To enable Better performance for a USB drive, change its removal policy in Disk Management: open the drive’s Properties, select Policies, choose Better performance, and enable write caching if that option appears. With this policy, always use Safely Remove Hardware and wait for Windows to say the drive is safe before unplugging it.
What the Better performance setting does
Windows’ removal policy controls how it handles writes to an external storage device. With Better performance, Windows can cache write operations, which is intended to improve storage performance. Microsoft does not give a quantified speed increase, so the setting does not guarantee a particular transfer-rate improvement.
Microsoft says Quick removal has been the default since Windows 10 version 1809. Under that policy, Windows does not cache disk write operations for the device; Microsoft notes that this can degrade system performance, but it lets you remove the device without using Safely Remove Hardware.
| Policy | Windows behavior | Before unplugging | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quick removal | Does not cache disk write operations for the device under this policy. | Microsoft says Safely Remove Hardware is not required. | Keeps the device ready to remove; Microsoft says this can degrade system performance. |
| Better performance | Can cache write operations to the external device. | Use Safely Remove Hardware and wait for confirmation. | Intended to improve performance; Microsoft does not quantify the gain. |
Source for the policies, defaults, and removal guidance: Microsoft Learn: Change the default removal policy for external storage media.
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How to enable Better performance
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Connect the USB drive. In File Explorer, note its drive letter or label so you can identify it in Disk Management.
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Right-click Start and select Disk Management.
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In Disk Management’s lower pane, right-click the drive’s device label and select Properties. Confirm you have selected the USB device, not another disk or volume.
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Select the Policies tab, then choose Better performance. If the option is available, Microsoft recommends also selecting Enable write caching on the device.
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Select OK to apply the change.
If the Policies tab is missing
Windows versions and devices can present the tabs differently. Microsoft’s alternative is to open the drive’s Hardware tab, select the removable drive from the device list, and open that device’s Properties. Look for the policies there.
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Safely remove the drive after changing the policy
With Better performance enabled, do not unplug the drive as soon as a copy operation appears to finish. Use Windows’ Safely Remove Hardware control and wait for Windows to confirm that the device is safe to remove. Cached writes may still need to finish; disconnecting without following the safe-removal instructions risks data loss.
Microsoft’s guidance is explicit: “If you use the Better performance policy, you must use the Safely Remove Hardware process to remove the device.” Microsoft Learn.
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When to keep Quick removal
Choose Quick removal if you value being able to disconnect the drive without the Safely Remove Hardware process more than the potential performance benefit of write caching. Choose Better performance only if you are prepared to safely remove the drive every time. You do not need to buy a different USB drive to change this Windows policy.
Microsoft’s older Windows 7-era performance guidance also discusses write caching, but the current removal-policy instructions for Windows 10 and 11 are on Microsoft Learn.
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