Windows 7 does not recognize removable dvd drive

[rmilling]

I have a Thinkpad W500 laptop with a CD/DVD-R/RW multi drive in the UltraSlim-Bay. Windows 7 Pro 64-bit does not recognize it as a removable drive and does not provide a means to "safely remove" it.

Previously, Vista Business SP1 64-bit ran on the same hardware and handled the same optical drive correctly.

There was driver for "ez-eject" that was available from IBM/Lenovo for previous Microsoft OS. Is that what made the optical drive removable? If so, is there anything like that available for Windows 7 to correctly handle this drive as removable?

bmilling@earthlink.net

 

[TheViper]

Go to the Device Manager > Disk Drives > Right click on the drive you want to unplug > Policies Tab

Make sure Optimize for quick removal is checked.

If it is already, you may unplug the drive without worry. If it is not (Optimize for performance is checked instead), check it now. Watch for any activity lights on the drive. If the drive shows no more activity for a minute, you can then unplug it.