Windows 10: 'Safely Remove' - Blocked by unknown program

I have three external USB-3 HDDs connected via a powered USB-3 hub. Sometimes, not always, I am blocked from unplugging the hub from the PC because a program is using at least one of the HDDs. How can I determine what is preventing the 'Safe Removal' and forcing me to shutdown the PC? I do terminate all programs I have started and I have tried using Process Explorer but it shows nothing beyond PID 4 System.

:)

 

How to find what program is using a device

Gerald,

I have seen some threads about trouble ejecting external drive so you might try searching for that or something similar. However, I have never noticed one that definitively solves the problem. I saved these links

USB devices fail to eject - Microsoft Community [Slance identifies Speedfan as another cause of the
problem]

'Safely Remove' - Blocked by unknown program - Windows 10 Forums [ComputerGeek mentions an
OpenedFilesView utility that I think might be what you have asked about]

If you are interested in workarounds then

• connect your external drive,
  [*]go to Device manager,
  [*]Disk drives,
  [*]double-click on each external drive in turn,
  [*]Policies tab,
  [*]check it is set to Quick removal.
  

This setting allows you to disconnect your external drives without having to use the Safely remove ... procedure without any damage being caused.

Denis

 

minor question (priority 5) - is 'smartscreen' suppose to affect firefox? cos it did - also it was on 'warn' and it still blocked the app

It's possible that SmartScreen filter may have found the software as unsafe. Is SmartScreen blocking the software upon download or while being launched? Even if the "Warn" setting is enabled to get a warning first, SmartScreen will always block unsafe application
and file, which can either be coming from an unknown source or made by an unknown developer or publisher. If you think that the software is safe, you may try running the program as an administrator and see if it helps. To do this, right-click the program and
go to Properties > Compatibility > Tick Run
as administrator box, and then hit OK.

Let us know how it goes.

 

With a hub it's all only one device no matter how many things you have plugged in, you can safely remove whole thing only, not only one device.

 

I think somewhere there is a miscommunication.

I want to unplug all of the USB HDDs at the same time, therefore I use the 'Safely Remove' icon to dismount each of the HDDs. Then, when they ready, I unplug the hub.. I don't believe that it would be a good idea to just unplug the hub willy-nilly.

What I am looking for is a means to identify what is preventing the dismount of a USB HDD.

 

I'd open File Explorer, right-click each drive and choose Eject, should give a message when one is tried that is holding things up.

 

I'm sorry but that won't work. 'Eject' is not available as an option in File Explorer for my USB 3 HDDs. One way I have found to force the issue is to go into Disk Management and take the each disk offline, but that is a pain because I then have to put each disk back online when I replug them.

 

yea, that can be a tough one to figure out. Sometimes I've found OpenedFilesView helpful (displays a list of open files, file handles and the the process that has it open). But also times the tool didn't show anything that helped. *Sad fyi.. I've found some background processes don;t seem to show up in the tool

fyi.. sometimes i've also found it to be my a/v or other real-time tool i run that's scanning files in the background. I also run CrashPlan for continuous backups. Crashplan can also keep a large file locked while it backs it up in the background. Moral: Try identifying what programs you run that scan files in the background. Try disabling them when the problem occurs. Can take a short while (maybe up to 30 seconds? don't recall for sure) before disabling has made an affect.

Of course, there are still (many) times when i can't figure out the culprit and have to shutdown to safely remove

 

When I've had the 'in use' message on trying to eject USB HDD's it's almost always been Task Manager that was the program keeping them open. Closed it and I could then eject.

 

Yes, an old problem, but I only run Task manager as and when I need it. Also, it's not all three of the HDDs that are hanging, usually it's only one, often a different one everytime.

 

OK, I have solved my problem. I haven't found a way of determining what is holding the USB drives up, but I have found out what was causing my problem.

A little background.
I use Calibre to manage my collection of digital books, and to transfer the books to my Kindle via USB. Lately I have been in the habit of using the Calibre facilities to eject the Kindle when any transfers were done. This was the mistake. Now I have gone back to shutting down Calibre and using the 'Safely Remove' icon to eject the Kindle and the problem went away.