can't remove usb external disk

  • Thread starter Thread starter Andy Fish
  • Start date Start date
A

Andy Fish

hi,

Every time i try to "safely remove" my external HDD (Western Digital
Elements 3.5" 250GB) from my laptop (Vostro 1700 vista SP1), I get the
error:

Windows can't stop your 'Generic volume' device because it is in use.
Close anyprograms of windows that might be using the device, and
then try again later.

If I use ProcessExplorer, all I see is a few entries like

Process = System (pid=4), Handle = "F:\$Extend\RmMetadata\$TxfLog\..."

I have disabled as much of the vista bloatware as possible (indexing service
etc) so I have no idea what is holding these handles open. I haven't tried
to kill pid=4 but I'm guessing that would be a bad idea with a process name
like "system" :-)

does anyone have any idea what these handles pertain to? is it safe to just
pull the plug once I know these are the only handles open? I use this disk
quite heavily so I need to have it optimised for performance (rather than
quick removal) and I have it formatted NTFS.

At the moment my only way out is to shutdown the laptop every time I want to
take the disk out. my only other idea is to upgrade to XP or perhaps server
2008.

TIA

Andy
 
Turn the WD external drive power switch to "off".

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience

---------------------------------------------------------------------

hi,

Every time i try to "safely remove" my external HDD (Western Digital
Elements 3.5" 250GB) from my laptop (Vostro 1700 vista SP1), I get the
error:

Windows can't stop your 'Generic volume' device because it is in use.
Close anyprograms of windows that might be using the device, and
then try again later.

If I use ProcessExplorer, all I see is a few entries like

Process = System (pid=4), Handle = "F:\$Extend\RmMetadata\$TxfLog\..."

I have disabled as much of the vista bloatware as possible (indexing service
etc) so I have no idea what is holding these handles open. I haven't tried
to kill pid=4 but I'm guessing that would be a bad idea with a process name
like "system" :-)

does anyone have any idea what these handles pertain to? is it safe to just
pull the plug once I know these are the only handles open? I use this disk
quite heavily so I need to have it optimised for performance (rather than
quick removal) and I have it formatted NTFS.

At the moment my only way out is to shutdown the laptop every time I want to
take the disk out. my only other idea is to upgrade to XP or perhaps server
2008.

TIA

Andy
 
Andy said:
hi,

Every time i try to "safely remove" my external HDD (Western Digital
Elements 3.5" 250GB) from my laptop (Vostro 1700 vista SP1), I get the
error:

Windows can't stop your 'Generic volume' device because it is in use.
Close anyprograms of windows that might be using the device, and
then try again later.
Click to expand...

What happens if you reboot and try it again?

Alias
 
Alias said:
What happens if you reboot and try it again?
Click to expand...

if I try it soon after the reboot, it seems to be OK, but after i've been
using it for a while it goes back to the same state

earlier today I did manage to get it to remove safely even though process
explorer was still showing those entries, so I wonder if they aren't what's
keeping the drive locked

but i would have expected process explorer to show anything that might be
keeping it locked, unless vista has some extra under-the-covers way of
locking a file that isn't visible to process explorer.
 
Earle said:
So if I shut down my computer and removed a (non system) disk drive, that
would be a bad idea? Exactly how?
Click to expand...

I don't know what happens but try it and then connect the external hard
drive to another machine and read the error message you get. You will
have to remove it safely or it won't work on other machines. Or do you
think that removing is safely is just a lie on the part of Microsoft and
you can remove it any old way you want to remove it?

Alias
 
1. Go to Start > Computer
2. Right-click on Computer and select Properties
3. Click on Advanced System Settings
4. Click on System Protection
5. Remove the check next to your WD external drive
6. Click on Apply.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience

---------------------------------------------------------------------

hi,

Every time i try to "safely remove" my external HDD (Western Digital
Elements 3.5" 250GB) from my laptop (Vostro 1700 vista SP1), I get the
error:

Windows can't stop your 'Generic volume' device because it is in use.
Close anyprograms of windows that might be using the device, and
then try again later.

