Problem Ejecting External Disk - This device is currently in use

Question

Hello,

After I connect my external disk to my HP Z4 G4 business desktop, I cannot safely remove / eject it anymore. Windows 11 says "Problem Ejecting USB Attached SCSI - This device is currently in use." Also after I click the safely remove button 100 times. It happens even right after I start my PC without doing anything else. The only way to properly disconnect the external disk seems to be to shut down the PC.

When I connect the external disk on another PC that runs Windows 10, I don't have the issue. Both PC's have Norton installed, so that doesn't seem to be the cause.

Is there a way to find out which process is preventing me from safely removing the disk?

Thanks in advance!

SJW

PS My external disk is a Sandisk Professional G-Drive 12 TB.

Answer 1

I found some info that might be helpful for anyone experiencing this problem. If the external device's (in my case an external ssd) removal policy is configured for quick removal, which for me says it's the default, then you don't have to use the Safely Remove Hardware button. It's configured such that unplugging the device without clicking that button will not corrupt data (unless you pulled it out during a file transfer I would assume). You can check the policy in the Disk Device Properties > Policies tab. Right click drive in explorer > Click Properties > Hardware Tab > Select problem drive in "All disk drives" list and click Properties > Click "Change Settings" > Policies tab.

I'm guessing this is more or less a UI bug on Microsoft's part. Since it doesn't need to be ejected, it's probably returning/utilizing invalid or malformed/unhandled data to the Safely Remove Hardware command/process and it's just generically returning an error message about it since it doesn't know how to handle it. Something like that. If it's set to Quick Removal, you should be able to just unplug it when you're not using it.

Answer 2

That doesn't resolve the issue: in the case of a external hard drive, if you not issue the safe remove procedure, Windows will not signale the external drive to shutdown and park the heads, which, in case o f a external hdd it will affect the health of the drive if you just unplug it. it will cut off the power. that is why you should do everything you can to safely eject, if you care of your drive....

Answer 3

Something I noticed - when I checked with the handles app, it was only explorer.exe that had open handles... I noticed in my explorer "Quick Access" (on the left of the File Explorer window) a few of the external drive folders were auto-added there... I removed them (right click and remove from quick access), and then was able to safely eject my disk. Not sure if it was coincidence, but perhaps explorer adding references to the folders in quick access keeps us from safely ejecting?

Answer 4

Hello,

 

After I connect my external disk to my HP Z4 G4 business desktop, I cannot safely remove / eject it anymore. Windows 11 says "Problem Ejecting USB Attached SCSI - This device is currently in use." Also after I click the safely remove button 100 times. It happens even right after I start my PC without doing anything else. The only way to properly disconnect the external disk seems to be to shut down the PC.

 

When I connect the external disk on another PC that runs Windows 10, I don't have the issue. Both PC's have Norton installed, so that doesn't seem to be the cause.

 

Is there a way to find out which process is preventing me from safely removing the disk?

Thanks in advance!

 

SJW

 

PS My external disk is a Sandisk Professional G-Drive 12 TB.

This is what worked for me in Windows 10: Go to Task Manager and open Processes, then group by TYPE and delete.

Answer 5

I started this thread and so I feel I should update.

I still do not know how to find which process uses the disk and prevents the removal. On the other hand, after the Windows update about 8 months ago the problem disappeared. No idea why.

Here is hoping it is permanent for me and will fix itself for the others.

Not to MS: the usual advice is to reinstall. This is great for those who have the time and only use the standard configuration of Windows. And it does not solve this particular problem, I tried twice.