Friends got an extra HD and it's being detected as a removable device.
He never unplugs it or anything but the icon to remove the hardware mysteriously appears and disappears.
Is there any way to just HIDE it?

The only way I found is http://www.safelyremove.com/

Right click on task bar in the bottom right corner of box click cutomise select the icon you wish and change status to hide all the time. Job done

Thanks TM but that costs..
Mike, he tried that but it keeps re-appearing anyways.
Any suggestions?
thanks for replies

This is what worked for me. If you have any USB items connected the that icon will be there but you can hide it.

http://www.help2go.com/Tutorials/Windows/R...ystem_Tray.html

i was under the impression it was important to click on the icon and stop the drive before turning it off or unplugging it. am i wrong?

I never have.

It depends on your Policies setting.
Click to view attachment

Supposedly by clicking to stop the device that enables it to be safely removed, e.g.; files won't still be writing to the device, etc. Well at least this is the info I gained from a thread on these very forums sometime ago (don't remember where that threads at though) which happened to be very useful when I finally got a free 128mb USB key with a 100 pack bundle of Staples CD-R's during Christmas - sure as hell beats floppies.

Where's that located in the device manager settings for a plugged in device?

It'll show up as a Disk drive. Right click > Properties > Policies
Click to view attachment

Ahh, gotcha. I'll try that on my USB key and config it so I don't have to deal with stopping it and since I'm not the only user of my comp that should benefit everyone.

I want to completely remove the icon.
It's an external HD that is never removed so it wouldnt need to be "safely removed".

Is there any harm in turning off or unplugging a device without stopping it using that icon? I often turn off my digital camera without stopping it first and get an error message saying damage can be done by doing that. Is there really any potential for harm?

There are some softwares that claim to be able to do delete the icon but I don't think it's advisable. The Safely Remove icon is for all USB devices. The HD may never be removed but are you sure you'll never connect a flash memory drive, digital camera, MP3 player, etc.?

It definitely used to be a problem but with modern devices the biggest risk is probably just data corruption. However, you'll find differing opinions. Google "USB surprise removal".

EDIT: Almost forgot ... with Windows versions earlier than XP, a surprise removal can crash the PC, losing other data that was unsaved.

good to know. thanks Glenn.