In Windows 11, do you have to safely eject a mass storage device or can you just unplug it?

Is it true that in Windows 10 and Windows 11 you no longer have to click on the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the system tray to eject a USB connected mass storage device?

I'm running Windows 11 Pro and most of the time my new Samsung portable SSD takes forever to say that the drive can be successfully removed or it never does and I just have to wait until I shutdown and then remove it. Tonight I was trying to research why it's taking so long thinking that it must be something that's configured wrong in Windows 11 or the device as memory sticks indicate that they are safe to remove most all of the time. During my search for a solution I found an article that says that clicking on "Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media" has been outdated since Windows 10. The article goes on to say that by default, all USB mass storage devices are configured to be removed simply by unplugging them and that there is not need to eject them through the Safely Remove Hardware icon.

So before I go and start unplugging my USB SSD without first ejecting it I'd like someone to confirm it's OK simply to unplug it as I use this SSD to hold my Macrium Reflect system backups for disaster recovery

Moondoggy said:

Is it true that in Windows 10 and Windows 11 you no longer have to click on the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the system tray to eject a USB connected mass storage device?

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I've never heard of that, you should always eject it first to avoid data corruption. Yes, you can technically just remove it and in most circumstances, you'll probably be okay but why risk it?

The reason it is taking a considerable amount of time is either because an application or driver is still accessing the disk, or the ejection request is getting "stuck" somewhere and the PnP Manager isn't getting notified that the device is safe to remove.

Moondoggy said:

as I use this SSD to hold my Macrium Reflect system backups for disaster recovery

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For such an important device never just unplug it. Is it worth the risk?
I think the articles you have read only refer to USB flash drives and not USB connected SSDs. If you see the two photos here then you can see that the USB Disk 3.0 (a USB stick) does allow 'Quick Removal' but the option to 'Quick Remove' the 'Macrium' SSD is not there. I am guessing that this is because SSDs are larger and treated as needing more protection than a flash drive.

IMO, it's much better to use Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media.
Years ago, I forgot to use it and just unplugged a USB. Sh*t happened.

More info here,

Something not directly addressed here so far is that a portable SSD/ HDD is not a memory stick, such devices have much more advanced controllers and error detection/ correction functions than a simple USB flash drive, that typically uses much cheaper components.

The device might be prevented from removal due to an open file handle, anti virus and/ or indexing services beyond simply the disk cache not being flushed in a timely manner.
The situation can also occur when a manufacturer doesn't strictly follow Windows device notification protocols, this could be the disk device or the USB controller driver or some other 3rd party software, this causes Windows to not receive a reply to the "are you ready to eject" query.

For most of these situations there are workarounds, several utilities can show which files are open/ locked and by what, a device driver update (sometimes even a BIOS update) may help or an update to/ stop using the particular 3rd party software.

You can try a new user profile to see if the issue continues, prevent all non essential startup apps to see if one is causing the problem.
I have a Seagate 3TB external drive that exhibits this behaviour and have found that starting up HWInfo64 allows the disk to eject since the app flushes buffers on startup, ymmv.

@Fabler2 - Thanks for that link. Do you think, as I do, that the Quick Removal' policy only applies to thumb drives and not SSDs. Photos in my post #3 suggest that is the case.
@DigitalGoat - Our posts crossed.

wiganken said:

@Fabler2 - Thanks for that link. Do you think, as I do, that the Quick Removal' policy only applies to thumb drives and not SSDs. Photos in my post #3 suggest that is the case.
@DigitalGoat - Our posts crossed.

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Yes. Although you can change settings,

Thanks everyone for your feedback.

I was able to get on the phone with a Samsung T7 Specialist and after 45 minutes he said he was stumped. There's apparently nothing wrong with the drive and despite all attempts to find what was locking the drive preventing it's removal via the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the system tray, we could not identify anything. From all appearances, it looks like the system itself has it locked and I'm now thinking that the system may be viewing it as just another SCSI SSD like my internal SSD and once plugged in it thinks it should remain plugged in until a shutdown or restart.

