How to shut down an external drive in windows 7

lordgamer

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Feb 4, 2008
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If it's a USB drive and you are not seeing the "Safely Remove" option, by default Windows 7 sets the drive policy to Quick Removal... "Disables write caching...but you can disconnect the device safely without using the Safely Remove..."

So, in theory, you should be able to disconnect the drive without a problem.

The policy of the drive should be located Properties, then the Policy tab (which will also have a Better Performance option which will require Safely Remove).

That said, by right-clicking on the drive, you should have the option to "Eject," which is probably the safe bet.