I thought you might be on to something there but at least in Windows 8.1, I have found where to eject the external hard disk. So it may be dependent upon the disk's drivers. Here is where I found the way to eject it. * look on the Windows task bar * there is an up arrow icon - Click that * Click on the USB device icon * A list of all devices which can be ejected is listed. Mine lists my Seagate external hard disk. * When I clicked it, it was ejected and I was told I could safely remove it. * When I plugged it in again, it was reconnected I'm pretty sure I could simply unplug it but since it is used for backups in the background, it probably isn't a good idea as I would never know when it was writing data. I know that it is listed in Windows 8.1's list of portable devices. BJ On 2/4/2014 8:50 AM, Arnie-Krause wrote: > Hi BJ, > When you plug an external hard disk into a USB port there is no way to > remove it safely unless you power down your system as far as I can find. In > that way it is not a removable drive while the system is running. >