USB External Drive doesn't power off when safely ejecting

A

airtas

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Hi all,

I was wondering if I would be doing harm to my drive by ejecting and unplugging while there is still power to the drive.

Is it basically the same as not ejecting?

In XP my drive would power off in Windows 7 it does not.
 

My Computer

OS
XP
I use this setting to prevent any problems.

Dev Mgr> Disc Drives> right click on drive> policies.

Hope this helps.:)
 

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My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Self-Built
OS
Windows 7 Professional X64
CPU
Core i7 (2nd gen) i7-2600K / 3.40GHz
Motherboard
ASUS P8Z77-V Intel 7 Series Motherboard
Memory
DDR3 2400MHz (OC) 16gb
Graphics Card(s)
Intel(R) HD Graphics 3000, -1988 Mb
Sound Card
8 ChannelsAudio Chipset Realtek ALC892
Monitor(s) Displays
LG 29UM65 Black 29"
Screen Resolution
2560 x 1080
Hard Drives
840 EVO 250 GB SSD ;2tb (2);Seagate;1tb Seagate; 750 gb Seagate; wd ext (2) 750 gb,WD 2tb X 2;WD 3TB Black
PSU
750 watt
Case
Thermaltake RX -1
Cooling
2120mm Fans Included 1Other Fan Ports 5x 200mm Fan Ports
Keyboard
Microsoft Digital Media Pro
Mouse
Microsoft Wireless 6000
Internet Speed
U-verse 18 mbps
Antivirus
MSE
Browser
Firefox, Chrome and my favorite: Pale Moon
Other Info
HdHomerun Dual Tuner.
SRS Audio Lab,
Pioneer BDR 208-DBK
PS3-What a difference in my Surround Sound Receiver!
HP 4540s - My new Toy.
Epson R280 Printer- To personalize my Dvds.
Canon MP 560 - For scanning.
the "safely remove media" thing just makes sure that there are no file transfers going on but does not power off the device. What PSCO said above is also a good thing to do.

The drive can be safely removed afterwards. Hard drives don't have "power down" switches or commands. They power down (that is, park the drive heads) when they sense that no more power is coming in.
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
custom built
OS
Win 7 Pro 64-bit 7601
CPU
AMD Phenom 9650 QuadCore, revision DR-B3
Motherboard
ASUS M4A78
Memory
5 GB yes I run 2x 2GB and 1x 1GB, different brand, spank me.
Graphics Card(s)
NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT 512 Mb, unknown manufacturer.
Sound Card
Crappy Realtek Integrated Audio
Monitor(s) Displays
Fujitsu Siemens P19-3P
Screen Resolution
1280 x 1024 x 32 bits @ 60 Hz Oh yeah, 4:3 rocks!
Hard Drives
(1) MAXTOR S TM3320613AS SATA Disk Device (2) STM35004 18AS SATA Disk Device (3) TOSHIBA USB 2.5"-HDD
PSU
whatever, around 450w
Case
Scavenged from old company PC, 10+ years old
Cooling
CPU fan, GPU fan, case fan, nothing fancy
Keyboard
Microsoft, PS/2, white.
Mouse
Optical, logitec.
Internet Speed
effective max speeds: 70-ish kB/s down 30-ish kB/s up
Antivirus
Avira, free edition.
Browser
Firefox with FXChrome to make it look like Google Chrome :P
Other Info
Was discarded by previous owner due to "horrible performance".
Was running Win Xp from a IDE drive. Yeah. Was a pain.
SATA II drive and Win7 and it zips away! Yay!
do you think any harm would be done if I didn't do the recommend step?

Why would microsoft not enable that by default?
 

My Computer

OS
XP
airtas said:
do you think any harm would be done if I didn't do the recommend step?

Why would microsoft not enable that by default?
Click to expand...

If you don't do the step, you will have to power down the comp before removing drive.

If not, you will ruin the drive.

As bobafetthotmail explains:

The drive can be safely removed afterwards. Hard drives don't have "power down" switches or commands. They power down (that is, park the drive heads) when they sense that no more power is coming in.
Click to expand...

You can also use the "safely remove hardware and eject media" (icon next to clock at bottom.)

I don't use this option because I would continually get an error saying "busy."
 
