How to safely remove an external USB drive

Posted on 6 December, 2009
This item is filed under [Tips & Tricks, Windows]

December 6, 2009 · 0 comments

Sometimes when you use an external hard disk and later opt to safely remove it,  you might receive a message saying ‘Cannot safely remove drive-because it is  being used by something else’ even though you may not be actually using the  drive any more.

This problem happens because, apparently, the focus of Windows Explorer is still  on the external disk and so considers it unsafe to remove the disk. A workaround  to this problem is to open a file in your local drive. For instance, you could  navigate to My Documents and open something in there. This means that  Windows Explorer has moved from looking at the external disk to accessing a  folder on the internal disk. This then usually lets Safely Remove Hardware release  the USB drive. If that doesn’t work, carry on using the PC for several minutes  without accessing the external drive and you should be able to Safely Remove  Hardware.

If nothing works, then just shut down the PC and unplug your device.

Enjoyed this post? Share it with others.
  • email
  • Print
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Reddit
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google Bookmarks
  • FriendFeed
  • BlinkList
  • Diigo
  • LinkedIn
  • Propeller
  • IndianPad
  • MySpace
  • Slashdot

Subscribe Now

If you enjoyed this post, you will definitely enjoy our others. Subscribe to the feed to get future posts delivered right to your mailbox or feedreader.

Powered by Thesis

Thesis Theme

An amazing WordPress Theme, nothing beats the versatility and SEO friendliness of the Thesis framework.

From beginners, to the most advanced WordPress developers, Thesis makes it easy for anyone to customize it.


Leave a Comment

Previous post:

Next post: