O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF

Mark Twain wrote:
1. Well, I don't want to have this Safely Remove
problem every time I use it. If we can get it to work
properly then I'll use it but if not why bother?

In passing I put in a Cruzer key in the same USB slot
I put the 2TB to test the Safely Remove icon:

http://i68.tinypic.com/25i4zr8.jpg

http://i65.tinypic.com/5mlqbl.jpg

2. I have checked out the hide icon button etc and
nothing worked previously. Ad I said we had to go
into Disk Management to change it previously but
for some reason the drive was grayed out this time.

http://i66.tinypic.com/2rghyk4.jpg

I did try Control hotplug.dll but the icon didn't appear
which is when I asked you for the USB Safely Remove
link so we could at least get the 2TB off the 8500
and then address the icon problem.

3. Backing up should be straight forward and you
make it sound simple but I struggle sometimes
with the terminology and concepts. I'm not a tech guy
but I'm trying to keep up and understand. That's why
I say I need you to walk me through the process but I
would like to have it set up the way you think is best.

4. Agreed but also with a case.

Thanks,
Robert

In the first two images, there is a USB icon partly
obscured by the dialog for removal. The icon is there.

In the third image, your Notification editing thing.
It didn't seem to make any difference here, as to how
that was set. Mine has always been within the hidden
icon triangle.

It's possible to set the drive for safe removal, by
changing the cache setting. You would look in Device Manager
at the external disk drive (likely a "generic" disk).

Now, one thread I could find, claims that selecting
"Quick removal" at the top, would cause Safely Remove
icon to not be present. I don't believe that for a
moment. I expect the drive to be set for "Better performance",
since it is a hard drive and not a USB key as in this
example. This dialog appears in Device Manager, when you
do "Properties" on the disk drive entries.

http://cnet4.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/20...val_policy.png

The alternative form of

control hotplug.dll

is

RunDll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll

You could do

Start : Run : cmd.exe

Then, select the top item, right-click it, and
select "Run As Administrator". Then,
in the black Command Prompt window, you
would type the RunDll32 command as shown.
(You can copy and paste, and in some Command
Prompt windows, right-clicking is paste. The
controls in Command Prompt have always been
screwed up.)

A dialog window should open with all the
ejectable devices shown. Of which, the AHCI C:
drive should not actually be able to be ejected.

Paul

Correct, I wanted you to see that after using
the Cruzer key that the Safely Remove icon
reappeared and functioned but this was not the
case with the 2TB.

That's why I want it functional if I'm going to
use the Star Tech case. This is what it should do
is isn't doing.

I think my question would be not which way to
get it working but what is causing it not to function?
Especially when everything else does as with the
1TB drive, and the Cruzer key and also that it did
function normally at first.

There has to be a reason why it doesn't function
normally now with the 2TB.

I tried both the 'RunDll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll'
and the 'control hotplug.dll' commands with the 2TB
drive and neither worked. That's why we went with
the USB Safely Remove utility program.

Robert

Mark Twain wrote:
Correct, I wanted you to see that after using
the Cruzer key that the Safely Remove icon
reappeared and functioned but this was not the
case with the 2TB.

That's why I want it functional if I'm going to
use the Star Tech case. This is what it should do
is isn't doing.

I think my question would be not which way to
get it working but what is causing it not to function?
Especially when everything else does as with the
1TB drive, and the Cruzer key and also that it did
function normally at first.

There has to be a reason why it doesn't function
normally now with the 2TB.

I tried both the 'RunDll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll'
and the 'control hotplug.dll' commands with the 2TB
drive and neither worked. That's why we went with
the USB Safely Remove utility program.

Robert

What the RunDLL32 command is supposed
to do, is bring up the Safely Remove windows dialog
on the screen, complete with a listing of hard
drives to choose from. This article shows a few
ways to apply it, like making a shortcut for the command.

https://askleo.com/safely_remove_har...re_without_it/

I tried another experiment with my cloned OS drive (similar
to your setup), and I just can't get mine to malfunction.
The Safely Remove is still there, the external USB drive
is still listed.

Paul

Well, it does function with everything else
but the 2TB drive although it did so at first.

Whatever it is, it seems that whenever I connect
the 2TB drive in the Star Tech case it somehow
makes the Safely Remove icon disappear.

Do you think the problem I recently had where I
had to restore the bookmarks would have anything
to do with it?

Since I have the third party utility we can do
tests if you like with the 2TB drive and/or the 1TB
drive to backup the 8200 and do all the things you
want to do.

Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to walk through
the same procedure on the 8200.

Thoughts/suggestions?
Robert

What do you think about wiping the
2TB drive clean and starting from
scratch?

or maybe we can scan it with the
Kaspersky CD with the drive connected
via USB?

Just a few thoughts,....

Robert

Mark Twain wrote:
Well, it does function with everything else
but the 2TB drive although it did so at first.

Whatever it is, it seems that whenever I connect
the 2TB drive in the Star Tech case it somehow
makes the Safely Remove icon disappear.

Do you think the problem I recently had where I
had to restore the bookmarks would have anything
to do with it?

Since I have the third party utility we can do
tests if you like with the 2TB drive and/or the 1TB
drive to backup the 8200 and do all the things you
want to do.

Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to walk through
the same procedure on the 8200.

Thoughts/suggestions?
Robert

I bet the 2TB drive will easily Safely Remove
under WinXP on the 8200. That would be a good
test case that the hardware is working.

And unlike Windows 7, WinXP should turn off the
drive light, when you Safely Remove using the
tray icon.

Sounds like a good test of "normalcy".

Paul

Mark Twain wrote:
What do you think about wiping the
2TB drive clean and starting from
scratch?

or maybe we can scan it with the
Kaspersky CD with the drive connected
via USB?

Just a few thoughts,....

Robert

It's possible the presence of the OS partition
is doing it.

But I tested that here. On purpose, I turned
on System Restore on both OSes on my test setup.
I have Win7 internal to the machine, and a clone
of Win7 in a USB enclosure. And even with
System Restore enabled on both systems (independently),
no interaction was detected, and Safely Remove
worked perfectly normally. I didn't need
USB Safely Remove (third party program) to
do it.

That required me to pull the drive from the
enclosure, put it inside the machine, turn on
System Restore in Win7, shut down, and put the drive
back in the USB enclosure. I can't just boot
Windows 7 from the USB enclosure, it's not
that easy. To do that test case, took a few steps.

The icon in the tray, is controlled by a registry
setting. But I don't see much point in checking that,
as sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't,
implying something is changing how that works.
Chances are, this is always present, since it
works sometimes. I can't imagine some third-party
software, dynamically changing this setting.

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Exp lorer\HotPlugNotification

Default REG_EXPAND_SZ
%windir%\system32\hotplug.dll,HotPlugSafeRemovalDr iveNotification

HTH,
Paul

I did as you suggested:

http://i64.tinypic.com/51x7jm.jpg

http://i65.tinypic.com/k4gxop.jpg

http://i67.tinypic.com/35mljjs.jpg

The SkyTech has a on/off switch so the drive
light did not go off until I powered if off.

Robert

From the sound of it your saying we
can proceed with what we have. Since
I have third party Safely Remove we
can go ahead.

Just tell me now what you want me to
set the 8500 backup configuration like
you want me to have it or rather how
you would have it.

I think it would be a good idea to do
the same for the 8200.

Robert

Mark Twain wrote:
I did as you suggested:

http://i64.tinypic.com/51x7jm.jpg

http://i65.tinypic.com/k4gxop.jpg

http://i67.tinypic.com/35mljjs.jpg

The SkyTech has a on/off switch so the drive
light did not go off until I powered if off.

Robert


So the 8200 and WinXP are working fine using the
default control in the tray.

I'm wondering if the USB Safely Remove program,
actually interferes with the tray icon, on
the 8500 and Windows 7 ?

Paul

Yes, the Safely Remove function performed
normally on the 8200(XP)with the (2TB)drive.

In summary;

It worked normally at first on the 8500 with no
issues, then I had the bootmarks problem which
although unrelated I thought may of had an impact
because even though I could copy/past files to it
and open and read them the drive itself was grayed
out and we could not write to it or get the Safely
Remove icon to appear. Further, because the drive
itself was grayed out we could not change the drive
settings. It's as if it had a 'read-only' setting.

However, the Seagate (1TB) drive worked fine with no
issues and the Patriot Key also had no issues.

Robert




The Seagte

I'm wondering if the USB Safely Remove program,
actually interferes with the tray icon, on
the 8500 and Windows 7 ?

Paul


If true, can we create a Safely Remove desktop icon
and then remove it from the tray ?

Robert

However, the Seagate (1TB) drive worked fine with no
issues and the Patriot Key also had no issues.

Robert



This was when I put the original drive (Seagate 1TB)in
the Skytech case to test it.

