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

yes


--
mikeyb30

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
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..


"Walter Goldschmidt" wrote in message
...
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

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?

"John Barnett MVP" wrote in message
...
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
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..


"Walter Goldschmidt" wrote in message
...
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

Walter Goldschmidt wrote:

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?

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
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

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..


"Walter Goldschmidt" wrote in message
...
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?

"John Barnett MVP" wrote in message
...
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
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..


"Walter Goldschmidt" wrote in message
...
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

I tried to format drive afterwords but it still didn't function properly.

Walt

"Malke" wrote in message
...
Walter Goldschmidt wrote:

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?

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
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

Walter Goldschmidt wrote:

I tried to format drive afterwords but it still didn't function properly.

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
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

How do you delete partitions on a external hard drive. I'm assuming your
telling me to do that first and then format it?

--


Walt
"Malke" wrote in message
...
Walter Goldschmidt wrote:

I tried to format drive afterwords but it still didn't function properly.

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
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

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



"Walter Goldschmidt" wrote in message
...
How do you delete partitions on a external hard drive. I'm assuming your
telling me to do that first and then format it?

--


Walt
"Malke" wrote in message
...
Walter Goldschmidt wrote:

I tried to format drive afterwords but it still didn't function
properly.

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
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