removable devices

'The device cannot be stopped because a program is still accessing it'
I figure that everyone using a usb device gets this warning from time to time.
Is there a way aroung this beside logging off or restarting the computer?
Is there software that can 'unlock' the usb device to enable it so be safely removed?
Thanks.

 

Well, wouldn't you agree the best thing would be to identify the program that's still accessing it and close that program?

What type of device are you talking about, a flash drive?

[Edit] Actually, I don't think you'll have problems as long as you check your flash drive to see whether any file transfer activity has stopped. When it's busy, it flashes, right? No flickering light means no activity, and it should be safe to remove, even if you ignore the Safely Remove Hardware notification. I believe the Safely Remove Hardware notification was just designed to give users a safer way of removing the devices.

 

Now Halo you have touched on a very annoying point here so if I could add a hint here as it has been agravating me for quite a while. Me thinks, or in my case its a mobo issue as I have 2 coms one with Vista Home premium and the other with Ultra.. The Ultra is on an Abit A8NSLI and it NEVER works, other com Home Premium is on an ABIT AN7 and it works every time. I had the same result when both coms had XP Premium installed. It really annoys me as I like to use an USB 120 Gig pocket size HD for file transfers etc. and like usafveteran says on the A8NSLI I have to reboot to remove safely. Some food for thought there

 

i use a Trekstor 2gb flash drive.
i know that a program in being used and this prevents the flash drive from being safely removed - the question is how do you find this program if it is not obvious?
thank you.

 

I would think you could use Filemon or a similar program, maybe Process Explorer or Process Monitor... launch the program, plug in the flash drive, and see what files/programs start up. You may have to look at the logs 'cuz things can start to stack up real quick in "mon" type programs. Here's some links for you:
Process Monitor: http://www.majorgeeks.com/Process_Monitor_d5553.html (this is Filemon and Regmon combined into one utility with extras)
Process Explorer: http://www.majorgeeks.com/Process_Explorer_d4566.html
Personally, I use the 'Safely Remove Hardware' thing every time I disconnect the USB flash drive or external hard drive just to be safe. If it says it can't shut it down, I'll wait 30 seconds or a minute and try again. 95% of the time, the 2nd try works. If it doesn't, I look to see if the device is actively being accessed; if not, I just disconnect it...

hd2k

 

I tried as suggested hooperdave2000 in fact i tried 5 times and still not able to Kill. I looked in Process Explorer when I plugged the USB 120 Gig pocket HD and a reference flashed up like 'mobo sync' but disappeared after a couple of seconds. I then transfered some data but could not pin down a reference to the HD but was worth a try.. :major

 

I checked the cache policy and it was configured to 'Optimise for quick removal' so I changed to Optimise for best performance but had the same result. Now the Optimise for quick removal says 'This setting disables write caching on the disk andin Windows so you can disconnect without using the safe removal icon' Question is do I take M$ at their word here ??? I have read somewhere that if not correctly disabled I could make the USB HD inaccessible ... :cry