Problem Ejecting USB Drive

[ffreedom01]

I backup to a couple of external USB drives and when finished I always click on the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the system tray. I almost always get a message that says "Windows cannot stop your 'Generic volume' device because a program is still using it. Close any programs that might be using the device and try again later." I can't find any processes that might be still using the drives and I have tried disabling Vista's indexing and shutting down my AV and I still wind up having to shut down my laptop to disconnect the drives. Is there a solution to this?

[Peter2150]

{QUOTE-> I backup to a couple of external USB drives and when finished I always click on the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the system tray. I almost always get a message that says "Windows cannot stop your 'Generic volume' device because a program is still using it. Close any programs that might be using the device and try again later." I can't find any processes that might be still using the drives and I have tried disabling Vista's indexing and shutting down my AV and I still wind up having to shut down my laptop to disconnect the drives. Is there a solution to this? <-QUOTE}

Sometimes the solution is just wait a few minutes. Some process might be in a time_wait or close_wait state, and it just needs to close.

[HURST]

The few times this has happened to me, and the solution wasn't wait some minutes, as Pete said, I just leave it pluged until I turn the computer off.

[ffreedom01]

I have let it sit sometimes for several hours and I still get the same message. I used to have this problem once in a while with XP but it is most of the time with VISTA.

[Long View]

{QUOTE-> I backup to a couple of external USB drives and when finished I always click on the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the system tray. I almost always get a message that says "Windows cannot stop your 'Generic volume' device because a program is still using it. Close any programs that might be using the device and try again later." I can't find any processes that might be still using the drives and I have tried disabling Vista's indexing and shutting down my AV and I still wind up having to shut down my laptop to disconnect the drives. Is there a solution to this? <-QUOTE}

I find that this happens with some drives but not others. Provided that you are no longer writing to the disk - is there any problem these days with just unplugging ? no harm can be done to the drive.

[Franklin]

Wonder if it could be ReadyBoost that is using or trying to use the device?

Right click the USB drive and bring up Properties - ReadyBoost tab and check that "Do not use this device" is ticked.
ReadyBoost (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/features/details/readyboost.mspx)

[newbino]

In cases like this I have obtained good results using Unlocker (http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/) on the USB drive, and I have found the open program that was creating the problem

[ThunderZ]

You could also try changing the way it is written to under the Policies tab. If it is not already, then set it to "Optimize for quick removal". This is on an XP machine, may be different on Vista.

[Osaban]

{QUOTE-> You could also try changing the way it is written to under the Policies tab. If it is not already, then set it to "Optimize for quick removal". This is on an XP machine, may be different on Vista. <-QUOTE}

It's the same with Vista. I've also got the same occurrence with my USB drives, they are both set to "Optimize for quick removal", and I usually try to disconnect them through the system tray. If that fails through Windows, and I'm in a hurry, I just pull the plug, otherwise I prefer to power off the computer. Either way, no change or malfunction I could detect with the drives(I've done it very often).

[ThunderZ]

{QUOTE-> It's the same with Vista. I've also got the same occurrence with my USB drives, they are both set to "Optimize for quick removal", and I usually try to disconnect them through the system tray. If that fails through Windows, and I'm in a hurry, I just pull the plug, otherwise I prefer to power off the computer. Either way, no change or malfunction I could detect with the drives(I've done it very often). <-QUOTE}


Have not had this problem in quit some time. Usually the app. writing to the device or explorer had it locked. I would bring up Task manager. If the app. doing the writing was still showing but I had closed it then I would "end task". Otherwise I would do the same with explorer. Of course killing explorer in this fashion will close just about everything so be aware. Also, some security apps. will block this approach. Then restart explorer using Task manager. The USB device should be able to be removed.

[ffreedom01]

{QUOTE-> I find that this happens with some drives but not others. Provided that you are no longer writing to the disk - is there any problem these days with just unplugging ? no harm can be done to the drive. <-QUOTE}

It seems like this should be OK but since these USB drives contain my backups I didn't want to take any chances without knowing for sure.

{QUOTE-> Wonder if it could be ReadyBoost that is using or trying to use the device? <-QUOTE}

ReadyBoost is not enabled for these drives.

{QUOTE-> You could also try changing the way it is written to under the Policies tab. If it is not already, then set it to "Optimize for quick removal". This is on an XP machine, may be different on Vista. <-QUOTE}

It is the same on Vista...they are set up this way.

[ffreedom01]

{QUOTE-> In cases like this I have obtained good results using Unlocker (http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/) on the USB drive, and I have found the open program that was creating the problem <-QUOTE}

I'll give Unlocker a try and see what if I can find what is causing the problem.

[Hairy Coo]

The only solution obviously is to identify the process causing the problem.
Start in safe mode ,see if there is a problem.
If not -note the processes running and those, when there is.
By elimination its one of those.

Download ProcessExplorer here (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx). and see if the CPU activity or an obvious handle will tell you

Kill and note the doubtful processes until you can safely remove.