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Question

Laptop NEVER can eject hard drive/usb safely!

Jul 26, 2017 6:28AM PDT

I frequently plug my external hard drive or USB drive into my laptop. It used to be hit or miss with being able to "Safely Remove Hardware" but now it never will. I have to shut down completely each time to eject them. Is there any way for me to be able to see what is holding the drive & shut down that program? Even if I don't access thje drive at all & just try to eject it, it won't. thx

Discussion is locked

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Answer
It's a common problem
Jul 26, 2017 6:53AM PDT

With no specific cause. I find that logging out is the faster way to be sure it's safe to eject until I have time to research why it's happening. Remember there are so many prior discussions and so many causes that I can't give direction or guess with only what was written so far.

Try sharing a Web Speccy report from https://www.piriform.com/docs/speccy/using-speccy/publishing-a-speccy-profile-to-the-web so forum members can look around.

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Answer
Re: eject
Jul 26, 2017 6:56AM PDT

Any error message? Or no error message, but no message of success either?
Are you sure you have to shut down completely? Or is logging off sufficient?

To find out what is holding that drive, download handle.exe (or the whole suite of programs) from www.sysinternals.com (a microsoft company, so it can be trusted), and run handle.exe from the command prompt in administrative mode. If the drive letter of your stick is f: then give the command handle f: after cd'ing to the right folder.

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Cont'd
Jul 26, 2017 7:04AM PDT

When I try to safely eject, a message pops up saying it cannot because the drive is in use, and to try later. I've researched the issue and haven't had any luck, many recommendations seem very complex. Was hoping there was a way to see what was using the drive so I could stop the program(s). I thought shutting down was the only safe way to eject, I can try logging out instead.

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Just for yuks
Jul 26, 2017 1:27PM PDT

Boot into safe mode.

See if your ext hdd is usable and can be ejected.