Safe removal- how and for what it is needed it is safe to extract USB devices - about it there will be a speech in the article. Safe removal is provided for almost all operating systems. Basically, this is necessary so that conflicts do not arise in the system, since the connected device may still be involved in some process. Also, unsafe extraction can lead to problems with the written data, because when working with disks, Windows caches data. This means that the data is stored in random access memory while waiting for an opportunity to record directly. But if at this moment you take out a USB flash drive until all the data is actually recorded, then the system, of course, will lose them, and the recorded file in the drive will be damaged. Safe removal - can prevent all this, because it first checks that all processes have been completed, and only then notifies you that you can remove the drive.
Many people, including the author of this article, never use the "" function. In this regard, such users probably looking through a photo transferred from another PC using a flash drive, did you find copies in half or a third of the image? Or an archive that was copied from a flash drive when unpacking 
reports CRC error, etc. Why is this happening? The files will be corrupted because the file table, and the recording was not finished, naturally the damaged file will have the same weight and characteristics as the donor, but it will be damaged. This sometimes happens when removing a USB flash drive without using the "Safely Remove Hardware" function.
Also, unsafe removal may damage your USB devices. If anyone had the pleasure of referring USB hard drive under warranty - there the first thing they ask is: "How did you, dear, disconnect your screw?" After scratching his neck ... - well, how ... so ...
In theory, all modern portable hard drives, when the power supply is interrupted on the go, they are able to park the heads automatically, therefore, unsafe removal should not harm them, as it were. However, in practice, when you turn off the power on the go, external hard drives can publish strange sounds that makes you think ... What to do?
Safe extraction in one click
If you use one flash drive or hard drive, then you can still go to the tray, press ..., wait, stop, ... but with an active robot with flash drives, portable hard drives, card readers and other devices, this will not work. We need to automate the extraction process. 
For such purposes, the program is well suited Safely Remove, (you can download it below). Very good manager USB devices. The program saves you time and significantly expands the user's capabilities when actively working with flash drives, portable hard drives, and other USB devices.
The new version of the program includes one important function- the ability to turn off the power on USB ports when stopping devices on Windows Vista and Windows 7. As we know in Windows XP, when the device is safely disconnected, the operating system also turns off the power to this port, and the flash drive LED goes out, and external drive stops rotating. And when devices on Windows Vista and Win 7 are stopped, the devices continue to work. That is, the flash drive continues to glow, but HDD rotate. Many people think that the Safely Remove feature simply does not work. But it is not, it works, but according to unknown reasons Microsoft has changed this behavior and starting with Windows Vista, USB ports are not powered off. The program provides a function to turn off the power when safely removed. You just need to mark this item in the program settings.
Another advantage is that the program can display friendly device names. This allows you to turn off exactly the device you need!
This program is a convenient and reliable replacement for the standard "Safely Remove Hardware". It makes life easier and saves time for those who have several USB, SATA, Firewire devices, and those who actively use them. The program provides Safe extraction in one click! All you need to do is just move the mouse cursor over the icon in the system tray. Next, a convenient and beautiful menu stopping devices! One click on the device and it is safely removed!
Key features:
Command line for safe extraction
Safe extraction with one click or hotkey
Autostart programs when connected
Quickly find a device to remove
Convenient menu with device pictures
Correct device names and the ability to rename them
Removing Card Reader Cards Individually
Shows programs that prevent you from removing the device
Hide unwanted devices
Allows you to return the removed device back!
Safe extraction in pictures
Download and install Safely Remove. The program is very easy to use!
After installation, a small program icon will appear in the tray.
Immediately after joining USB devices a notification window will appear, in which the name of the device will be visible.
By hovering over the small tray icon and pressing just one click, you can safely remove the device.
If you double-click on the icon, the program itself will open and you will be able to see all USB devices. Now let's assign hotkeys for our flash drive. Press the button "Device Properties"
In the window that opens, you can customize a lot more, but for an example I will only show how to assign hotkeys. Check the box and choose a combination. That's all. You can also assign hotkeys to other functions of the program, for this you need to click the "Change" link.
Having carefully studied everything here, you can put the necessary combinations.
But here's what I wanted to dwell on more - this is an excellent function of autostart programs. Here you can schedule the launch of programs when connecting or removing a device. Such a program could be, for example Total commander, which will open immediately after attaching the flash drive. Or, for example, winamp is very convenient, isn't it?
If you know another way to organize safe extraction, write, perhaps, in the comments.
