Sorry to be so long getting back. This took a long time to write (too long), and I ended up doing some research during the writing. Then when I was about 2/3 done, the forum software somehow lost my...

You can test the speed using NirSoft's USBDeview and if you want to, can automatically add your test results (link explains how to test using USBDeview and how to publish) to the growing database at...

@Enter and @TV2: Sorry, I'm also not set up for email notification. Very interesting discussion since my last post.

A few additional thoughts/questions ...



Hmmm... I don't know and I can't...

Not sure if you're still talking about your 16GB flash drive or a new external HDD. Most flash drives come pre-formatted as FAT32, which has a maximum file size of "4GB minus 2 Bytes" (and a max...

If previous suggestions don't help, a quick Google search for "aaResources.dll" (seen in the URL in your screenshot) yields numerous hits for same problem. The - first - three I checked all this...

...of course ya know you don't have any exclusive corner on brain malfunctions! ;)


Certainly MS UIs don't always make perfect sense, but you got me thinking about that. I guess it qualifies as...

That's a good point: there are not always clues/symptoms of impending HDD failure, especially if it's due an electronic component failure on the drive controller board. But if you have a...

Other than being 4 years old, you didn't say why you're worried about the HDD (e.g., file/data errors, whining or clicking noises, etc), but probably the previously mentioned S.M.A.R.T. info is...

There are several potentially relevant & effective suggestions already mentioned above (many of which serve to effectively close open handles on the external drive). If none of those work, it is...

As near-certain confirmation (still don't have my Win10 machine available), the checked boxes and description on my Win7Pro default Administrative View Properties appear to be identical to both of...

Glad you got it sorted - thanks for posting back with solution!

I don't have my Win10 machine handy to check right now, but I checked my Win7Pro C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Event Viewer\Views folder and found nothing but an empty C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Event...

If the HDD is detected by another PC (as suggested by NavyLCDR) and the first HDD plugin on the problem PC was recent enough, you might try restoring the problem PC to its state before the drive was...

I haven't used ThisIsMyFile (pictured in your screenshot), but I have used the similar Unlocker (by Cedrick 'Nitch' Collomb) and found that it sometimes does not detect open file handles that lock a...

I have no direct experience with this, but it appears this post may be relevant if your PC has UEFI firmware and if HP has embedded an OEM executable in the “Windows Platform Binary Table” (WPBT)...