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[3 Cases Suits] How to Eject External Hard Drive in Windows 11 Safely?
How to eject external hard drive in Windows 11? This post shares 3 different situations with targeted solutions if you are unable to eject external hard drive in Windows 11. There is also a tip for recovering lost data from the corrupted drive.
By Irene / Updated on December 2, 2024
User case: I can't eject external hard drive in Windows 11!
Hi , I just bought a new computer and I found a weird error . It has windows 11 pro install and I have the latest version . On the usb port , it work perfectly but I don't have ANY option to eject the hard drive . The icon in the taskbar , the eject option in the window of the hard drive , right click on the name of the HDD , even in the creation of drive , there are not eject option !!!!! Also I have this error only with External Hard drive , when I plug an usb , I have an eject option when the usb open in a new window on the topbar. This error drive me crazy and I hope you will be able to help me.
- Question from Microsoft Community
Safely ejecting an external hard drive in Windows 11 is a good practice to prevent data loss risks caused by ongoing cache writing operations. Typically, you can right-click the icon and choose "Eject..."; however, accidents may happen: you probably can't eject external hard drive at times.
While the general process is right-clicking the icon and selecting "Eject...", unforeseen accidents can happen sometimes. For instance, you may encounter problems that you are unable to eject external hard drive in Windows 11, or there is no eject option for external hard drive. In this post, we will guide you on how to eject an external hard drive in Windows 11, easily addressing these situations, and also, you will learn to recover lost data from the corrupted drive with the help of AOMEI Partition Assistant.
AOMEI Partition AssistantThe Best Windows Disk Partition Manager and PC Optimizer
How to eject external hard drive in Windows 11
How to eject external hard drive in Windows 11? Different situations require targeted measures to address them. In this section, we will share the ways of safely removing hardware in Windows 11 for various situations, including normal cases, instances where being unable to eject external hard drive in Windows 11, and situations where there is no ejection option for the external hard drive.
Case 1. Normal Case
Step 1. To safely remove external devices from Windows, find the Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media icon on the taskbar or corner overflow, as indicated below. Clicking the icon will display a list of all removable devices connected to your Windows computer.
Step 2. Next, select the device name and click "Eject." The device name will be accompanied by the "Eject" option.
Step 3. Upon clicking "Eject" for the device name, Windows will provide a message confirming that the device is safe to remove hardware.
You can then safely disconnect the device from your computer without risking data loss or corruption.
Case 2. Being unable to eject external hard drive in Windows 11
If your external hard drive is not safely ejected, you might get an error message such as Failed to safely eject volume or Devices have been found. At this time, you can firstly try to restart your PC and check it again. If it doesn’t work, you can try to update driver to fix the issue.
Step 1. Click the "Start" button, choose "Device Manager," or use the Search Box to access it.
Step 2. Expand Disk Drives, right-click the driver, and select "Update driver software."
Step 3. Decide how to update the driver. The first option lets Windows find and update the driver online. If you have the latest driver downloaded, opt for the second choice.
Step 4. Then right-click the Start icon, then choose "File Explorer" from the list.
Step 5. Navigate to "This PC" using the left pane, find the desired drive under "Devices and drives," right-click on it, and select "Eject.”
Once you receive the “Safe To Remove Hardware” notification, it is time to safely eject the external hard drive on Windows 11.
Case 3. No eject option for external hard drive
Why can't I find the eject option for my external hard drive? The eject icon is usually in the notification area of the Windows taskbar. If you don’t see it, try this first: click the ^ Show hidden icons.
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If you can’t find the Safely Remove Hardware icon, you can right-click the taskbar and select Taskbar settings.
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Next you can click Select which icons appear on the taskbar under Notification Area.
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Then scroll down to find Windows Explorer: Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media option to turn it on.
Another reason of no eject option for external hard drive may be the corrupted devices. How to eject external hard drive if you find there is no eject option for external hard drive? Windows offers a free tool named Hardware and Devices troubleshooter to find and fix the problems. You can run it to have a try.
Step 1. Open Windows Settings by clicking Start > Settings. Then, select Update & Security.
Step 2. In the left pane, choose Troubleshoot, scroll down to find the Hardware and Devices category, and click on it. Click the "Run the troubleshooter" button, and Windows will automatically diagnose and resolve issues with connected devices and hardware.
Step 3. It is advisable to restart your device again. Then, you can check whether you can safely eject external hard drive in Windows 11 with the aforementioned methods like right-click icon or using File Explorer.
Tip: What to do if you suffer data loss when eject external hard drive in Windows 11?
On the one hand, Corrupted or missing drivers for the external drive could cause no ejection option for external hard drive. On the other hand, problems such as being unable to eject an external hard drive in Windows 11 and no eject option for external hard drive (or forcefully remove it in normal case) will interrupt ongoing read and write operations. This prevents the OS from completing tasks and updating the file system, potentially leading to problems like file corruption, data fragmentation, or incomplete transfers, causing data loss.
But no need to worry—AOMEI Partition Assistant's Recover Data feature can help you easily restore lost data from various scenarios, including disk corruption, formatting, unexpected loss, viruses, and system crashes. It has a high recovery rate for over 1000 data types on HDDs, SSDs, USB drives, SD cards, and other Windows storage devices.
AOMEI Partition AssistantThe Best Windows Disk Partition Manager and PC Optimizer
Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. In the Main Tab, please click "Recover"> "Recover Data".
Step 2. The Recover Windows Data tool will pop up. Please select the partition location to start data recovery and click "Start Scan".
Step 3. Once the scan is completed, all missing data will be displayed. Please select the data you would like to recover and then click "Recover".
Step 4. Please select a folder path on your PC to save the recovered data.
Step 5. The recovery progress will start and data will be saved to the path you select once the recovery process is successful.
Ending words
The shared 3 methods can effectively demonstrate how to eject an external hard drive in Windows 11. Using the tip, you can swiftly recover lost data with AOMEI Partition Assistant if you have forcefully removed the device or experienced data loss during problematic situations.
As a multifunctional tool, it is advisable to explore more functions to effectively manage your computer. If you find the external hard drive has broken and plan to upgrade to a new one, the Clone Disk feature allows you to quickly transfer all data.
If you are encountering storage issues like the C drive is full, you can try its App Mover, Allocate Free Space, Duplicate Files Finder, Merge Partitions, or Delete Large Files. For Windows users, the software provides the AOMEI Partition Assistant Server edition for a compatible environment.
