Can't Safely remove . . .

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by yamatosoul, Nov 28, 2009.

  1. yamatosoul

    yamatosoul Private E-2

    I just got a Samsung Story Station 1.5TB external HDD and it's not allowing me to remove safely. Whenever I click "Safely Remove Hardware", I get an error message indicating that it cannot be removed because it is in use by another process, but in reality, it is not in use at all. So, I have to shut down the PC each time in order to physically remove the HDD. I have another WD external HDD, but it doesn't have this problem. Can someone please help me with this issue? Thank you.
     
  2. plodr

    plodr Major Geek Super Extraordinaire

    Open task manager and see if any backup software for your Samsung is running.
     
  3. collinsl

    collinsl MajorGeek

    Do you have any programs such as IOBit SmartDefrag running?

    Is there a hard drive activity light on the external drive? Is it flashing/flickering even when you are not using the drive?
     
  4. yamatosoul

    yamatosoul Private E-2

    Yes, it does have a bottom LED, but it's not flickering when I try to disconnect. And my other external drive (WD) doesn't have this problem. Any suggestions?
     
  5. DavidGP

    DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

    Hi

    Following on from Colinsl's post its likely another process has this drive locked, so check the likes of defrag apps, is System Restore active for this drive? Would need to knwo Windows version as its helpful?

    What you could try to see if you can find the app thats locking this HDD is to try Unlocker and when this happens check what apps are locking it by right clicking the drive in My Computer and choosing "what is locking this folder" and see whats listed.
     
  6. yamatosoul

    yamatosoul Private E-2

    As it turns out, it was the IOBit SmartDefrag causing this problem. Since it wasn't bothering my WD HD, I didn't think it was the cause. Thanks again for all your inputs.
     
  7. collinsl

    collinsl MajorGeek

    Reference for future readers with this problem:
    IOBit SmartDefrag logs all connected storage devices, whether removable or not. To get around this, simply close SmartDefrag, diconnect the device using the safely disconnect icon, and restart SmartDefrag. Solved!
     

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