Removable USB Devices

Yet another fun little Vista issue. I haven't posted one of these in a while.

I've got a 128mb SD memory card and I wanted to transfer some stuff to it, so I plug it into the computer.  The computer doesn't recognize it for some reason - the drive letter is there, but it doesn't show any device being there.  "Hmm", I think, "Maybe I didn't safely remove the device last time".  So I right-click the drive and choose to safely remove it.

The SD card reader I have is mounted in a drive bay, and came with the computer.  It has a number of readers - four of them - and Windows unmounted all of them.  "Hmm".

I put the SD card back in the reader, expecting the drive to re-appear, but no drive.  "Hmm".

Open up Device Manager, and I see a little yellow triangle next to the reader.  image

Open Properties, and here's what it says:

Windows cannot use this hardware device because it has been prepared for "safe removal", but it has not been removed from the computer. (Code 47)

I guess what it wants me to do is open up the computer and disconnect the reader from the motherboard.  Thanks, but I'd rather not.  A reboot would fix it, but being a bit stubborn I tell Windows to disable the device and then re-enable it.  But Windows is on to this trick, and tells me I must reboot.

So a quick attempt to copy some files onto an SD card turns into a half hour distraction involving drivers and rebooting.  If only there was an OS where this stuff just worked.