Mark Twain wrote:
From the sound of it your saying we
can proceed with what we have. Since
I have third party Safely Remove we
can go ahead.

Just tell me now what you want me to
set the 8500 backup configuration like
you want me to have it or rather how
you would have it.

I think it would be a good idea to do
the same for the 8200.

Robert

You're using a trial of the commercial
USB Safely Remove. Eventually it will
expire, unless you pay for it. Probably
a 30 day trial.

*******

Backup process...

I had to go through the cache on a browser, to
dig up your partition setup again. From 68927d01.jpg

+--------+---------------------+----------------------------+----------------------------+
X | Disk 1 | Dell Utility 39.2MB | RECOVERY (active) 13.22GB | C: Windows 7 x64 129.08GB |
+--------+---------------------+----------------------------+----------------------------+
X X X

RECOVERY contains a copy of the OS for restoration.
It also has /boot files.

All four tick boxes should be ticked, for the 1TB drive.
That backs up the MBR (left-most tick box), plus the three
partitions. The reason I want all partitions backed up, is to make
sure a restore of this file, results in a boot-able OS.

*******

The destination looks like this. This is the external 2TB WD Black in USB enclosure.
The E: partition has all of your spare space. And has room for eleven backups
of the 1TB drive.

+--------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+-------------------------+
| Disk 2 | Dell Utility | RECOVERY K: | C: Windows 7 x64 | E: NTFS logical 1.68TB |
+--------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+-------------------------+
[destination of backup]

You should create a folder on E: for the backups.

But there are actually some tradeoffs with respect
to the "automatic space management" with regard
to E: when Macrium makes .mrimg files.

*******

For instructions, I started with these resources.

http://knowledgebase.macrium.com/dis...r +partitions

http://updates.macrium.com/reflect/v...user_guide.pdf

The worrying part of Macrium Reflect Free 6, is the space management
function. I wanted to spend some extra time, checking it out.
And the behavior is downright strange.

So what did I learn ?

1) If you backup just the 8500 with the 2TB drive, the space
management works perfectly. The oldest backup would be
removed, to make room for a newer backup.

2) If two computers, their .mrimg files are stored on the
same 2TB hard drive, the space management has to "compete"
for space. For example, if I did six 8200 backups in a
row, it might delete all the 8500 backups to make room.
(That's if they happened to be the oldest backups.)

The controls can also be set, so that does not happen.
However, if you set it that way, it could get half-way
through an 8200 backup, and just fail with "out of space".
Which means you effectively don't have "automatic space
management". If a backup is going to fail on you, that's
hardly good automation.

So the following instructions are set up for (2). Which means
there is a possibility it will complain about having no space,
instead of doing automatic space management. I made this choice,
so you couldn't possibility remove all the backups for one
computer, by running many many backups of the other computer.

*******

Create two folders on the E: partition (the 1.68TB partition or so).

E:\8200_Backup
E:\8500_Backup

When running Macrium on the 8500,
you will be setting the destination folder to E:\8500_Backup

When running Macrium on the 8200,
you will be setting the destination folder to E:\8200_Backup

That keeps the backups separate. This diagram shows a few
backups in each folder. When the backup runs out of space,
and a backup is available to be deleted, it will remove
the oldest backup. But it only removes backups from the
set within its own folder.

E:\8500_Backup E:\8200_Backup

Wednesday Sunday
Thursday Monday
Friday
Saturday

If you've never run an 8200 backup yet, and the disk is
already out of space, the backup will fail. That's because
the 8200 backup isn't allowed to delete the 8500 backup,
when they're partitioned this way. This is the best
setup I can come up with. If a backup fails due to no
space, delete the oldest file from the other folder,
then try again. This amounts to the user computing the
space required and doing the space management themselves.

E:\8500_Backup E:\8200_Backup

Wednesday fail - delete "Wednesday" and rerun
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday

*******

Here is a set of five photos, for setting this up.

http://i63.tinypic.com/ibdvs4.jpg

http://i68.tinypic.com/15yudsh.jpg

http://i63.tinypic.com/1218qhw.jpg

http://i68.tinypic.com/makvww.jpg

http://i63.tinypic.com/9te5qu.jpg

HTH,
Paul

Don't you remember that I wanted
the 2TB expressly for the 8500 and I
already have a 1TB Seagate for the
8200:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822178107

mine is blue.

I followed your instructions but I did something wrong:

http://i65.tinypic.com/20j4ej5.jpg


it only gave options for the E and I folder and I
tried it with each with the same result.

Robert