[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Simple Solutions for USB Storage Problems here

[jhrost]

"How Do I Remove a USB Drive If Windows Says It Isn't Safe ... ?"

"One reason for NTFS's faster speed is that it caches writes. ... Unplugging a flash drive before you get the "safe to remove" message is more likely to cause a problem if that drive is formatted in NTFS."

I'm addressing the above 2 points. In Vista, you can avoid having to deal with this problem in the 1st place by simply "Optimizing (usb drives) for Quick Removal".

In Windows Explorer, rt click on any drive; select Properties; select Hardware; hilight the Drive in question from amongst the drives listed; select Properties; select Policies; select "Optimize for Quick Removal"; click ok.

The safe removal icon will continue to appear on the system tray in the lower rt hand corner of your screen, but henceforth pulling out a usb drive will no longer elicit the warning message that ordinarily would ensue. Note that this disables "write-caching" on NTFS drives, but I haven't noticed any performance issues.

[JonathansToolBarAndGrill]

I have been enjoying USB Safely Remove in the last couple of weeks, since the publisher offered one-year licenses for free (unfortunately, I think that offer has expired).

However, the freeware Unlocker (http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker) also does a great job of identifying clingy processes and stopping them to release a USB drive.

I hope this is helpful.

[bobengel]

Just wondering if I should reformat the USB flash drive that's used for Vists's "Ready Boost" from FAT to NTFS to increase the drive's speed as discussed in a previous article?

[Verbaetim]

I read the Article on why windows can not see my USB
drive, and a point you failed to mention could be as
simple as looking under Disk Management, and see what
drive letter your USB device is trying to use. I use a
laptop for work so I have corporate drives, that still
take up a drive letter.

Sometimes the USB Stick will launch as a Drive letter
that is already taken.

All you have to do is go to Right Click on My computer
go to Manage and then Disk Management.

You will see the Device there and can change the drive
letter.

[yodawgor]

what if after reinstalling windows xp, the device manager doesnt even see the usb ports? this is a very frustrating problem im going through right now, and so far havent found a solution that works.

[yodawgor]

are you using xp or vista, when i go into my computer i do not have a manage button to click, is it located somewhere else in xp?

[mphenterprises]

Hi Yodawger and welcome to the PCWorld Communities. :D




Since this Discussion is related to the article, please open another Discussion and detail your situation so that our regular members can help you with your problem.

[AngusThompson3ijn]

Why cant I view documents on my USB that I saved. Had to take my pc back to factory default and now it wont let me veiw what is on my USB drive. Please help.

[AgentF]

AngusThompson3ijn, on 14 April 2011 - 04:31 AM, said:

Why cant I view documents on my USB that I saved. Had to take my pc back to factory default and now it wont let me veiw what is on my USB drive. Please help.

Hi AngusThompson3ijn. Welcome to the community! You should create a new discussion thread in the Hard Drives, NAS Drives, Storage board so people can best address your query. I hope to hear from you soon.

This post has been edited by AgentF: 15 April 2011 - 06:52 PM

[ShandriaVaughn]

I tried all of the above and my laptop, a samsung R540, and it says it was unsuccessfully installed. I looked at the details and it says driver not found. No matter what port I plug it into the results are the same. I tried hooking my phone up to a desktop and it works fine. I tried another laptop, an hp that works on windows 7, and at first it wouldn't recognize my phone either. Then I use a SD card adapter and afterwards I tried again and suddenly it worked just fine and I was able to use USB Storage. For anyone with the same issue I had what you want to do is to, after clicking details when it says installation was unsuccessful, it should say something about an update under the details tab. click that and when it gives you your update options, click no, let me choose then click the option right beneath that that says something along the lines of look for best update and then click update (or ok). After doing this my phone synced up with my computer and I was able to use USB storage Hope this is helpful to people

[filtaliano]

i just bought a new computer, and i pluged in my usb cable its worked well, later today i tried it, it cant read on any of my computers , i need some help. i stored all my data in the stick