When using the function of safely removing the USB flash drive, I always got a window with a message that it is possible to safely remove the USB flash drive. Recently, when you click on the thumbnail of a flash drive, in order to safely remove it, no message has been received, and the flash drive icon in the window disappears. Therefore, I do not know if it is possible to safely remove the USB flash drive or not. Tell me what settings you need to make to restore the function of safely removing the USB flash drive. I prefer to make the appropriate settings in the registry or using the gpedit editor. Thanks in advance..
/ Vitaly Vladimirovich 08/28/2016, 11:05
Some strange behavior of the icon: it is still seen, but does not function. I would like to know if this behavior is only with this flash drive or with all? Try to check it for viruses. On the internet, solutions are given when the tray icon is completely absent. Can I advise you on the program USB Safely Remove. It has similar functionality and even more.
There is also an excellent utility that cleans all traces of USB devices in the registry and after that everything starts working as it should. This is a utility USBOblivion... designed to erase traces of USB drives and CD-ROMs from the registry in Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Wimdows 10 in both 32 and 64-bit versions. test mode work, i.e. without actually deleting data from the registry, and, just in case, creates a .reg file to undo all changes. Also available completely auto mode work.
Most computer and laptop users are aware that the USB drive must not only be pulled out of the port to complete its use in the system, but also a special procedure for the so-called safe removal must be started. If the flash drive is removed without safe removal, the consequences can be catastrophic (data loss, errors file system and even the breakdown of the device itself). Let us consider several simple methods that make it possible to carry out such a procedure, as well as to restore such a Windows tool, if for some reason it disappeared or was inaccessible.
Safely removing a USB flash drive: why do you need it?
One thing is important to understand when removing a USB stick from its corresponding connector on a computer terminal. Safely remove USB stick in Windos 10 or any other system akin to standard procedure shutting down the computer itself.
In this case, all processes associated with the device are terminated and the power supply is interrupted. Thus, the drive can be protected from the appearance of many problems. An analogue can be the shutdown of a running computer from the network. After all, many have noticed that after this the system recovery begins. So here, only to restore functionality will have to be done manually, which can turn out to be much more complicated than automated processes in Windows.
Basic Methods for Safely Removing USB Devices
So, safe removal of a USB flash drive can be done by several of the most simple methods that are provided in Windows systems.
The most in a simple way is a left-click on the USB icon in the system tray with the selection of the corresponding line. If the icon is not displayed for some reason, you need to click on the up arrow to show hidden icons.
The second method that allows you to safely remove a USB flash drive is to use the "Explorer" or double-click on the computer icon, where the USB device is selected, and right-click to select the extract item from the menu. With this, most questions do not arise.
Safely remove a USB flash drive: USB Safely Remove program
In some cases, if someone does not like the standard technique, you can use small program called USB Safely Remove (this is useful in cases where the system reports that access to the device cannot be terminated, or there is no device icon in the tray).
After installation, the program creates its own icon in the tray in the form of clicking on which, you can see all USB devices, in this moment connected to computer system... There is also a section hidden devices(USB camera, external network cards, discs, etc.). All you have to do is select your drive and specify the safe removal of the flash drive.
Terminating processes using the drive
Sometimes, however, the system gives an error. In this case, you should close all files open from the device and applications that are currently using the drive, go to the "Task Manager" and forcibly terminate all USB-related processes.
In this case, you should use first displaying all user processes, then hiding Microsoft services. The extraction can then be repeated.
What if I no longer have access to Safe Removal?
Now let's see what to do if safe removal of the flash drive from both the system tray and the device properties in the computer or "Explorer" section has disappeared.
In the very simple case you need to open the properties of the drive in any of the above sections or in the appropriate manager and go to the hardware tab. In the window you need to select your device and click on the properties button located below. Next, the button for changing properties is pressed and a transition to the policy tab is made, in which you can see a hyperlink to safe extraction. Click on it, and you can remove the USB flash drive. At the same time, by the way, the work of the drive will also speed up.
Alternative technique for restoring safe extraction
There is another way to restore the original settings so that you can safely remove the flash drive later.
This option is somewhat more complicated, but it gives an almost one hundred percent guarantee of restoring access to the procedure. To do this, use the console call "Run" with administrator rights.
You need to write the following in it:
- RunDll32.exe shell32.dll, Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll (must be exactly the same as stated in the original command given).
After executing the command, a new dialog box will appear, in which you must first select the desired device, and then click the "Stop" button below.
Instead of a total
In principle, these are the main methods to safely remove any USB device from the corresponding port, as well as to eliminate some possible problems associated with the impossibility of performing such a procedure due to lack of access. In the simplest case, you can simply remove the device from the port and reinsert it. Perhaps the system will see it.
