problem ejecting USB mass storage drive

This is really mysterious. I have an external 2.5" USB drive and fo
god's sake I cannot safely remove it from my Vista ultimate 64bi
system! I copied something on it and I am quite sure, that safel
remove is good to do, because I use such drives for some time alread
and I already lost some files when it was not done (my computer froz
something)! Process explorer shows nothing when I search for my driv
letter. I tried some unlocker utility, but it does not make it's contex
menu...maybe after restart it will :-\ I disabled indexing for fas
search on this drive, but nothing changed...Maybe system restore?..

--
VitasLoWang

You might try this to see if anything else has grabbed a hold of it.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sys...sExplorer.mspx

--
Regards, BobF.
"VitasLoWang" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
> This is really mysterious. I have an external 2.5" USB drive and for
> god's sake I cannot safely remove it from my Vista ultimate 64bit
> system! I copied something on it and I am quite sure, that safely
> remove is good to do, because I use such drives for some time already
> and I already lost some files when it was not done (my computer froze
> something)! Process explorer shows nothing when I search for my drive
> letter. I tried some unlocker utility, but it does not make it's context
> menu...maybe after restart it will :-\ I disabled indexing for fast
> search on this drive, but nothing changed...Maybe system restore?...
>
>
> --
> VitasLoWang

VitasLoWang wrote:
> This is really mysterious. I have an external 2.5" USB drive and for
> god's sake I cannot safely remove it from my Vista ultimate 64bit
> system! I copied something on it and I am quite sure, that safely
> remove is good to do, because I use such drives for some time already
> and I already lost some files when it was not done (my computer froze
> something)! Process explorer shows nothing when I search for my drive
> letter. I tried some unlocker utility, but it does not make it's context
> menu...maybe after restart it will :-\ I disabled indexing for fast
> search on this drive, but nothing changed...Maybe system restore?...

System restore it no more a problem under Vista.

The ProcessExplorer often cannot resolve drive letters, you have
to search for the drive's 'DOS device name'. My drive removal tool
shows it:
http://www.uwe-sieber.de/files/removedrive.zip

But even the ProcessExplorer doen't seen all handles. For
instance the handle to container file mounted by TrueCrypt
isn't seen.


Uwe

C:\programy\utils\removedrive>RemoveDrive.exe g:

RemoveDrive V1.8 - prepares drives for safe removal
Freeware by Uwe Sieber - 'Uwe Sieber's Homepage'
(http://www.uwe-sieber.de)
Removing Drive 'G:\' (FUJITSU MHT2080AH USB Device)..........
check for open handles on volume 'G:\' or '\Device\HarddiskVolume5'
failed



So what does this mean?


--
VitasLoWang

VitasLoWang wrote:
> C:\programy\utils\removedrive>RemoveDrive.exe g:
>
> RemoveDrive V1.8 - prepares drives for safe removal
> Freeware by Uwe Sieber - 'Uwe Sieber's Homepage'
> (http://www.uwe-sieber.de)
> Removing Drive 'G:\' (FUJITSU MHT2080AH USB Device)..........
> check for open handles on volume 'G:\' or '\Device\HarddiskVolume5'
> failed
>
>
>
> So what does this mean?

Same as "The device xxx cannot be stopped right now." when
using Safely Remove Hardware facility.

Search for "Volume5" in the ProcessExplorer.


Uwe

I tried it again - procesxp found the explorer.exe holding it, because I
forgot one window, but when I closed it and tried removing drive the
normal way via tray icon it seemed like it is working but after a little
longer time then before it again said that it cannot be done. After I
tried the removedrive utility I was not able to find anything again with
process explorer... Anyway I think that the data has been flushed to
drive even that windows says it could not be removed...

check this: 'UKAZTO.COM'
(http://www.ukazto.com/?img=2861353~removedrive.jpg)


--
VitasLoWang

hey I maybe had to run procexp as administrator! I will try and tell..

--
VitasLoWang

VitasLoWang wrote:
> I tried it again - procesxp found the explorer.exe holding it, because I
> forgot one window, but when I closed it and tried removing drive the
> normal way via tray icon it seemed like it is working but after a little
> longer time then before it again said that it cannot be done. After I
> tried the removedrive utility I was not able to find anything again with
> process explorer... Anyway I think that the data has been flushed to
> drive even that windows says it could not be removed...
>



VistaLoWang, take a breath. I don't think I got all that.

I have the same problem with you - but I am running on Vista Business
32bit. (It is a Toshiba 160GB external USB mini-hard drive device).

When I try 'Safely remove device' I get the message 'device still in use
- cannot eject'

Sometimes - but only sometimes - I get the 'OK to remove the device' if
I just close the Explorer.exe completely.

On Wed, 23 Apr 2008 18:01:26 +0200, occam <> wrote:

>VitasLoWang wrote:
>> I tried it again - procesxp found the explorer.exe holding it, because I
>> forgot one window, but when I closed it and tried removing drive the
>> normal way via tray icon it seemed like it is working but after a little
>> longer time then before it again said that it cannot be done. After I
>> tried the removedrive utility I was not able to find anything again with
>> process explorer... Anyway I think that the data has been flushed to
>> drive even that windows says it could not be removed...
>>
>
>
>
>VistaLoWang, take a breath. I don't think I got all that.
>
>I have the same problem with you - but I am running on Vista Business
>32bit. (It is a Toshiba 160GB external USB mini-hard drive device).
>
>When I try 'Safely remove device' I get the message 'device still in use
>- cannot eject'
>
>Sometimes - but only sometimes - I get the 'OK to remove the device' if
>I just close the Explorer.exe completely.


This isn't a "problem" rather a lame Microsoft feature. You'll always
get a "can't remove" error if Explorer is open IN THE DRIVE you're
trying to unmount or if any application is using that drive.

Another day I could not safely remove my USB hard drive, so I ran
Process Explorer as admin and look what held it!
'_http://www.ukazto.com/?img=2937464~removedrive1.jpg_'
(http://www.ukazto.com/?img=2937464~removedrive1.jpg)WTH can I do with
this? It did not seem like it is going to release my disk ever...

Surprisingly next day I was able to safely remove my drive...


--
VitasLoWang