Cannot Safely Remove External Drives

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  1. Posts : 6
    10
       #1

    Cannot Safely Remove External Drives


    Hello all,
    In recent weeks, it has become impossible for me to safely remove my external drives. (Mostly, I use Western Digital Passports, Passport Ultras, etc).

    I am using Windows 10.

    I close all of my programs and folders. I get the "busy" message and to try again later. I run Unlocker on the drives, and Unlocker shows no activity or actions that I can take. I bring up my task manager and nothing is running. I try to safely eject from the WD utility and it doesn't work. I try to eject by going to my computer, right clicking on the drive, and ejecting from there. Sometimes I simply wait for half an hour, read some articles, try again. I get the same "busy" or can't shut down message.

    I read online that I could try to Device Manager, click on the drive, and under policies select "Optimize for Performance." However, the computer must restart for changes to take place, and when i've tried, I get stuck on an infinite "Restarting" screen.

    I read somewhere that I can try to empty a hidden recycle bin on my external, but I can't seem to reveal it?

    I tried posting in the WD community forum and did not receive helpful tips there.

    Nothing I do lets me eject these drives. I have to shut down my entire computer every time I want to remove a drive. Any help would be greatly appreciated.






      My Computer


  2. Posts : 1,191
    Windows 11 Pro x64
       #2

    Same here
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 6
    10
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Still having problems - now, my computer won't even shut down properly - if I have an external drive plugged in (and nothing I do lets me safely remove it), if I shut down, my computer gets stuck indefinitely on a 'shutting down' screen.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 20
    Windows 10 Pro without Media Center
       #4

    caphe said:
    I bring up my task manager
    FWIW, I have to close Task Manager before Windows 8.1 will allow safely eject, so if you've left it running in the notification area to monitor CPU usage, try closing it.

    In Windows 7, Distributed Link Tracking Client could also prevent safely eject. See message from zbeagle in this thread for more on that:

    Can't eject USB Hard drive, drive always in use?
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 1,871
    W10 pro x64 20H2 Build 19042.610
       #5

    Having this issue too. Clean 32 bit install of latest build and 'safely remove' option always reports the drive is use when it is not.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Cannot Safely Remove External Drives-usb-eject.png  
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 1,191
    Windows 11 Pro x64
       #6

    Hope they fix this. Did a clean install for first time., same problem. Show stopper for me. Glad I will be able to upgrade the TP to the final, so I can still dual boot.
      My Computers


  7. Posts : 3,257
    Windows 10 Pro
       #7

    Some people have had success by disabling the Distribute Link Tracking service.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 173
    Windows 10 Pro
       #8

    Happens in Windows 7 much more frequently then it does in Windows 8.1 but it still happens occasionally in Windows 8.1 for me.

    I haven't tried Windows 10 yet but seeing that the new OS has a new kernel it should be a lot better than Windows 8.1 with regards to removing external storage.

    A permanent solution to the problem is to get USB Safely Remove software: Safely Remove Hardware better alternative | USB Safely Remove however the software is not free, that's the downside.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 23,195
    Windows 10
       #9

    Have you checked the indexing options in control panel

    If its the same as 8.1 it could be always checking the drive for changes to update the search index
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 11,247
    Windows / Linux : Arch Linux
       #10

    Hi there

    same problem also in build 10147 -- however if the device is Quiesced (I.e no lights flashing) you CAN remove them.

    I've only once experienced anything unusual when I connected one of these drives to my Linux system --got a message "File system wasn't cleanly closed by Windows ---Fixing".

    No data loss occurred.

    However if you are totally paranoid you'll just have to shut down windows to remove the devices.

    I haven't been able to find which Windows process(ses) is/are using the HDD's though -- perhaps once connected they are always being checked for "sync" to some wretched cloud service.

    If someone more experienced in Windows internals than me (I don't know much about Windows internals at all BTW) could find out we might be able to solve the issue. !!

    Cheers
    jimbo
      My Computer


 

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