If I use ProcessExplorer, all I see is a few entries like

Process = System (pid=4), Handle = "F:\$Extend\RmMetadata\$TxfLog\..."

I have disabled as much of the vista bloatware as possible (indexing service
etc) so I have no idea what is holding these handles open. I haven't tried
to kill pid=4 but I'm guessing that would be a bad idea with a process name
like "system" :-)

does anyone have any idea what these handles pertain to? is it safe to just
pull the plug once I know these are the only handles open? I use this disk
quite heavily so I need to have it optimised for performance (rather than
quick removal) and I have it formatted NTFS.

At the moment my only way out is to shutdown the laptop every time I want to
take the disk out. my only other idea is to upgrade to XP or perhaps server
2008.

TIA

Andy
 
If you don't want to shut down, you could at least log off thereby
increasing the chances of killing the process that might be using the
external drive.
 
Alias said:
I don't know what happens but try it and then connect the external hard
drive to another machine and read the error message you get. You will have
to remove it safely or it won't work on other machines. Or do you think
that removing is safely is just a lie on the part of Microsoft and you can
remove it any old way you want to remove it?

Alias
Click to expand...

Shutting down the computer does exactly the same thing to the disk as
removing it safely. The only reason we have "removing disks safely" is so
we can do it with the computer turned on.
 
Earle said:
Shutting down the computer does exactly the same thing to the disk as
removing it safely. The only reason we have "removing disks safely" is so
we can do it with the computer turned on.
Click to expand...

Not my experience with several computers. But, hey, it's your data on
your external hard drive, lose it as you see fit.

Alias
 
Alias said:
Not my experience with several computers. But, hey, it's your data on your
external hard drive, lose it as you see fit.

Alias
Click to expand...
Say you shut down a computer, "Start, Turn Off Computer, Shut Down", and the
computer is now sitting there inert. Now you say it is dangerous to turn
off the power switch to an external hard drive, unplug it, or disconnect it
from this computer, that is sitting there powered down? That seems to be
what you are saying...
 
Alias said:
If the Remove Safely doesn't work and you shut down the computer, the
external hard drive won't work on other computers and will not work again
until you turn the computer back on with the hard drive turned on and
safely remove it. That's been my experience, anyway, with various XP
computers.

Alias
Click to expand...

That is a bug and not normal behavior. Any process that does not flush
itself to disk on a normal Windows shut down message is broken.
Furthermore, think about this, once the computer is shut down all
information in RAM is lost. If there is something that needs to be written
to disk, it can't be saved across a shut down. I am not saying it is not
happening. I am saying that if you find the application responsible, you
should call up the vendor and give them a good "rogering". (I heard an
English guy say that once. No idea what it is supposed to mean.)
 
Earle said:
Say you shut down a computer, "Start, Turn Off Computer, Shut Down", and the
computer is now sitting there inert. Now you say it is dangerous to turn
off the power switch to an external hard drive, unplug it, or disconnect it
from this computer, that is sitting there powered down? That seems to be
what you are saying...
Click to expand...

If the Remove Safely doesn't work and you shut down the computer, the
external hard drive won't work on other computers and will not work
again until you turn the computer back on with the hard drive turned on
and safely remove it. That's been my experience, anyway, with various XP
computers.

Alias
 
Earle said:
That is a bug and not normal behavior. Any process that does not flush
itself to disk on a normal Windows shut down message is broken.
Furthermore, think about this, once the computer is shut down all
information in RAM is lost. If there is something that needs to be written
to disk, it can't be saved across a shut down. I am not saying it is not
happening. I am saying that if you find the application responsible, you
should call up the vendor and give them a good "rogering". (I heard an
English guy say that once. No idea what it is supposed to mean.)
Click to expand...

It happened after moving MP3s to the external hard drive. Not exactly an
application.

Alias
 
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