Mount external USB3 disk after Safely Removing it?

Win 10 Pro 64bit. I have an external hard disk (WD MyBook) connected via USB3. After using it I use the "Safely Remove ..." thingo to remove/unmount it. Sometimes I want to mount it again but the only way I have found to do that is to power the drive down and up again. I'd like to mount it again without powering the disk down and up. This disk does not have a power switch so I have to pull the power adapter.

Seems like there should be an easier way to mount the disk. Suggestions?

-- Larry

I have a WD MyBook Essentials and it has a power button on the back right above the USB port. Its black and not marked, just a rectangle shaped button that blends into the case.

Jim

I've examined the disk closely and find no power button (or any other button or control).

There are a couple reasons I don't keep the external disk mounted:

1. Under Win 7, I could not start/restart the system if the disk was powered up so I got in the habit of unmounting it and powering it down. Lots of folks had that problem and it didn't get solved until I upgraded the OS to Win 10.

2. Articles on avoiding virus infections, and especially the stuff that encrypts your files and demands money, recommend keeping your backup disk unmounted when not doing backups. I don't schedule backups so I don't need the backup disk available all the time.

So, I think I will keep powering it down when not in use. And I will make sure my next external disk has a power button!

-- Larry

My MyBook is a few years old and it looks like they removed the power button on newer units.
Check your local Lowes for one of these:



Works great for Christmas trees also.

Jim

Kari said:

Only reasonable way to remount it is to unplug the USB cable from PC and plug it in again.

Personally I don't see a point in unmounting it. I keep my external disks always mounted.

Hi there

sometimes actually you want to connect the device to another machine or even a TV, otherwise I would agree with you. Locally attaching a device especially USB3 is invariably quicker than using any sort of LAN for sharing etc.

Sometimes too you might have a VM running on the Host and you want to specifically detach (disconnect) the USB drive from the HOST and connect it to the VM. It's safer to UNMOUNT from your Windows host before attaching the drive to the VM -- unmounting ensures that any data in the cache etc is written / read from the HDD before moving it.

Cheers
jimbo

Phone Man, I don't know if you were trying to be funny but I got a good chuckle about using a remote controlled switch! And then I remembered that I have X-10 modules with remote controls that could work just fine. Hmmmm....... I'll have to think about that.

jimbo45, I do keep the disk attached to this PC. I also have it set for Quick Removal and sometimes it still will not unmount (the System process and/or the File Explorer have files open on it). System Restore is not enabled for this drive. I just power it down anyway. This seems like a common problem for other folks too.

-- Larry

Larry, It was a legit post. Growing up our TV did not have a remote and when my Mom wanted a station change I would have to get up and go change it. I was her remote. So in my senior years I like everything I use a lot to have remotes.

Jim