External TrueCrypt Drive Freezes HotSwap and Prevents System Shutdown

I am experiencing some difficulties when trying to dismount two TrueCrypt-encrypted 1TB HDDs, which I use with Addonics Mobile Rack hot swap drive bays. I can access the encrypted drive perfectly. Both HotSwap and Zentimo are able to refresh. The drive is recognized by windows as unformatted. I rarely experience any problems mounting the drives with TrueCrypt. However, when dismount the drives in TrueCrypt and try to stop them with HotSwap or Zentimo, the programs become unresponsive and incapable of recognizing any new drives I insert into the Addonics bays. Also, once this unresponsiveness occurs, I can be sure the computer will hang up when I attempt a shut down. I have left it to shut down without intervening for 10-15 minutes on two or three occasions. I always end up using the power button on the computer case. I rarely have any other issues with shutting down my computer.

I rarely have any problems mounting unencrypted drives using the Addonics Mobile Rack, and I did not have any trouble with these same drives before encrypting them.

I have considered, as a temporary solution, simply formatting two 1TB drives normally and placing on each a TrueCrypt file which fills up the entire drive. I think this could be problematic, especially because I have several other drives ranging from 1 to 3TB, which I would also like to encrypt.

Can someone please help me with this issue, or even comment on the security risks or other issues I might encounter when creating 1 to 3TB TrueCrypt files in lieu of just encrypting the drive.

Thanks.

Here is a list of my relevant system components.
- Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (SP1)
- TrueCrypt 7.1a
- Zentimo xStorage 1.7.1.1224
- HotSwap 6.1.0.0
- Addonics Mobile Rack (Hot swap drive bay)