me to safely eject it after first plugging it into a USB port and viewing my files. I think this may work until I can be assured I have all the files copied that I want to move to my new computer. I do have a Carbonite acct. but I've never used it to restore files and I'm not certain just what all it will restore. Now I feel better knowing if I still need something off of the old OS drive once I've restored from Carbonite, I may be able to get to it and make a copy.



My thanks once again to all who responded with helpful suggestions. You guys are a lifesaver.