USB Flash Stick Issue

Running Vista Home Basic. Lately when I use my USB flash stick, especially when writing to it, after closing out everything I go to "safely remove hardware" I ger an error message saying it cannot be removed because it is currently in use, but it isn't. I've looked all over the task manager applications and processes but I can't identify anything to stop.

Is there some way to safely remove this without shutting down the computer?

 

You might want to try http://quick.mixnmojo.com/usb-disk-ejector though I find that if I am running a startup utility manager for USB drives (like PStart), I have to quit everything I am running (sometimes even the explorer window the drive is open in), and then try. It usually works then.

Otherwise, as a last resort, you might consider (I'm running XP, but I imagine it's a similar path) changing the drive policies to 'optimize for quick removal', as opposed for 'optimize for performance'. You can achieve that through right clicking --> drive properties --> hardware --> properties --> policies. Again, this is XP I'm talking about, but you get the idea.

 

Also something to look at, if your using readyboost in vista this will be a problem until you stop the readyboost.