safely removing USB devices.
Psychophysiological entity
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safely removing USB devices.
I have two HDs divided into a total of five partitions. I then have two drives, CD & DVD. I then show. Four 'drives' which are card readers. which leaves me with 10 drive letters in use. This is tedious when accessing Explorer repeatedly for example.
Prior to Win 7 I could just go to the task bar and select to remove the card readers with the safely remove button.
( It would leave the USB port, the only one on that cluster, in working order.) Perfect.
Now it doesn't even show the Safely remove button unless there is something in the slots. It will let me remove the device in the slot, but not the slot itself.
Presumably if I removed them in device manager, they would stay removed, whereas before, they would reappear on reboot. ie I wan't to keep my options open, but don't want them there every day.
Prior to Win 7 I could just go to the task bar and select to remove the card readers with the safely remove button.
( It would leave the USB port, the only one on that cluster, in working order.) Perfect.
Now it doesn't even show the Safely remove button unless there is something in the slots. It will let me remove the device in the slot, but not the slot itself.
Presumably if I removed them in device manager, they would stay removed, whereas before, they would reappear on reboot. ie I wan't to keep my options open, but don't want them there every day.
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Ahhhh! the cake and eat it problem. 
Interestingly the only drives that show when I click on the task bar icon to open windows explorer are the active ones on the hard drive. The 2 DVD drives only appear if there is media in them and the pluggable ones if they are plugged in.
If I open WE using the windows key +E then everything shows up.
Interestingly the only drives that show when I click on the task bar icon to open windows explorer are the active ones on the hard drive. The 2 DVD drives only appear if there is media in them and the pluggable ones if they are plugged in.
If I open WE using the windows key +E then everything shows up.
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Whoa! Slow down there with the device disabling or removal. This could be as simple as the Caching policy on the device in question. If the device is set to "optimise for quick removal", it does not need you to do the "safely remove" routine. So it might not appear in the list when you click on the Safely Remove icon, or there is no icon. I say "might not" since I know previous Windows versions have been inconsistent about this kind of thing, and I haven't touched Win7 at all.
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Hey BNT,
Been running Windows7 RC for about 3 months. Loose Rivets wants to remove the drive letters and have the option of "turning them on". Just a mere enable in the device damager works for me.
But then again on my home machine I am using Linux Mint Gloria. Very nice, I like.
Been running Windows7 RC for about 3 months. Loose Rivets wants to remove the drive letters and have the option of "turning them on". Just a mere enable in the device damager works for me.
But then again on my home machine I am using Linux Mint Gloria. Very nice, I like.
Psychophysiological entity
Thread Starter
Mint Gloria?!! The very name would be a distraction to an oldie like me.
I'm off to look at the Device Damager. The thing is, if I could get them to display, then Safely Remove them, that would be fine, cos I Hibernate most of the time so they wouldn't come back. (no jokes please)
I'm not totally sure, but I have the feeling that when I first installed W7, it behaved exactly like XP and allowed me to SRmv them. Now, the button does not even display unless I have a stick or somesuch in there.
Back in a moment.
EDIT What I'm saying below is more simply this. The four card slots need to be separated from a front USB socket. These five items are installed as one unit 5.5" slide in unit. They can be separated by Safely Remove with XP so there is a way, but not necessarily true for W7
Right, it works in principal, but I can see a dark corridor awaiting me. One with a big door that will shut and lock behind me.
Three listed Devices, simply say USB root hub, but one kills all the mini-slots and also takes out the only front USB socket in one fell swoop. This is physically removable as a combined unit, and I had in fact unplugged it, but missed the front access too much, and put it back. So, it looks like I'm stuck with it unless...One of the above separates the items on that front unit. This is where the trap lies. Can I lock myself out in any way by removing HCD USB Host controllers? They are listed above and the only items left to try.
I'm off to look at the Device Damager. The thing is, if I could get them to display, then Safely Remove them, that would be fine, cos I Hibernate most of the time so they wouldn't come back. (no jokes please)
I'm not totally sure, but I have the feeling that when I first installed W7, it behaved exactly like XP and allowed me to SRmv them. Now, the button does not even display unless I have a stick or somesuch in there.
Back in a moment.
EDIT What I'm saying below is more simply this. The four card slots need to be separated from a front USB socket. These five items are installed as one unit 5.5" slide in unit. They can be separated by Safely Remove with XP so there is a way, but not necessarily true for W7
Right, it works in principal, but I can see a dark corridor awaiting me. One with a big door that will shut and lock behind me.
Three listed Devices, simply say USB root hub, but one kills all the mini-slots and also takes out the only front USB socket in one fell swoop. This is physically removable as a combined unit, and I had in fact unplugged it, but missed the front access too much, and put it back. So, it looks like I'm stuck with it unless...One of the above separates the items on that front unit. This is where the trap lies. Can I lock myself out in any way by removing HCD USB Host controllers? They are listed above and the only items left to try.
Last edited by Loose rivets; 15th Jun 2009 at 23:19.
