Windows XP (Home) - Safely Remove Hardware - refusing to eject?

[Bwana]

<deleted>

[DS23]

1/ shut down windows, pull the usb out and hope it doesn't mess up the drive. it won't.

2/ if you can't or can't be arsed to do 1: laugh evily and pull the usb drive out and hope it won't mess up the drive. it probably won't.

[Sysman]

You can minimise the risk by doing something like this (I don't have XP in front of me at the moment, so the steps might be slightly different):

1. Right click on the USB drive in My Computer and select Properties
2. Select the Hardware tab
3. Select the USB drive concerned and click on Properties
4. Select the Policies tab
5. Pick "Optimize for quick removal" and hit OK

[Bwana]

<deleted>

[Sysman]

Thanks for this. I checked and found that the drive is already set to "Optimize for quick removal"... so that hasn't stopped windows from telling me to wait and try again later. However... under this option it does state:

"This setting disables write caching on the disk and in Window, so you can disconnect this device without using the Safe Removal icon."

... so I suppose I don't actually need to even try using the Safe Removal thingy.

Cheers,
Bwana

Windows Server 2008 has just done the same to me when I unplugged an external USB drive. I've never seen it before, but while the subject was fresh in my mind I did a safe removal first. On plugging it back in and checking, I find that "Optimize for quick removal" was already set.

One thing was different this time - I had the device plugged in at boot time.

Or maybe Zeity is right on guessing at a virus checker (though it's Windows Defender, not AVG on this system).

Wandering slightly off topic, I came across Windows 7 ReadyBoost yesterday:

Want a simple way to speed up your PC?

Just plug in a USB flash drive or card and let ReadyBoost borrow it. ReadyBoost is designed to help when your PC's memory is running low. Low memory can make your computer sluggish because Windows, which needs a place to stash data, turns to the hard drive. Flash memory offers a speedier alternative.

ReadyBoost works with most flash storage devices. In Windows 7, it can handle more flash memory and even multiple devices—up to eight, for a maximum 256 gigabytes (GB) of additional memory.

Follow the links at the bottom of the page for more details. Apparently it does ask first if you want to do this.

[2BIT]

I used to use a little app to force the safe removal of USB, I have had a key corrupt the data by just pulling it out of the box - don't think it was this one but try USB Disk Ejector.

[pmeswani]

Thanks for this. I checked and found that the drive is already set to "Optimize for quick removal"... so that hasn't stopped windows from telling me to wait and try again later. However... under this option it does state:

"This setting disables write caching on the disk and in Window, so you can disconnect this device without using the Safe Removal icon."

... so I suppose I don't actually need to even try using the Safe Removal thingy.

Cheers,
Bwana

Kill and restart explorer.exe and then try and eject the USB key.