how do i safely remove my flash drive
Safely Removing a Flash Drive. When you insert a flash drive into a computer running Windows 7, 8 or 8.1, an icon reading Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media displays on the system tray. To unplug your flash drive, right-click that icon, and select Eject USB Flash Drive. If it's safe to eject, a notification displays Safe to Remove Hardware. If instead, the utility notifies you that the flash drive is in use, close any files or applications that you are running off the flash drive, and then try again.
Stopping the device is done to ensure that nothing is being written to the memory card. If you remove the device without first stopping it the information on it can be corrupted. Double-click on the Remove Hardware icon located in the System Tray. A window containing a list of the USB devices will appear. Left-click on the Safely Remove Mass Storage Device line that matches your flash drive (for example, Safely Remove Mass Storage Device â Drive(G:)).
Note: Failure to follow this procedure may result in data loss to an external drive. 1  Double-click on the Safely Remove icon in your Windows System Tray. This will launch the Safely Remove program. 2  The Safely Remove window will display any/all detected USB/FireWire devices connected to your Windows computer. If necessary click/check the Display device components box to expand the view. Click on the device (e.g., external drive) you wish to remove and click on the Stop button. A confirmation window will appear.