Safely remove hardware failure.

I have an external disk drive that is giving me trouble ejecting from the system.



I ran an sfc /scannow command and it found corrupt files and could not repair them. I then proceeded to the DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth command and it completed successfully so I rebooted the computer.

I then ran the sfc /scannow command again and Windows Resource Protection did not find any Windows integrity violations or corruption.

So, I thought the problem was fixed and my external drive would eject with no problems from the computer. It is hooked up by way of USB cable.

Still the problem persists and I do not get the safe to remove hardware balloon pop up that I normally got before to let me know that it is safe to remove the hardware from the system.

All drivers are up to date on my system and yet I get this:



Wait a minute - device not removable? What the heck - plus it thinks it's a USB and not an external drive!

And this:



Anyone else having problems ejecting external drives after the latest Windows Update?

I swear after every Windows Update, I have to use the Restorehealth command just so Windows won't have any integrity violations by the sfc /scannow command.

This is getting old real quick.

I'm not complaining; however, when I was running Windows 7 for years and years, I didn't have to keep repairing the Windows image after every Windows Update.

Any ideas how to fix the hardware ejection problem?

Bree is correct.

I have had this problem with many external USB storage devices and it is not deliberately caused (that I know of) by W10.
Follow the instructions above and ensure that the driver is cleanly removed with a reboot before re-PNP-ing the device again.

Let us know how it goes.

Cheers!

P.S. Reseat your cable connections on both ends as well before plugging in again.

Thank you @Bree and @Compumind - I have tried all of the suggestions provided by both of you and no luck so far.

I will point out this; though I do not know if it has any significance and it was not doing this before.

Take note of the differences between the next two pictures as the icon moves when trying to eject hardware:






Also, there is a little white blip that occurs in the task bar position just before it tries to eject and then the ejection icon switches its position in the task bar.

It never did that before either.

Notifications are set to notify as well:

Three things, if I may...

1) Have you installed (just by chance) any device management software that came with it?
2) Have you tried this device on another W10 system with the same cable?
3) Have you called WDC's Technical Support?

Bree said:

No. That has no significance.

You can click-and-drag the icons in the notification area to rearrange them as you wish. Although they look the same, the icon to eject a drive and the icon for one that's been ejected but not yet unplugged are actually counted as two different icons. Each can be positioned independently, so it's quite easy to reproduce this effect by dragging one of them to a new position.

O.K. - then that is eliminated as well then too.

So, what next?

Compumind said:

Two things, if I may...

1) Have you installed (just by chance) any device management software that came with it?
2) Have you tried this device on another W10 system with the same cable?

No and no and I haven't contacted WDC's support yet.

However, I am going to go try it on another Windows 10 computer right now and report back.

Hmm...

Some questions:

Is this an HDD using a USB 3.0 or 3.1 Gen 2?

If so, is a installed program writing to and from the drive without your knowledge?
Have you ever used a small tool called Resmon?

The USB Root Hub for that device may have to be deleted in W10 and then the PC restarted.
After which, you can try the re-PNP-ing again.

Try the device on another W10 system before deleting the Root Hub (above) and contacting WDC's Technical Support.

[QUOTE=Compumind;1556954]Hmm...

Some questions:

Compumind said:

Is this an HDD using a USB 3.0 or 3.1 Gen 2?

USB 2.0

Compumind said:

If so, is a installed program writing to and from the drive without your knowledge?

No, I use it strictly for backups from Macrium Reflect.

Compumind said:

Have you ever used a small tool called Resmon?

No.

Compumind said:

Yes, try the device on another W10 system before contacting WDC's Technical Support.

FWIW.

I tried it on the other Windows 10 computer, and it is working properly.