Windows 10: Cannot Safely Remove External Drives

I have had this issue from the beginning of Win10 -predominantly a WD MyBook but a smaller WD would give that message and never be available for disconnect.
I use the Everything search software which can be a service as well as configured to run at start up within its options. An icon will appear in the ^hidden icons after first use.
I went into the Everything options and removed the choice to be available at start up since being a running service seemed to a double action. The icon now does not appear in that task notification area.
For the first time since Win10 was born the external drives immediately do the correct signal and can be disconnected.
IF the system search is the main tool then it might be that indexing needs to be turned off for external drives

 

Thanks for the tip, I only read though what you said real quick, so I did not digest it just yet but will give it a go soon and report back,,, thank you kindly!

 

Well, I have been living with this since the beginning and the pop up message does say something is accesing the drive but Taskmanager does not display activity. At least my situation has progressed from the total shut down being interrupted and a restart would occur because an external was plugged in during the early Win10 versions.
I don't use the Win10 search and I have attempted to cancel its indexing but Everywhere indexes and likely the recent backup files I put on the external...or whatever...is being noted by that search index.
I don't really have a scientific proof; it was just by chance that removing the double configuration because I didn't need it in that pop up box produced consistent 'safe to remove' signals. Its the first repeatable performance since July 2014. At least, it has worked for a week at this point.

 

Going into Services and restarting the Server service and/or the Computer Browser service has more often than not allowed the Safely Remove option to then work from the system tray for me. I don't know why it works, and I don't even know if it's safe to do, I just know that it seems to solve the problem and I've never had any problems caused by it. Btw, it's really annoying that Microsoft can't just solve this problem properly already, as it's been affecting me and others since at least Windows 7.

 

I shut down the Task Manager, now Safely Remove USB Drive works on WD My Book. I could always remove USB Drives.

 

Same situation here... on my Windows 10 machine, thumb drives could always be safely removed by right-mouse clicking Eject from Windows Explorer.

However, WD Passport drives - and other mass storage devices - do not have the right-mouse click eject option available. So I would just use the Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media icon, usually found in the Taskbar's Show Hidden Icons whenever a device was connected.

Then all of a sudden, I started getting the 'Problem Ejecting USB Mass Storage Device' alert during Passport ejection. Tracked it down to the fact that I recently began auto-launching Task Manager, which apparently maintains a process thread with mass storage devices and consequently throws the error alert.

I shut down Task Manager and boom... no longer receive any alerts during mass storage device removal.

BTW, running Task Manager has no impact on safely ejecting USB thumb drives.

 

Found Solution in Creators Update 1703 15063.138 that may work for others, Open Devices and Printers, Hit Troubleshoot, it states device may have stopped responding, resets it appears, then allowed removal via Safely remove Icon

Drive is Western Digital Passport Ultra Metal

 

07/01/17 . . . I'm using Win 10 Pro 64-bit
Run - winver / Version 1703 (OS Build 15063.447)

I have a couple of 1TB SATA external drives, to which I backup my files, and it's always telling me that it can't "Eject" them, because some program is using the drive.

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. . . Have you checked the indexing options in Control Panel? If could be always checking the drive for changes, to update the search index.

I keep every thing in one folder, that I want indexed. I see that it was indexing some other things. I got rid of those, and then it successfully "Ejected" with one click the first time.

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I also double checked this, while the two drives were running. I have it set on the "default" of these two:

Control Panel / Device Manager / Disk drives / Generic External USB Device / right-click - Properties / Policies tab . . .

[dot] Quick removal (default) . . . Disables write caching on the device and in Windows, but you can disconnect the device safely without using the Safely Remove Hardware notification icon.

Better performance . . . Enables write caching in Windows, but you must use the Safely Remove Hardware notification icon to disconnect the device safely.

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So, I am going to assume that after I do my backup (I make a mirror copy using SyncBackPro), I can then just "power off" the drives, and not worry about the write head striking the platter, and ruining the hard drives. Only time will tell.

 

Here's my current thinking in 3 points, based on this page: Do You Really Need to Safely Remove USB Flash Drives? . . . Do You Really Need to Safely Remove USB Flash Drives? 1.) "Quick Removal" is the default (to minimize the chances of data corruption), because many people forget, or never use, the "Safely Remove Hardware" option. 2.) Put the Policy on . . . Better performance . . . Enables write caching in Windows, but you must use the Safely Remove Hardware notification icon to disconnect the device safely. 3.) Use the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon, and eject your device before unplugging it, eliminating any chances of data corruption . . . This advice doesn’t just apply to Windows, but also to Linux and Mac OS X

 

1.) Make your external drive(s) "Exclusions" in your anti-virus

2.) I have a .BAT file, where I launch SyncBack Pro and this program:

USB Disk Ejector | Quick And Easy Software . . . USB Disk Ejector | Quick And Easy Software

After I make my mirror copy, I was doing Safely Remove with USB Disk Ejector, more easily than I was with the Win 10 icon in the Notification Tray.

Then, I noticed that if I closed both SyncBack Pro, and USB Disk Ejector, then the Win 10 icon in the Notification Tray worked more consistently to disconnect the drives with one click, then before. Maybe USB Disk Ejector wakes up Win 10.

I see that they have a new version of USB Disk Ejector, 1.3.0.6, maybe there was in improvment, I'll have to try this . . . anyway, that's where I'm at.