Cannot eject safely an external USB drive

I have no problems ejecting external drives (apart from closing any apps that may be using the drive). You don't need any extra 'tools'. Just use the 'Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media' icon in the notification area. If you don't see it there when your drive is attached, click the ^ symbol to show the hidden icons, then click and drag it onto the notification area.

Is there something else to do ?

Well, I always make sure my drives are set for the default of 'Quick removal'.
Disk Write Caching - Enable or Disable in Windows 10

I right-click on my external drives in File Explorer, select Properties and turn off 'Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed...'.

I also like to turn off the Recycle bin for external drives.
Recycle Bin - Permanently Delete Files in Windows 10

TV2 said:

Try this:
Create a new folder on the drive, then delete the folder. Then go to the Recycle Bin and Empty it.
Now click on the USB Safely Remove symbol in the task bar and select Eject (your external drive).
This is a long shot, but quick and easy and may work if you are having a problem similar to one I had. I'll add more if this does anything.

Hello,
Thanks for the answer - I tried this, no luck. I click on the "Rject safely.....", but windows refuses,
what I do now - double click on the portable utility, and when the light on the external drive flickers, I pull out the plug.
I even tried to remove the drive from 'devices & printers' - failed, ran troubleshooter - found nothing.
Motim

Motim said:

I even tried to remove the drive from 'devices & printers'...

Do that and it uninstalls the device. It will have to reinstall it next time you plug it in.

Disable write caching, indexing, and try turning off the Recycle Bin on that drive. See the Tutorials I linked to earlier.

If you have an AV that will scan newly connected USBs, disable that option too.

After upgrading from v 1909 to v 2004 I cannot eject any USB HDD anymore.
The problem happens after using an external drive for a backup or even after running a Windows defender scan on it.
The only way to work around the problem is by restarting the PC.
The eject works right after a restart, but not after using the drive.
I have 3 machines with the same issue tried with different external USB HDDs and also with USB attached SCSI (UAS) with the same result.
Same machines with the same configuration work fine with windows v 1909 or even with development build 20150.1000.
Only fail with V 2004 (Current Build 19041.329).





The event viewer shows the errors below, it seems that the culprit could be windows defender (MsMpEng.exe):

Bastet said:

What are you using for backup? If Macrium then their changed block tracker also prevents safe ejection of the backup drive.
I have the same problem with this enabled.

I have Macrium installed, but in this cases I was not using Macrium. .
Just file history System Image Backup.
Also the same happens after I just run a Windows defender scan on the drive and nothing else.

Bastet said:

It can still be the case if there are Macrium backups on the drive.
To test - open control panel>Programs & features & click on Macrium, choose repair & remove the tick from CBT, this will uninstall this feature, then restart the PC & see if you can eject the backup.

I tried what you suggested, but CBT is not even available on the free edition of Macrium. (v7.2.4971) or (v7.2.4942)
CBT is already unchecked.