Windows 10: How to get permission to remove a USB hard drive safely?

Discus and support How to get permission to remove a USB hard drive safely? in Windows 10 Network and Sharing to solve the problem; This problem has recurred in various Windows systems since XP, occasionally solved temporarily and then reoccurring. When I click on the icon in the... Discussion in 'Windows 10 Network and Sharing' started by Norman Diamond, Nov 20, 2020.

  1. How to get permission to remove a USB hard drive safely?


    This problem has recurred in various Windows systems since XP, occasionally solved temporarily and then reoccurring.


    When I click on the icon in the notification are to safely remove hardware, and select the USB bridge that has a hard drive connected, Windows denies permission because the drive is in use. Both the System process and Windows Defender have handles open on the drive.


    In Computer Management - Disk Management, it is possible to right-click the drive and set it offline. Windows does not display an error popup. However, the system log gets numerous events recorded about failures to flush buffers associated with the handles open by the System process and Windows Defender. I don't know if the NTFS partitions really get corrupted, but the event logs say they do because the transaction buffers couldn't be flushed.


    Even shutting down Windows doesn't solve it any more. Clicking on Start, Power, Shutdown turns off the power but doesn't flush buffers to the USB hard drive. If I disconnect the USB drive while power is off, and then resume Windows, the system log gets numerous events recorded about failures to flush buffers. So now Windows 10 is worse than Windows XP.


    The drive's properties are already optimized for quick removal, not for performance with write caching, but it doesn't help. Windows cannot be persuaded to flush buffers, and the drive cannot be removed safely.


    Is there any way to do it?

    :)
     
    Norman Diamond, Nov 20, 2020
    #1
  2. Lazzer408 Win User

    help. USB drive isn't assigned a drive letter.

    Any usb flash drive I plug into my computer isn't assigned a drive letter. The physical drive shows in the "safely remove hardware" but it doesnt show up in disk management. I have tried to populate the volume thru the safely remove hardware properties window and it does pop up in the list but it doesn't stay there. This isn't a format or assign a letter problem. It's more complicated then that. Maybe one of the services needed for usb drive management was disabled? Suggestions needed. btw external usb harddrives work fine.
     
    Lazzer408, Nov 20, 2020
    #2
  3. USB Drives plugged in but No Safely Remove Icon in Tray, and

    ....no drives listed in Hardware List.

    When I plug USB drives in, the Safely Remove Hardware icon does not appear in in system tray (its not hidden either)

    First, I went to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Select which Icons Appear on the Taskbar...


    How to get permission to remove a USB hard drive safely? [​IMG]


    .. and found it was already on

    Next I tried using the solution in this post...

    Solved No safely remove icon in tray any more after Windows 10 Anniversary up - Windows 10 Forums

    ...making a shortcut from "rundll32 shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll", but when I run the shortcut, there are no devices listed...


    How to get permission to remove a USB hard drive safely? [​IMG]


    (in this screenshot, you can see two USB drives in the Explorer window in the BG but nothing listed in the panel. )

    NOTE: They are listed in Disk Management and in the Device Manager under Disk Drives, and they function just fine..
    I think the Safely Remove Hardware icon is not appearing because despite being detected and showing in Explorer, Device Manager and Disk Management, its not being listed in this panel for some reason.


    NOTE2: I recently installed a new motherboard.

    ASUS B150M-A
    CPU Intel Core i5 - 6500 (3.2 GHz)
    Mem 4096 MB (DDR4 - 2133)

    I am 100% sure it was working before that, but I cannot say for sure if it was still working after that.
    A friend suggested that it might be a setting in BIOS, but I have looked through it and nothing stands out.

    Any suggestions would be welcome.


    ETA: this is not the system listed in my System Specs page. That is another computer which I still have.
     
    smartcooky, Nov 20, 2020
    #3
  4. CF1234 Win User

    How to get permission to remove a USB hard drive safely?

    I Am Unable to Safely Remove My USB External Hard Drive

    There is always a Safe Removal icon when I connect my USB hard drive. And sometimes I can safely remove the hard drive, but not very often.

    My hard drive doesn't have any programs on it. I only use it for storage. Such as accessing documents, music, videos. But, when I close these files, I am still not able to safely remove the USB hard drive.

    Thanks
     
    CF1234, Nov 20, 2020
    #4
Thema:

How to get permission to remove a USB hard drive safely?

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