Can you remove just one USB drive from the Safely Remove list?

joeandmarg0 said:

You must firstly left click on the icon to select it,then right click on the selection to bring up the context menu.

I do not understand why you keep insisting on left clicking before right clicking. Whether I am in Devices and Printers or in Device Manager I get exactly the same context menu by just right clicking as I do if I left click first so it only seems to add an unnecessary step.

Also check Device manager>Disk drives and if the device shows in the expansion,left click to select,right click for the menu,giving Properties>Policies tab.
Choose whichever option suits your requirements.

In Policies I see 2 options, Quick removal (which is checked) and Better performance. Since the drive is currently in the Safely Remove list and Better performance specifies that it requires use of Safely Remove I don't see how either option suits my requirements.

I don't think you understand what I want to do. I want to remove just the WD Elements external drive )that I use for backing up the network drive to) from the list that appears when I click the Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media BUT I still want to see any other USB drive that I plug in at any time in that list.

MaloK said:

The only way I know to do that, is to install a filter driver Like DiskMod and make your USB drive appear as a Fixed Disk.

That sounds promising but where can I get it? None of the results Google found when I searched for it looked legitimate.

Sidecar Bob said:

That sounds promising but where can I get it? None of the results Google found when I searched for it looked legitimate.

You can fin it there diskmod - reboot.pro

Read the original topic from karyonix for more detail how to...

I use it in my Win10XPE and on other Bootable Windows to enable swap file on Removable storage.

The "Remove Device" option given in---Devices and printers" by either left clicking or right clicking the icon gives the same outcome,as does using ---Device manager---or ---Disk management.
Should you choose to use a third party option is entirely your perogative.
Using Windows built-in tools,in preference to third party,is hardly an "unnecessary step"

Sidecar Bob said:

If I click the Properties button with any of those selected I eventually find a Details tab where I see a box marked Property with Device description displayed and when I click that a list appears that I can scroll down to to find Safe Removal Required.

If you are interested, click on "Change settings" --> "Policies". You will see the default settings as shown below:

Sidecar Bob said:

Is it possible to remove just the external hard drive from the list that appears when you click the taskbar's Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media button?

How would you eject the USB HDD if it has been removed from the list? Head parking is necessary before the ejection.

After power off. HDDs use the centrifugal motion of the platters to generate the electricity needed to park the heads safely onto the parking ramp.

Using the rotational inertia may be not as good as using Safely Remove Hardware.
The "Power-off Retract Count" will increase.



Rotational inertia should be used in case of unexpected power loss.

Yes. Even if the heads are safely parked, It still is a dirty shutdown.

OK, most of you seem to be missing what I want to do. I want to make it so that I can't accidentally click the wrong item in the list and eject the external drive that I want to leave connected to the computer all the time.
Removing that specific drive will occur so seldom that having to find it in Windows Explorer and eject it from there is absolutely no problem. It will need to be removed less than once per year so even having to turn the computer off to disconnect it wouldn't be that big a deal.
BUT as I said before, I frequently plug in and remove USB thumb drives and I do want to be able to use the Safely Remove button to eject those.

joeandmarg0 said:

The "Remove Device" option given in---Devices and printers" by either left clicking or right clicking the icon gives the same outcome,as does using ---Device manager---or ---Disk management.
Should you choose to use a third party option is entirely your perogative.
Using Windows built-in tools,in preference to third party,is hardly an "unnecessary step"

Its almost like you don't understand English. Or at least aren't reading what I'm typing.
I did not say that using something built into Windows is an extra step, only that as far as I can see left clicking the icon before right clicking it is an extra step that makes no difference. But you said to do it twice so I wanted to know what you expected to happen that would be different from just right clicking it.

I would prefer not to have to install something for this but the only choices I could find following what you said are the ones shown in the pic that Matthew Wai posted in post#14 of this thread. Neither of those will remove it from the list.

Matthew Wai said:

How would you eject the USB HDD if it has been removed from the list? Head parking is necessary before the ejection.

Wouldn't I still be able to eject it via Windows Explorer? That would properly park the heads wouldn't it?

And if I had to shut down the computer to disconnect it wouldn't the heads be parked during the shutdown?

MaloK said:

You can fin it there diskmod - reboot.pro
Read the original topic from karyonix for more detail how to...
I use it in my Win10XPE and on other Bootable Windows to enable swap file on Removable storage.

Wow. That page took a long time and several tries to load.
I didn't read the whole thread but what I did read was mostly way over my head so I don't think I want to take a chance with it. Thanks anyway.