However, such methods are suitable only for standard situations and are the simplest for users. If the drive initially has physical damage or file system failures, you will have to use completely different methods related to restoring the drive's performance, information stored on it, or even re-flashing its microcontroller. But this is a separate topic.
Today every computer user needs to be able to work with USB devices. This convenient way store and transmit information. Technologies allow you to connect to a computer not only a USB flash drive, but also mobile device or a camera. An important element of working with USB is their correct extraction. How to do it correctly on Windows 10 and why?
Why you shouldn't ignore Safely Remove Hardware.
This function is designed to disable access electric current to the removable device. And although many do not consider it scary to pull out a USB flash drive without performing any actions, such a habit can lead to a number of negative consequences.
Firstly, such an action can lead to partial or complete loss of data on the media, especially if it happened during file transfer. Secondly, a short circuit can occur, as a result of which the connected device will be hopelessly damaged.
How to properly disconnect USB devices
Before safely removing the device, you should make sure that none of the computer applications are using the USB data... This applies to the player, photo editor and text editor. This will reduce the risk of seeing an error message when you try to disconnect the device.
Every time when removable device will connect, a new icon appears in the lower right corner of the desktop. He will be there among the list of others. active applications whose icons can be seen by clicking the arrow sign. As soon as the work is completed, you need to click on it and select the function " safe shutdown devices ". If both a phone and a USB flash drive are connected to the computer at the same time, then when performing the action, you must specify which device is to be disconnected.
The second option is to go to the “My Computer” folder and find the name of your device in the list. Now you need to click on it right click mouse and in the list that appears, find the line "extract".
Generic volume problem
Sometimes, when removing a USB flash drive, the user may encounter the following situation: visually, there are no programs connected to the device. But when you request to extract, a window appears asking you to disable all working with USB programs... What to do?
First you need to open the device manager. Go to the "my computer" folder and press the "control" key at the top of the window. In a new window, a list will appear on the left, among the names of which the desired one will be located.
Now it is necessary to determine which of the programs are using data from the USB device that needs to be disconnected, and disconnect them. Now you can try to safely remove the USB flash drive again.
To summarize: Safe Usb Removal is necessary not only for the safety of data, but to ensure the safety of both devices from short circuit. Windows Developers made this process as simple and straightforward as possible. You can remove the removable device either using the icon on the desktop, or in the "my computer" folder. And if an error occurs during extraction, it can be resolved through the device manager.
Safely Remove Hardware is typically used to remove USB stick or external hard disk in Windows 7, Windows XP and Windows 8. It may happen that the Safely Remove icon has disappeared from the panel Windows tasks- this can cause misunderstanding and lead to a stupor, but there is nothing wrong with that. Now we will put this icon back in place.
Note: In Windows 8, for devices that are identified as a Media device, the Safely Remove icon is not shown (players, Android tablets, some phones).
Usually, in order to safely remove the device in Windows, you click on the corresponding icon near the clock with the right mouse button and do it. The purpose of Safely Removing is that when you use it, you tell operating system what you intend to extract this device(for example, a USB flash drive). In response, Windows completes all operations that could lead to data corruption. In some cases, it also stops supplying power to the device.
Failure to safely remove hardware can result in loss of data or damage to the drive. In practice, this does not happen often and there are certain things that you need to know and take into account so that this does not happen, but I will write about this sometime.
How to get the Safely Remove Hardware icon back
Sometimes, for unknown reasons, the Safely Remove icon may disappear. Even if you connect and disconnect the USB flash drive over and over again, the icon for some reason does not appear. If this happened with you (and this is most likely the case, otherwise you would not have come here), click Win buttons+ R on your keyboard and enter the following command in the Run window:
RunDll32.exe shell32.dll, Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll
This command works on Windows 7, 8 and XP. The absence of a space after the comma is not an error, it should be. After running this command, the Safely Remove Hardware dialog box that you were looking for will open.
In this window, as usual, you can select the device that you want to turn off and click the "Stop" button. A "side" effect of this command is that the Safely Remove icon reappears where it should be.
If it continues to disappear and each time you need to re-execute the specified command to remove the device, then you can create a shortcut for this action: right-click on empty space desktop, select "New" - "Shortcut" and in the "Object location" field, enter the command to call the dialog for safe removal of the device. In the second step of creating a shortcut, you can give it any name you want.
Another way to safely remove a device in Windows
There is another simple method that allows you to safely remove the device when the icon is not on the Windows taskbar:
Hopefully the methods listed here are safe to extract portable hard a disk or a USB flash drive will be enough for you.
