Originally posted March 16, 2010 by Cindy O'Neal
You could just disconnect your Kindle from the USB connected to your computer, but whenever your Kindle is connected to your computer the odds are it is (or has been) doing something other than simply recharging. You may have been transferring ebook files from your computer to your Kindle, or music or audiobook files, and you can't just look at your Kindle and see if it is finished doing whatever it needs to do.
To Safely Disconnect your Kindle from your computer, click the Start Button (lower left corner of your main screen), then click the word Computer or My Computer so it opens. You should see your Kindle listed like an extra drive or removable device. It will show as Kindle with a drive letter to the right of it in parentheses. With your mouse... Right click on the it so you see choices. Choose (with a single left click) the word Eject, or Safely Remove. The screen on your Kindle should change from USB Drive Mode to your Home screen, and you will see a little popup message on your main computer screen indicating it is save to disconnect the device. Since it is basically just hooked to the USB port for power or recharging at this point, you can leave it connected and just use it normally while it continues to charge, then disconnect it when the little indicator light turns green. If you decide to transfer files, you will need to disconnect it, then reconnect it to get it back into the transfer mode.
If you have a Mac, you still need to eject your Kindle before disconnecting it. When you hook your Kindle up via USB to your Mac, you will see a little icon representing your Kindle... makes it look like an extra drive. To eject your Kindle when you are finished transferring files or whatever, click and hold the Kindle icon on your desktop (main screen) and drag it to the trash bin. You will see your pointer and trash bin change and the word eject appear when you drop the Kindle icon onto the trash. You will then see the display on your Kindle change to the normal reading screen and you can disconnect it at that time.
