Windows 7 - Cannot eject hard drive.

Graemzy · 03-10-2011

When i try to saefly remove my external hard drive i get the "cannot stop right now because something is using it"

anybody know how i can find out what is using it and how i can sort it?

Thanks!

essenbe · 03-10-2011

You can try task manager to see if you can tell. It is a rather common problem. The easiest way is to shut down the computer, remove the HD and restart. Notice I said the easiest not the most desirable.

Graemzy · 03-11-2011

yea its a pain in the hole alright. thats what i have been doing.

would like to try find out how to eject it. thanks anyway.

anyone else got any ideas???

strollin · 03-11-2011

"Safe to remove" really means that all cached writes have been written to the disk. When I encounter the "cannot remove ..." situation, I ensure that no open applications are obviously using the disk and there is no disk activity, then simply disconnect. I have never lost any data on an external drive, memory card or thumb drive from doing this.

I have heard people say they never even bother to attempt the "safe eject" and just disconnect the device. I think that is going a bit too far and they may get burned by that procedure.

brianzion · 03-11-2011

log of the desktop unplug drive log back in.

Windows 7 - Cannot eject hard drive.

Cannot eject hard drive. problems?