I want to remove a Western Digital external hard drive safely from my laptop (Vista SP1).
When I use Windows "Safely Remove Hardware," I get a message saying the drive is still in use and files using it must first be closed. Fair enough.
But when I close everything on the PC (so that taskbar is empty) the message still pops up. Are there hidden processes or system files that are still being used? Or maybe it's the Western D. software on the drive itself? In either case I need to know how to stop them.
The bigger question: does it make any difference whether hardware is "safely removed" or just unplugged? Thanks in advance.
When I use Windows "Safely Remove Hardware," I get a message saying the drive is still in use and files using it must first be closed. Fair enough.
But when I close everything on the PC (so that taskbar is empty) the message still pops up. Are there hidden processes or system files that are still being used? Or maybe it's the Western D. software on the drive itself? In either case I need to know how to stop them.
The bigger question: does it make any difference whether hardware is "safely removed" or just unplugged? Thanks in advance.
