After I connect a USB stick or an external drive to my XP it cannot be ejected using right click menu or stopped using the Safely Remove Hardware window either. I keep getting the message 'The device cannot be stopped right now......' Because of this problem I have 'Optimized for quick removal' (write caching disabled). That doesn't work either. No programs are open in the computer. To remove the drive I have to shut down the computer every time. Under these conditions is it possible to force the drive to stop in some way or is there another solution?
Unable to eject USB or External HDD
- Thread starter Janice
- Start date
f it has a light or an activity light/indactor and it is off they you can phisicly remove the drive if the light is blinking first check why there are files being read/written oh and close all portable applactons running on it. (credit PC world) use a 3rd party utility such as USB safely remove yes it has a 30 dollar price tag but when trial ends reinstall it. or just reboot. the
when I am transferring lots of files or a big file I get this, then I either shut down, or just forget it for a few hours and then it will be finished and it will allow ejection. also depends on the flash drive, I have a 100gb drive that does this all the time, but my 4 and 8 gb drives never do this. I also have my drives set up for using the safely remove hardware icon, but usually just use 360's usb window to release the usb.
I have done this too. That is what keeps telling me not to remove the drive.
I was wondering about something like Process Explorer. I believe old versions of this that are compatible with XP are available. Would this help to locate the program that is using the external drive and terminate it. I have never used this.
The latest version of it works on xp
Open task manager. If theres nothing you used to access usb, its prolly safe to just remove it. If you are concerned about data on the usb (whatever), shutdown the computer & remove it.
I have done this on occasion, I use 'shutdown computer', 'restart' & remove usb before re-boot starts. (black screen)
I have done this on occasion, I use 'shutdown computer', 'restart' & remove usb before re-boot starts. (black screen)
when I do remove it regardless of the error, I have plugged it back in to check the data and so far none has been lost, and I can remove it safely this time. 
I simply can't take the riskwhen I do remove it regardless of the error, I have plugged it back in to check the data and so far none has been lost, and I can remove it safely this time.
Task manager shows nothing that I can interpret as using the drive. Having to switch off computer every time is such a nuisance. I am in two minds whether to try Process explorer. I have seen it on other computers but never used it. Looks awfully complicated for the simple task of finding out what is using what I have used process exporer, it comes up with windows explorer as the user, but no activity is present, so it is a catch all, 50/50
Thank you. I am giving it a miss then. I guess there is no option but to suffer and carry onI have used process exporer, it comes up with windows explorer as the user, but no activity is present, so it is a catch all, 50/50