The Samsung T7 Specialist did say that although they feel the drive should only be safely removed using the system tray icon or removed on a reboot, since it is a portable drive and the policy set is for quick access removal, I can safely remove it by unplugging as long as I'm 100% sure that it's not being accessed. Their suggested best practice, however is to leave it connected and remove it on a shutdown or restart.

The most common reason I recall for always using "Safely Remove" to remove an external hard drive was to avoid getting the drive flagged with the "Dirty Bit".
Short explanation: The Dirty Bit tells windows that the drive has corrupted blocks or sectors. This was much more common with spinners. I'm not sure if it still applies to SSDs.
Typically the Dirty Bit made Windows keep telling you the the drive was corrupted and needed to be checked (with ChkDsk). But your symptom of having to wait for Windows to "release" the external drive was common when there was a Dirty Bit also. So I am mentioning it here.

See Here:

Bottom line is that the default policy for external drives is set so that you do not need to eject the drive. The first time that you plug in a removable drive I would just suggest checking the policy to make sure that your particular system configuration is applying that default policy.

hsehestedt said:

Bottom line is that the default policy for external drives is set so that you do not need to eject the drive.

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I totally agree that is what is supposed to happen with no detrimental effects, and 99 times out of a 100 it 's safe to do it. But poop happens. I use a lot of different usb drives and external drives. I learned my lesson the hard way on 3 different occassions over the years when it didn't work as it should. Now, I play it safe rather than sorry. If Windows doesn't give me the all clear to remove it, I don't. With my luck I'll be the one that one in a hundred chance bites.

Moondoggy said:

Is it true that in Windows 10 and Windows 11 you no longer have to click on the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the system tray to eject a USB connected mass storage device?

I'm running Windows 11 Pro and most of the time my new Samsung portable SSD takes forever to say that the drive can be successfully removed or it never does and I just have to wait until I shutdown and then remove it. Tonight I was trying to research why it's taking so long thinking that it must be something that's configured wrong in Windows 11 or the device as memory sticks indicate that they are safe to remove most all of the time. During my search for a solution I found an article that says that clicking on "Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media" has been outdated since Windows 10. The article goes on to say that by default, all USB mass storage devices are configured to be removed simply by unplugging them and that there is not need to eject them through the Safely Remove Hardware icon.

So before I go and start unplugging my USB SSD without first ejecting it I'd like someone to confirm it's OK simply to unplug it as I use this SSD to hold my Macrium Reflect system backups for disaster recovery

Click to expand...

I also have a T7 but, as a external storage device and connected to the Thunderbolt 4 USB which is always connected. I have removed it
recently because of a re-install of Windows and had no problems with the Safely Remove tray icon. It was removed quite fast and did not
loose any files. The other program that should be closed if opened would be Task Manager as it has some links to the SSD.
I also have the Better Performance option enabled and had it that way since I installed it. I have not Formatted the drive hence, it is still
in format that it came with which is, exFat.
I don't know if TRIM could also have a say in this as it is a question I have not entertained as of yet. I have had this device for over a year now
and have not thought of it. I don't have the Samsung Magician software but, the T7 is supported through this app. Maybe install and see
what it can / could bring to your situation.


If you are still wary of using the Safely Remove from the task bar icon , you could also just put it to sleep and unplug it that way. I have done this with previous USB attached storage devices that were giving me problems.

Another possibility, and I've seen this happen with chkdsk being forced into read-only mode across a reboot, is that a driver is scanning the device and hasn't released the disk to be ejected. What AV software do you have installed?

x BlueRobot said:

What AV software do you have installed

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The OP has Norton installed which could very well be at the root of this problem.
Not saying it is but , a possibility.

Safe Eject was always due to writing speed to USB connected storage. When you activate it it's supposed to check if all content was written and verified and RAM buffer/cache is cleared. Only after that was finished it would disable redid and write to it and if device FW is able to even turn device off. Many USB storage devices have a light to indicate activity.

