USB drives won't eject

whs said:

but if I'm not mistaken only Windows 7 Pro and above has this -- searching for "policies" on my Windows 7 x64 Home Premium machine returns no relevant results

You have to open Device Manager > Disk drives > disk in question - see picture:

After calling 'the techs' and searching high and low for a solution to this problem, this one finally worked. I hasten to add an interesting point, the problem only occurred in combination with my main back-up Intenso hard drive. Thank you so much for this from RLP!

whs said:

You could set them to "Quick Removal" (in Policies). Then you do not have to worry about that. But they will read/write a bit slower

After calling 'the techs' and searching high and low for a solution to this problem, this one finally worked. I hasten to add an interesting point, the problem only occurred in combination with my main back-up Intenso hard drive. Thank you so much for this from RLP!

This is a very annoying problem, and it happens on all Windows 7 computers that I use. It is obviously poor programming by Microsoft: But there is no need to reboot Windows 7 or search for the process still using it. Here is my workaround:

All my USB drives are either fully encrypted devices (Using Truecrypt) or just contain one or more TrueCrypt files (encrypted containers). In order to use the USB drive, I must first "mount" the device or file, and it then appears as a drive letter in Windows 7. So far so good.

I then proceed to use that encrypted drive, knowing that all the data is safely stored by TrueCrypt. When I'm done, I dismount the drive which closes any open links to that drive. TrueCrypt has no problem dismounting the drive when I am done using it. So far so good: I know I can now dismount it, but Windows 7 doesn't think so. Well, I know it's not in use, so I just unplug it: There is ZERO CHANCE of data corruption or loss, because the drive has been properly dismounted by TrueCrypt.

However, if I wish to mount the drive on a Linux system, Linux will not allow it, saying the drive was uncleanly dismounted - oh heck. So I come up with one more step:
After unplugging the drive, I plug it right back in: Windows will recognize it again. Then I unplug it immediately: Windows has no problem with that.

So there you have it: If you use TrueCrypt to secure your USB drive (which you should do anyway), you can just IGNORE the stupid message from Windows 7, unplug the drive, plug it in again and unplug it cleanly for Linux. Or, if you don't use Linux: Just unplug the drive after proper TrueCrypt dismount and say bye bye to sloppy Microsoft programming...

Old thread, but has been bumped recently, so I'll add my 2 cents:

With most any drive I hot swap, I have to open properties and uncheck the indexing option "Allow Files on this drive to..." (as seen in screenshot). After that, windows recognizes the drive and doesn't index it. Win 7 pro x64. Incidentally, Process Explorer shows the exact same handles as the OP posts (before I stop indexing).

Just as Cato suggested earlier in this thread and will likely be a solution for many Googling. Good call, Cato.

I thought I solved the problem with Task Manager, but it returned. Spent a hour with Seagate on phone and they said to try their HD scan tool: SeaTools. It passed the Seagate external drive, but it failed my hard drive, which according to Seagate means their external drive is not the problem but something on my PC. I followed up with Chkdsk, and Scannow, and both were clean. So who is at fault?
I will try the Acronis HD tool now to get further info on my HD.

sverne said:

I thought I solved the problem with Task Manager, but it returned. Spent a hour with Seagate on phone and they said to try their HD scan tool: SeaTools. It passed the Seagate external drive, but it failed my hard drive, which according to Seagate means their external drive is not the problem but something on my PC. I followed up with Chkdsk, and Scannow, and both were clean. So who is at fault?
I will try the Acronis HD tool now to get further info on my HD.

Is the HD that failed a Seagate? If so, and it's still in the warranty period, you should RMA it. If it's not a seagate drive (but in warranty), run the tests with the manufacturer's tools and then get an RMA from the HD manufacturer. After the new drive is in, try ejecting the external drive and see what happens, although it seems to me that your ext. ejection problems are unrelated to the internal drive.

You should be able to use a free clone utility from the drive manufacturer to clone the failing drive to the replacement.

I'm not sure if the drive failed, since 2 out of 3 test passed (not Seatools). The HD is out of warranty anyhow, and like you stated, it is doubtful it is causing the external drive problems.(I just ran the Seatools test on my internal since it was readily available). I followed up with a question on a different thread regarding the HD.

sherisdoppel said:

It suddenly started happening and I can assure you there is no other program using it.
I've used process explorer to see what's being handled and I always get this:

I:\$Extend\$RmMetadata\$TxfLog\$TxfLog.blf
I:\$Extend\$RmMetadata\$TxfLog\$TxfLogContainer00000000000000000001
I:\$Extend\$RmMetadata\$Txf
I:\$Extend\$RmMetadata\$TxfLog\$TxfLogContainer00000000000000000002

It happens to every single external HDD I connect to it.
I can't always safe eject them so most of the time I plug out my USB cable 'cause I need them in a different system.
Doing this sometimes mess up the HDD (happened to me before, twice) and I wish there is a solution for this.

I've had the exact same problem with a truecrypt-mounted drive, and I found a solution!

Launch an elevated command prompt and run "fsutil volume dismount [DRIVE]", where in your case drive would be I:

After I did that the handles to the TxfLog were closed and I could safely dismount the volume in truecrypt and then eject the device using "safely remove hardware".

Hope that helps :)