external hard drive

  • Thread starter Thread starter Walter Goldschmidt
  • Start date Start date
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Walter Goldschmidt

I have several external hard drives and to remove them from usb port your
suppose to double click remove hardware icon in task bar near clock. I have
ruined 2 of them by accidentally unplugging them. If the computer is turned
off is it a different story. Can you go ahead and unplug it without clicking
remove hardware icon without harming device?

Walt
 
Walt I can't say I've ever ruined a drive by simply pulling the plug. Vista
is supposed to be more 'hot swappable' than XP. In fact I rarely use the
remove hardware button now. However, turning the computer off does allow you
to unplug the device without causing any damage because it effectively shuts
down the disk drive.

I have a Verbatim USB stand alone hard drive now which sits on top of my PC
case. This is permanently connected to the power supply and the USB port,
all I need do is press the switch at the back to turn it on or off. When I
have finished using it I simply press the switch to turn it off and then
unplug the USB if I need to use the drive elsewhere. The disk also shuts
itself off when the PC is powered down (assuming I forget to switch it off
at the back) and then powers itself up again when I switch the computer back
on.

--

--
John Barnett MVP
Windows XP Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

Web: http://www.winuser.co.uk
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mail/post..
 
I've ruined 2 drives by accidently unplugging them. Afterwards I could not
copy some of the files. Do you use a regular hard drive plugged into usb
port instead of a external hard drive or are they the same?
 
Walter said:
I've ruined 2 drives by accidently unplugging them. Afterwards I could not
copy some of the files. Do you use a regular hard drive plugged into usb
port instead of a external hard drive or are they the same?
Click to expand...

It isn't that you ruined the drives physically. It's that you corrupted the
data on them, which is the reason for the "safely remove hardware" thing.
Yes, you can safely unplug them when the computer is turned off.

Malke
 
As Malke has pointed out you haven't physically damaged the drive you have
simply corrupted the data. This has probably been cause by the fact that you
unplugged the drive while data was being written to it.

I use an external drive, but if you also mean a standard hard drive that has
been put into an outer casing with a USB connection, then yes they are
basically the same and yes I do also have one like that and it gets the same
treatment as my other external drive.

--

--
John Barnett MVP
Windows XP Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

Web: http://www.winuser.co.uk
Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org
Web: http://www.silversurfer-guide.com

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..
 
I tried to format drive afterwords but it still didn't function properly.

Walt
 
Walter said:
I tried to format drive afterwords but it still didn't function properly.
Click to expand...

There is no way for me to know what you did or the state of the drive by
reading about it in a newsgroup. I suspect that you didn't realize that you
need to completely delete all partitions and create new ones before you
attempted a format. I've had an external drive be corrupted and it took a
bit of doing to get it back in shape so I could format it and use it again.
The drive was *physically* fine.

Malke
 
How do you delete partitions on a external hard drive. I'm assuming your
telling me to do that first and then format it?
 
You work with an external drive the same as you would work with an internal
drive. Use drive manager! Go to the drive and right click on the visual
representation of the drive. You will see options there. Delete partition /
create partition / format partition.

--

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience
 
Richard said:
You work with an external drive the same as you would work with an
internal drive. Use drive manager! Go to the drive and right click on the
visual representation of the drive. You will see options there. Delete
partition / create partition / format partition.
Click to expand...

What Richard said. ;-)

Malke
 
Sorry for jumping in Malke but I had a bad night and have been up most of
it! (-:

--

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience
 
There is no delete partition in there. I opened drive manager and went to
Disk drives/chose Generic USB Disk USB Device and right clicked. No delete
partition. Also opened computer and right clicked on that drive. No delete
partition. Only format and a few other things. Where's delete partition at
because a format alone won't fix the drive?
 
You are saying that you want to delete a partition. Are you certain that it
is not "Unallocated Space"" If it is as I suspect all you have to do is
create a partition in the unallocated space and format the partition.

--

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience
 
Yeh but tell me how to do it!!

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Walt
Richard Urban said:
You are saying that you want to delete a partition. Are you certain that
it is not "Unallocated Space"" If it is as I suspect all you have to do is
create a partition in the unallocated space and format the partition.

--

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience
Click to expand...
 
Walter,

All through your computer, by selecting an object etc., right clicking gives
you different options/choices of what you can do to that object. Don't be
afraid to experiment with the right click.

Now, right click on the empty space in drive management.

--

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience
 
I know all about right clicking I do it all the time it can be a real
shortcut. You geniuses don't seem to understand that I need you to explain
how to do these things your all talking about. What the heck is drive
management I could not find it under help.
 
Type Management in search.

Start Computer Management

Start Disk/Drive Management under Storage

--

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience
 
Walter Goldschmidt said:
I know all about right clicking I do it all the time it can be a real
shortcut. You geniuses don't seem to understand that I need you to explain
how to do these things your all talking about. What the heck is drive
management I could not find it under help.
Click to expand...

Lookup DISK Management.
 
Now that's more like it. Your short answer was all it took then I was able
to figure out what to do. I deleted the volume and then recreated it and
formatted the drive. I hope this works as theses drives are expensive. This
tool will come in handy from time to time. Never knew anything about
administrative tools before now. I consider myself above average when it
comes to computer knowledge but I'm still learning and probably always will.
Thanks for all your replies, these news groups are great for learning. Never
assume the person your giving your answer to knows how to do it.
 
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