External USB Hard Disk Drive Keep spinning even after safely remove!

I'm keep digging for a solution for last few days but could not get any solution so far. I use WD Elements 2TB external USB HDD in USB 3.0 port for maximum optimization but the problem is that even after I safely remove from my file manager or Unity Dash it keeps rotating which I can feel very clearly. I'm afraid of unplugging it while spinning and I don't want to take chance.

It can not be my HDD fault as it stops spinning as soon as I safely remove from Windows OS. Also I remember that it was not the same for Ubuntu which I used prior to 14.04 LTS.

Is there any way to fix this in Ubuntu 14.04 LTS? I prefer it as simple as safely remove option. I don't prefer running any command every-time I've to remove my HDD.


I'm using Seagate external HDD drive and I remove my HDD from Ubuntu in two steps:

  1. In file manager pressing the small eject icon.
  2. Then right clicking and safely remove the external HDD.

I have not checked for others as I've only Seagate HDD so not sure whether it will work on others but you can give it a try.


Don't worry. What 'Safe to remove' means that nothing needs to be or is being written to the drive. The drive itself needs to slow down from 5200rpm to zero, This process, obviously, needs to happen only after the drive itself finishes ITS read/write cycle.

In other words it is safe to immediately remove the external drive without creating problems, but being the self aware paranoid that I am, I wait the extra few seconds before removal. But again, it is not necessary to do so.