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Windows Vista Safely Remove Hardware Question!

Discussion in 'Legacy Windows' started by Evan Omo, 2007/05/13.

  1. 2007/05/13
    Evan Omo

    Evan Omo Computer Support Technician Staff Thread Starter

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    Hi all. I am running Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit edtion. I have a question regarding the Safely Remove Hardware Icon in the system tray. If I plug in a USB Flash Drive then I want to unplug it I left click on the Safely Remove Hardware Icon in the system tray and it says Safely Remove Hardware. I click that and nothing happens. The device doesn't get removed. :mad: However if I right click on the icon and click safely remove then a windows comes up that shows my device and then I click stop. I then get a window that says that I can safely remove the USB flash drive. :)

    On my Windows XP computer I can just left click on the icon and hit safely remove and it lets me remove the hardware. But on Windows Vista I have to right click the icon and click stop and everything to finally have Windows to stop the device. So my queestion is why is it when you left click on the safely remove hardware icon it doesn't do anything? :confused: I can use the left click method in Windows XP just fine without a problem. Is this just a bug in Windows Vista? :rolleyes: I would greatly appreciate any suggesstions on why this is happening. Thanks! :)
     
    Evan Omo,
    #1
  2. 2007/05/13
    uhaligani

    uhaligani Inactive

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    A tongue in cheek answer - don't take my word for it!
    This feature has been around almost since the invention of the USB. My son, who is an electronics engineer, says that the use of the function is for backward compatibilty with rather old and early model USB computers. It has no useful function today. On his advice, over a history of three computers and five years, I have never bothered with that icon. If I have no further immediate use for a USB device (Camer etc) I just yank it out - no damage so far, touch wood.
     
    uhaligani,
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  4. 2007/05/13
    sparrow

    sparrow Inactive

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    Agree 100%. USB is "hot swapable" meaning that you needn't bother when attaching or removing the connection from the computer. Contrast this with PS2 (like some mouse) that can seriously damage the computer if you don't power off to plug it in.

    The warning is just a relic.
     
    sparrow,
    #3
  5. 2007/05/13
    Evan Omo

    Evan Omo Computer Support Technician Staff Thread Starter

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    Thanks you guys for your reponses. My question wasn't a big deal but I guess thats just how some things in Windows Vista operate. I heard that Microsoft is currently working on a solution for this isssue. Hopefully Microsoft will release a hotfix but in the meantime I can just use the right click method to safely remove my USB device. I've read a few articles that if you don't safely remove a USB device for example that it can leave phantom drives on your computer as well as corrupt the data on the USB flash drive. At least thats what i've been hearing. :) Anyway there are certain things about Windows Vista that I don't like such as all those dam permissions. Half of the folders on my computer I couldn't access and I had to make myself owner of all of them just to be able to gain access. :mad: Also some of my software wouldn't run unless I right clicked on it and chose run as administrator so it would finally run. :rolleyes: So overall Windows Vista can be a hassle sometimes but thats probaly how Microsoft designed it. Anyway if anyone else has something they want to add about the safely remove hardware icon feel free to do so. :)
     
    Evan Omo,
    #4
  6. 2007/05/14
    usasma

    usasma Inactive

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    At work I do a lot of "yanking" of USB devices. The only issue that I've encountered is if I plug it into a Vista system after using it in an XP system. Vista persistently demands to scan the drive for errors!

    As an experiment, I stopped doing the scan with my 4gB Memorex Travel drive - after a week or so I had to format the darned thing!

    The only other issue I've had relates to my own impatience - I'll often yank the drive out before a download is finished. That'll render the download useless and I'll have to start over again.
     
    usasma,
    #5
  7. 2007/05/14
    SuperSparks

    SuperSparks Inactive

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    Instead of going through the rather long-winded Safely Remove Hardware procedure, if you want to be sure that it's safe to remove a flash drive, right-click on it in Explorer and choose "Eject ". That does much the same thing but a lot quicker.
     
    SuperSparks,
    #6
  8. 2007/05/14
    Evan Omo

    Evan Omo Computer Support Technician Staff Thread Starter

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    Thanks Super Sparks I greatly appreciate it. :) I will probably use that method as its a lot quicker and it removes my USB Flash drive safely. Thanks to everyone for their replies. This forum is great. :D
     
    Evan Omo,
    #7
  9. 2007/05/14
    Paul

    Paul Inactive

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    The warning is not quite a relic. It's there as a warning NOT to pull out the USB device till you are 100% sure data has been fully written to the device. Pulling out a USB stick whilst it is still writing data can cause data corruption and/or a fatal error with the devices TOC (Table Of Contents).

    Providing you are sure that ALL data has finished writing, then you can safely ignore the software unplugging procedure.

    When you software unplug the device and it gives the OK, that means no data is being written. The problem is that sometimes (particularly with 98,W2K and XP/W2K3) you get an unable to dismount the device even when data has clearly stopped. This error seems rare in Vista though.

    I tend to still use the software unplug feature, but quickly ignore it when it says unable...
     
    Last edited: 2007/05/14
    Paul,
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  10. 2007/05/14
    uhaligani

    uhaligani Inactive

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    FWIW You can entirely remve that Icon if you really think it is not needed.
    If you click the START, then right click the white space on the left and and select properties. Click the notification AreaTab and the click the "Hide inactive icons "
    You can then scroll down the list and alter the options, including that of the "safely remove hardware" icon.
     
    uhaligani,
    #9
  11. 2007/05/16
    Evan Omo

    Evan Omo Computer Support Technician Staff Thread Starter

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    Thanks again you guys for the information. :) I graetly appreciate it. I guess there are a variety of ways you can remove a USB device and each way works for certain people. This frum has helped me in all of my questions that I have so I am very thankful. Thanks again everyone for their help. :D
     
    Evan Omo,
    #10

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