Swapping external hard drives

Guthrie · #1 05-13-2007, 06:14 PM

If I want to swap a USB external hard drive, used for backup, with another identical drive, can I just unplug one and plug in the other, or do I have to shut down, swap drives, then reboot?

BluffTHIS! · #2 05-13-2007, 06:19 PM

Go to your sys tray area and there is usually an icon to click for safely powering down a USB device. Once you use that for the current drive, you can then just switch them, and plug 'n play should recognize the new one. That way you don't have to shut down and reboot.

epiphanot · #3 05-13-2007, 06:40 PM

The button looks like this:

BluffTHIS! · #4 05-13-2007, 07:58 PM

ep,

How long does it take you to mow that grass? Looks like a really big field.

Guthrie · #5 05-13-2007, 08:45 PM

Thanks. Cool, I never noticed that little thingie before.

CORed · #6 05-14-2007, 04:53 PM

[ QUOTE ]
If I want to swap a USB external hard drive, used for backup, with another identical drive, can I just unplug one and plug in the other, or do I have to shut down, swap drives, then reboot?

[/ QUOTE ]

If you go into Control panel->administrative tools->Computer Management->Disk management, right click on Disk<number> for the removable drive, click properties, and click th e"Policies" tab, and select "optimize for quick removal", you can safely unplug the disk without using the "safely remove hardware" tray icon. You only have to do this once for each external HD or USB stick. This will slow down your writes somewhat, and if you have just copied or saved file you should wait until the activity light on your disk or USB stick quits flashing before disconnecting.