Last edited:

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Self-Built
OS
Windows 7 Professional X64
CPU
Core i7 (2nd gen) i7-2600K / 3.40GHz
Motherboard
ASUS P8Z77-V Intel 7 Series Motherboard
Memory
DDR3 2400MHz (OC) 16gb
Graphics Card(s)
Intel(R) HD Graphics 3000, -1988 Mb
Sound Card
8 ChannelsAudio Chipset Realtek ALC892
Monitor(s) Displays
LG 29UM65 Black 29"
Screen Resolution
2560 x 1080
Hard Drives
840 EVO 250 GB SSD ;2tb (2);Seagate;1tb Seagate; 750 gb Seagate; wd ext (2) 750 gb,WD 2tb X 2;WD 3TB Black
PSU
750 watt
Case
Thermaltake RX -1
Cooling
2120mm Fans Included 1Other Fan Ports 5x 200mm Fan Ports
Keyboard
Microsoft Digital Media Pro
Mouse
Microsoft Wireless 6000
Internet Speed
U-verse 18 mbps
Antivirus
MSE
Browser
Firefox, Chrome and my favorite: Pale Moon
Other Info
HdHomerun Dual Tuner.
SRS Audio Lab,
Pioneer BDR 208-DBK
PS3-What a difference in my Surround Sound Receiver!
HP 4540s - My new Toy.
Epson R280 Printer- To personalize my Dvds.
Canon MP 560 - For scanning.
The wording "ruin the drive" is a bit excessive. You will get corrupt files or fail a file transfer. The drive itself isn't damaged.

Afaik, that option is usually enabled for external hard drives. Depends on how the device presents itself, so it's always better to check.

While for truly "removable drives" like usb flash drives and card readers, this is always like that by default as they are a different category for Windows.
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
custom built
OS
Win 7 Pro 64-bit 7601
CPU
AMD Phenom 9650 QuadCore, revision DR-B3
Motherboard
ASUS M4A78
Memory
5 GB yes I run 2x 2GB and 1x 1GB, different brand, spank me.
Graphics Card(s)
NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT 512 Mb, unknown manufacturer.
Sound Card
Crappy Realtek Integrated Audio
Monitor(s) Displays
Fujitsu Siemens P19-3P
Screen Resolution
1280 x 1024 x 32 bits @ 60 Hz Oh yeah, 4:3 rocks!
Hard Drives
(1) MAXTOR S TM3320613AS SATA Disk Device (2) STM35004 18AS SATA Disk Device (3) TOSHIBA USB 2.5"-HDD
PSU
whatever, around 450w
Case
Scavenged from old company PC, 10+ years old
Cooling
CPU fan, GPU fan, case fan, nothing fancy
Keyboard
Microsoft, PS/2, white.
Mouse
Optical, logitec.
Internet Speed
effective max speeds: 70-ish kB/s down 30-ish kB/s up
Antivirus
Avira, free edition.
Browser
Firefox with FXChrome to make it look like Google Chrome :P
Other Info
Was discarded by previous owner due to "horrible performance".
Was running Win Xp from a IDE drive. Yeah. Was a pain.
SATA II drive and Win7 and it zips away! Yay!
The wording "ruin the drive" is a bit excessive
Click to expand...
Maybe I worded it incorrectly - before I used this option and ejected, I lost all files on the drive.

I also use this for flash drives, since that is also listed in "safely remove hardware." as well as policies in Dev Mgr.
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Self-Built
OS
Windows 7 Professional X64
CPU
Core i7 (2nd gen) i7-2600K / 3.40GHz
Motherboard
ASUS P8Z77-V Intel 7 Series Motherboard
Memory
DDR3 2400MHz (OC) 16gb
Graphics Card(s)
Intel(R) HD Graphics 3000, -1988 Mb
Sound Card
8 ChannelsAudio Chipset Realtek ALC892
Monitor(s) Displays
LG 29UM65 Black 29"
Screen Resolution
2560 x 1080
Hard Drives
840 EVO 250 GB SSD ;2tb (2);Seagate;1tb Seagate; 750 gb Seagate; wd ext (2) 750 gb,WD 2tb X 2;WD 3TB Black
PSU
750 watt
Case
Thermaltake RX -1
Cooling
2120mm Fans Included 1Other Fan Ports 5x 200mm Fan Ports
Keyboard
Microsoft Digital Media Pro
Mouse
Microsoft Wireless 6000
Internet Speed
U-verse 18 mbps
Antivirus
MSE
Browser
Firefox, Chrome and my favorite: Pale Moon
Other Info
HdHomerun Dual Tuner.
SRS Audio Lab,
Pioneer BDR 208-DBK
PS3-What a difference in my Surround Sound Receiver!
HP 4540s - My new Toy.
Epson R280 Printer- To personalize my Dvds.
Canon MP 560 - For scanning.
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