Solved How do I eject an eSATA drive?

NickJP

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I have an external eSATA drive in a Nexstar case connected to one of the eSATA ports on the motherboard (Asus P9X79-LE). When I power the drive on, it is detected and the volume automounts, but when I have finished with it (I use it for backup) Windows appears to have no way to eject the volume before powering it off and removing it. The "Safely remove hardware" icon in the system tray doesn't list it as one of the devices that can be ejected, and when I right-click on the drive in Windows Explorer, there is no "Eject" option on the right-click menu as there is for a USB drive.

Is there a method to eject the volume - ie the equivalent of the Linux "umount /dev/partitionID" command, which I can use in Linux to unmount such a drive before removing it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS
    CPU
    Intel i7
    Motherboard
    P9X79-LE
    Memory
    32Gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVidia GTX 650 Ti Boost
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Microsoft
I use this Sync from sys internals to flush the buffer to disk and then just disconnect.

You could also eject it from disk management (type :winkey: R then diskmgmt.msc then right click on the disk and remove the drive letter) or from diskpart (type diskpart on command prompt, then list disk, ​select disk 1 (or whatever), remove all noerr (to unmount all partitions)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro Prieview x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    MacBook Pro Core2Duo
    CPU
    T7600
    Memory
    3
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon X1600
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Internal
    Screen Resolution
    1440 x 800
    Hard Drives
    40GB
    Keyboard
    Apple
    Mouse
    Apple
    Internet Speed
    Varies
    Browser
    Various
    Antivirus
    Defender
Thanks, I think I'll use the sync utility. The other two methods remove the drive letter, such that the next time the disk is connected, I have to use disk management to add the drive letter back before I can use it.

BTW, with the diskpart method, after selecting the disk you also have to select the partition (list partition, select partition n) before issuing the remove all noerr command.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS
    CPU
    Intel i7
    Motherboard
    P9X79-LE
    Memory
    32Gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVidia GTX 650 Ti Boost
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Microsoft
You are quite right (although you could script the dispart option if you wanted I suppose).

You have to run sync.exe as admin so I made a shortcut to run under the built in administrator account authority using this tutorial Elevated Program Shortcut - Create for Standard User - Windows 7 Help Forums and pinned the shortcut to the task-bar.

I have a SATA drive in my laptop docking station and this ensures everything is written before I disconnect it, it is very quick and easy - just one click - and drives are mounted again automatically when connected. Has worked fine for years.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro Prieview x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    MacBook Pro Core2Duo
    CPU
    T7600
    Memory
    3
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon X1600
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Internal
    Screen Resolution
    1440 x 800
    Hard Drives
    40GB
    Keyboard
    Apple
    Mouse
    Apple
    Internet Speed
    Varies
    Browser
    Various
    Antivirus
    Defender
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