External Hard Drive will not be release by XP

[Guest hal]

I have a new WD 120gig external hard drive with a USB connection. I plug it

in after the computer is booted. When I attempt to stop and remove it using

the safe removal icon on the lower right of the screen while the computer is

still powered up I get a message something like this "The 'generic hard

drive' can not be stopped now as it is use by a program. Try again later" I

have no program running at the time. The only way I can remove is to shut

down the computer and unplug and then restart the computer. Very time

consuming. Any solution?

--

Thank you

 

Hal

[Guest Mike Cawood, HND BIT]

Re: External Hard Drive will not be release by XP

 

"hal" <hal@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:42A3A757-4E8C-4ECA-B787-F004E2459F83@microsoft.com...

>I have a new WD 120gig external hard drive with a USB connection. I plug

>it

> in after the computer is booted. When I attempt to stop and remove it

> using

> the safe removal icon on the lower right of the screen while the computer

> is

> still powered up I get a message something like this "The 'generic hard

> drive' can not be stopped now as it is use by a program. Try again later"

> I

> have no program running at the time. The only way I can remove is to shut

> down the computer and unplug and then restart the computer. Very time

> consuming. Any solution?

> --

> Thank you

>

> Hal

 

Does Task Manager show any applications running?

Mike.

[Guest M.I.5¾]

Re: External Hard Drive will not be release by XP

 

 

"hal" <hal@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:42A3A757-4E8C-4ECA-B787-F004E2459F83@microsoft.com...

>I have a new WD 120gig external hard drive with a USB connection. I plug

>it

> in after the computer is booted. When I attempt to stop and remove it

> using

> the safe removal icon on the lower right of the screen while the computer

> is

> still powered up I get a message something like this "The 'generic hard

> drive' can not be stopped now as it is use by a program. Try again later"

> I

> have no program running at the time. The only way I can remove is to shut

> down the computer and unplug and then restart the computer. Very time

> consuming. Any solution?

> --

 

It is unwise to use write back cacheing (aka 'optimised for speed') with an

external drive. Far better to set it to write through cacheing (aka

'optimised for removal'). In this mode you don't need to use the safe

removal icon. You just pull the plug (provided it isn't in the middle of a

write of course. You can set this from the safely remove icon, which you

currently have.

[Guest Ant]

Re: External Hard Drive will not be release by XP

 

On 10/16/2007 12:47 AM PT, hal typed:

> I have a new WD 120gig external hard drive with a USB connection. I plug it

> in after the computer is booted. When I attempt to stop and remove it using

> the safe removal icon on the lower right of the screen while the computer is

> still powered up I get a message something like this "The 'generic hard

> drive' can not be stopped now as it is use by a program. Try again later" I

> have no program running at the time. The only way I can remove is to shut

> down the computer and unplug and then restart the computer. Very time

> consuming. Any solution?

 

I had this problem before. I usually wait like an hour OR use Unlocker

program to see who is still using the HDD. Or to be safe, reboot or turn

off the machine and disconnect the connection.

--

"The ants are my friends, they're blowin' in the wind. The ant, sir, is

blowin' in the wind." --the misheard lyrics to Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in

the Wind"

/\___/\

/ /\ /\ \ Phil/Ant @ http://antfarm.home.dhs.org (Personal Web Site)

| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net

\ _ / Remove ANT from e-mail address: philpi@earthlink.netANT

( ) or ANTant@zimage.com

Ant is currently not listening to any songs on his home computer.

[Guest hal]

Re: External Hard Drive will not be release by XP

 

The task manager indicates nothing is running

--

Thank you

 

Hal

 

 

"Mike Cawood, HND BIT" wrote:

> "hal" <hal@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

> news:42A3A757-4E8C-4ECA-B787-F004E2459F83@microsoft.com...

> >I have a new WD 120gig external hard drive with a USB connection. I plug

> >it

> > in after the computer is booted. When I attempt to stop and remove it

> > using

> > the safe removal icon on the lower right of the screen while the computer

> > is

> > still powered up I get a message something like this "The 'generic hard

> > drive' can not be stopped now as it is use by a program. Try again later"

> > I

> > have no program running at the time. The only way I can remove is to shut

> > down the computer and unplug and then restart the computer. Very time

> > consuming. Any solution?

> > --

> > Thank you

> >

> > Hal

>

> Does Task Manager show any applications running?

> Mike.

>

>

>

[Guest badwrc]

RE: External Hard Drive will not be release by XP

 

 

I hope somebody is still paying attention to this post. Do you have Norton?

I had the same problem and I got a utility that shows what programs have

handles on that drive. I found out it was the Norton protected recycle bin.

I removed the external drive from being 'protected'-- it's a backup drive-not

very likely I'll need to recover deleted files from it--- and now it removes

fine with the remove hardware icon.

 

"hal" wrote:

> I have a new WD 120gig external hard drive with a USB connection. I plug it

> in after the computer is booted. When I attempt to stop and remove it using

> the safe removal icon on the lower right of the screen while the computer is

> still powered up I get a message something like this "The 'generic hard

> drive' can not be stopped now as it is use by a program. Try again later" I

> have no program running at the time. The only way I can remove is to shut

> down the computer and unplug and then restart the computer. Very time

> consuming. Any solution?

> --

> Thank you

>

> Hal