Safely disconnect Unit

What OS?

If you’re using a Mac, just move the Nuvi icon to the trash. You might want to make sure any Nuvi programs you used, such as Road Trip, are closed. If you’re using a PC, sorry, can’t help you there.

Just unplug the USB cable, on any PC I have used there is no need to go through the disconnect procedure. When you unplug it will be an automatic disconnect.

Windows Vista 64bit

That's what I have been doing, just unplugging it.

Carol

did you check to make sure that you don't have Windows Explorer open and selected the Garmin Unit drive

All programs including explorer are closed. Absolutely nothing is open.

Carol

This sometimes happens to me with my 770, but usually I wait about a minute and try to disconnect again and then it doesn't give me a warning.

I've found that some removable drives do not allow safe removal (no matter what) if you powered the PC on with it connected.

I usually wait a minute too just to make sure nothing is accessing the Nuvi, however I never get the 'safe to remove' message.

I leave my computer on all the time, so it is already on when I connect my Nuvi.

Carol

I had this the other day - the only thing I had open was Firefox when I got the same thing. I then closed Firefox then was able to disconnect the unit. Go figure.

I use this free usb eject software to eject my usb devices and I think it works much better than from using Windows XP built-in usb eject

http://quick.mixnmojo.com/usb-disk-ejector

I don't know that I would follow this advice. I think you could lose data if a data transfer is actually occurring.

I usually am able to do the same thing as dw_gps. Another thing you could try is to put your PC in sleep mode. Once in sleep mode all data transfers should cease. If not sure how to put in sleep mode, can get same effect by turning computer off and then disconnecting.

Which program(s) do you use before attempting to Safely Remove?

I don't have any issues using Vista 64bit Home Premium SP1.

On rare occasions I've had the "try again in a minute" scenario described by jimmykre and dw_gps.

On my Vista 64 Home Premium, I have better luck with "Eject" (on the "Computer" window that shows all drives) than I do with "Safely Remove Hardware" from the task bar tray. I have to eject both the Nuvi SD card and the internal drive ... in my case they are listed as drives I: and J:

At times, I have found that with my Vista Home Premium 32-bit, I am more successful at disconnecting the nuvi when I don't have a SD card inside the nuvi.

I concur with CraigW that removing the SD card before connecting to the computer is advisable unless you actually need to copy information to and from the SD card. One thing I have found with Web Updater is that if you remove the SD, then boot up the Nuvi, and finally connect the USB, Web Updater will correctly detect the installed voice file versions and not prompt you to download voices you already have the latest versions for. This idea came from another thread by DorkusNimrod.

Was just thinking along those lines after reading some of the answers, that the SD card may be the culprit. Will have to try without the card in, or if I need the card in (for POI Loader, etc) I will try to eject that first.

Question! Are you saying when you connect your Nuvi you turn it on and boot it up before you connect it? I've always connected with it turned off.

Carol

I connected the Nuvi without the SD card and was able to 'safely disconnect'. Then I put the SD card back in and connected the Nuvi to the computer. Could not disconnect. Kept getting message that a program was using it although nothing was open. When I click the 'safely remove' icon on the task bar, both the Nuvi and SD card show up in one line so I could not single out the SD Card. So then I opened 'My Computer' and highlighted the SD card, right mouse clicked and clicked 'safely remove'. No dice. Got the 'being used' message. I removed the SD card and then was able to 'safely remove' the Nuvi.

Carol

I would be afraid to disconnect my Nuvi by above mentioned procedure especially after making changes. I have windows vista 32 and it allways detect my Nuvi765t as a USB drive, if there is memory card inserted it detects 2 drives.

Yes, I have found the most relikable approach is to remove the SD, boot the Nuvi and wait for it to come all the way up, then plug in the USB cable which will switch it from navigation mode to storage mode.

I have Windows Vista 64 as well as XP-SP3 on my systems. When I connect the 765T to the XP machine, I get two prompts to view the files, etc. One for the Nuvi, one for the SD card. When I do the same on the Vista 64 Home Premium machine, I get one of these prompts (for the SD card), and an error message asking me if I want to "scan & fix" the drive for errors (for the Nuvi itself). I always decline. The file manager then correctly shows the files for each device.

Has anyone else seen this behavior that seems to be a Vista (or Vista 64) issue?

I also get an error on the Vista machine when trying to 'safely remove' the drives... but I ignore it.

I used to get the scan/fix message all the time using Vista. I've had it for both the Nuvi's internal storage and the SD card (actually any SD, even the one's in a card reader).

I've found the only way to rid yourself of the message is to actually say yes to the message and let it scan. After that the message doesn't reappear.

I have the same os as you and I just unplug the usb from the Nuvi 1st then the usb from the computer. Never have any trouble and Vista does not give a messages.

There is no need to safely remove on Vista 64. All can just be unplugged.
I always get two prompts on my vista to view Nuvi and SD card when inserting them. No problem.

I started a topic on this issue several months ago. That discussion is here if you would like to peruse it: http://www.poi-factory.com/node/21242

This happens to me very rarely. I usually shut down and disconnect. The few times I've simply forgotten to do a safe disconnect, I have had no trouble other than the moment of panic when I realize what I just did.

While you'll probably be okay 90% of the time, I have seen flash disksbe corrupted by just pulling out the drive.

Here is a utility that can help "unlock" the drive and make it safe to eject:

http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/

Great tool! I just downloaded it, and it works perfectly. Thanks

****And for safety I will not change that setting.

What this means("Optimized for quick removal") is that write caching is disabled, both, on the disk ->(The Nuvi flash drive) and in Windows. -->And it is safe to remove the device without using the Safe Removal icon.

!!--> But, use common sense, Do not disconnect while you are actually writing to the Nuvi device!

This setting can be seen by plugging in your Nuvi and then look in the Windows device manager/Right click the "Garmin nuvi USB Device"/Properties/Policy Tab.

The default setting for the "Garmin Nuvi SD Card USB Device is the same ->("Optimized for quick removal")

Glad you like it. I've been using it a long time and it comes in very handy.

I can't safely disconnect my Nuvi 2350LMT from my Mac either. The unit has an 8 GB card in the microSD card slot so both the card and the Nuvi appear on my monitor as HD icons when the unit is connected via USB cable. Dragging those icons to the Trash results only in them both reappearing on the screen in less than 5 seconds. Disconnecting the unit before that time elapses results in a dialog appearing that says the disk(s) wasn't safely ejected.

Of course, I can shut down my Mac and then disconnect my Nuvi, but that shouldn't be necessary.