Removable drive locked although no process accessing it

  • Thread starter Thread starter david
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david

Hi,

When disconnecting a USB external hard disk using 'Safely Remove
Hardware', I receive the error:

"The drive generic volume cannot be stopped because a program is still
accessing it. Try stopping the device again later."

There are no programs obviously accessing the drive - it happens
without any tasks visible in the taskbar. I have shut down my
antivirus and all programs in the system tray. I looked around on the
net and it said to try the 'Unlocker' program, but the program reports
that no processes have this drive locked. I also tried 'Process
Explorer' which was recommended by several people, and searched the
open file handles for G: (the drive letter) - but there was no handles
found. I even tried to kill 'explorer.exe' and launch 'safely remove
hardware' from the Task Manager Run dialog. Still no dice.

I have absolutely no idea what's holding this disk, it seems like the
OS itself doesn't know. Do I have any option except to physically
disconnect it? The machine is a server and this happens daily, so
continually restarting is not a practical option.

Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP4, drive is a WD Elements 1TB.

Cheers
David
 
david said:
Hi,

When disconnecting a USB external hard disk using 'Safely Remove
Hardware', I receive the error:

"The drive generic volume cannot be stopped because a program is still
accessing it. Try stopping the device again later."

There are no programs obviously accessing the drive - it happens
without any tasks visible in the taskbar. I have shut down my
antivirus and all programs in the system tray. I looked around on the
net and it said to try the 'Unlocker' program, but the program reports
that no processes have this drive locked. I also tried 'Process
Explorer' which was recommended by several people, and searched the
open file handles for G: (the drive letter) - but there was no handles
found. I even tried to kill 'explorer.exe' and launch 'safely remove
hardware' from the Task Manager Run dialog. Still no dice.

I have absolutely no idea what's holding this disk, it seems like the
OS itself doesn't know. Do I have any option except to physically
disconnect it? The machine is a server and this happens daily, so
continually restarting is not a practical option.

Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP4, drive is a WD Elements 1TB.

Cheers
David
Click to expand...

In my experience, often times what you describe will occur when Windows
Explorer, or any other file manager, is left open. I resent having to close
it as a precondition for ejecting the drive but, hey, whaddya gonna do?
 
Hi,

When disconnecting a USB external hard disk using 'Safely Remove
Hardware', I receive the error:

"The drive generic volume cannot be stopped because a program is still
accessing it. Try stopping the device again later."

There are no programs obviously accessing the drive - it happens
without any tasks visible in the taskbar. I have shut down my
antivirus and all programs in the system tray. I looked around on the
net and it said to try the 'Unlocker' program, but the program reports
that no processes have this drive locked. I also tried 'Process
Explorer' which was recommended by several people, and searched the
open file handles for G: (the drive letter) - but there was no handles
found. I even tried to kill 'explorer.exe' and launch 'safely remove
hardware' from the Task Manager Run dialog. Still no dice.

I have absolutely no idea what's holding this disk, it seems like the
OS itself doesn't know. Do I have any option except to physically
disconnect it? The machine is a server and this happens daily, so
continually restarting is not a practical option.

Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP4, drive is a WD Elements 1TB.

Cheers
David
Click to expand...

I too face the same when the removable disk is already plugged-in during
boot up. If you turn on 'View hidden files' and Uncheck 'Hide protected
operating system files' through Tools/Folder options in the Windows
Explorer, you would see the hidden RECYCLER folder. Files deleted from
this disk go to the Recycle bin as with the Hard disk (unlike Flash
drives that get deleted permanently), and probably due to this Windows
won't permit ejecting this drive.

You can plug-in after Windows loads to safely remove any time, and
remember to remove it before booting up. This may not be the most
technical answer, but works for me on my laptop!

Mohan...
 
I too face the same when the removable disk is already plugged-in during
boot up. If you turn on 'View hidden files' and Uncheck 'Hide protected
operating system files' through Tools/Folder options in the Windows
Explorer, you would see the hidden RECYCLER folder. Files deleted from
this disk go to the Recycle bin as with the Hard disk (unlike Flash
drives that get deleted permanently), and probably due to this Windows
won't permit ejecting this drive.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Mohan, this was the cause. It's now resolved. :)
 
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