CountMike said:

Safe Eject was always due to writing speed to USB connected storage. When you activate it it's supposed to check if all content was written and verified and RAM buffer/cache is cleared. Only after that was finished it would disable redid and write to it and if device FW is able to even turn device off. Many USB storage devices have a light to indicate activity.

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I agree. The light once it is finished flashing and shuts off for about 2 seconds usually means that the drive can safely be
removed. There are some flash drives that don't have a light indicator so, you have to rely on the notification to let
you know that you cannot remove the drive. In this case, the T7 has a little blue light but, you have to be able to see
it as it is situated on the side or the end of the drive and not on the top side like my Seagate external.

The light on the T7 was one of the things the Samsung Tech had me check out. It was off which would mean that there's no activity but when I tried to execute the Safe Removal procedure the light would flash and then go out again. Something I notices last night is that whatever is causing it to be seen as in use does eventually end. I still had the drive plugged in and left to eat dinner and when I tried later on i came back and said it was safe. Not sure how long I was gone but something happened to free it up.

BTW I have Norton setup to ignore portable drives

Moondoggy said:

The light on the T7 was one of the things the Samsung Tech had me check out. It was off which would mean that there's no activity but when I tried to execute the Safe Removal procedure the light would flash and then go out again. Something I notices last night is that whatever is causing it to be seen as in use does eventually end. I still had the drive plugged in and left to eat dinner and when I tried later on i came back and said it was safe. Not sure how long I was gone but something happened to free it up.

BTW I have Norton setup to ignore portable drives

Click to expand...

OK so, when the drive is not active for a certain amount of time, and say, you click on a file in the drive, the drive's light will start to
flash. This only means that it is activating itself and preparing to answer your call to access a file. Same goes when you try to Safely
Remove when the drive has not been active for a while, it will start to flash and then stop. the light will become solid and then, will
continue to Safely Remove itself from File explorer. Only then, can you remove the drive from the USB connection.
You can verify this by Right clicking on the hidden task bar icon and see if the drive shows up in the list. IF it is available to be removed safely , the drive should not appear in the drop down list.

I have now installed Samsung's Magician and it indeed has allot of info and tests to make sure your drive is well and healthy. It can also
verify if there are any Firmware updates to be had. A good piece of software to have around.

Make sure Norton is not scanning your PC while attempting to remove the drive. It might be setup to ignore the external drives but,
there may be some hooks in the file system that are still available to the drive and would prevent the drive from being removed.

Thought I would update this posting as I learned something about safely removing USB connected SSD's that I was unaware of and perhaps others are unaware as well.

As noted in my previous post, I was frustrated over the fact that when I attempted to safely remove my Samsung T7, 2 TB USB SSD, Windows 11 refused to dismount the drive telling me that the drive was busy when in fact it was idle. At that time I found no solution so I just unplugged the drive after my PC shut down.

Yesterday, I received a Crucial SSD that I plan on using with my laptop and as an experiment I tried it on my Windows 11 PC and had no problem safely dismounting it so since both were SSD's I checked a bit further and noticed that the format of the Crucial SSD was EXFAT and I had reformatted the Samsung SSD as NTFS as I was always told that NTFS was a more reliable format for Windows. I took this experiment a bit further and copied my data from the Samsung to the Crucial SSD, reformatted the Samsung as EXFAT, copied the data back to the Samsung and was immediately able to safely dismount the drive.

Note that I tried another experiment with 2 identical 64 GB SanDisk thumb drives, one formatted EXFAT and the other as NTFS and Windows 11 saw both of them as removable devices that could safely be dismounted so apparently, there's something associated with the NTFS format and the size of the SSD that made Windows 11 see the Samsung as a permanent drive vs. portable drive and that's the reason it would not allow it to be safely dismounted. Once the drive was reformatted back to the default EXFAT format, whatever Windows 11 picked up on isn't there anymore and Windows 11 is now more than happy to safely dismount the drive upon request and the EXFAT format does not impact my ability to use it for Macrium Reflect backups. Since this behavior seems to be size dependent and only impacts NTFS formatted SSD's I wanted to let everyone that posted replies to my original posting what I learned and hope that it helps someone down the road.