Trouble Ejecting HD

Hello,

Whenever I try to eject my hard drive (WD My Book Elite 1.5 TB) via the icon in the system tray in Windows 7, I constantly get an error message saying that the device is currently in use and that I should close any progrmas or windows that might be using the device, and then try again. Does anyone know how I can fix this problem so that I may be able to safely eject my hard drive without running the risk of data loss? I also do not have WD SmartWare installed. Thanks for your help.

ssvegeta184

 

To simply 'get this done' safely; shut down the computer.

Or, wait until the device is not in use (you don't know unless you keep trying and it lets you).

When you do access the HD, what programs or tasks do you use that depend on it?

 

I'm aware of the shutting down option which I am currently using but when I wish to move the laptop somewhere else it becomes a problem =\

The programs that I use in it are media player files, word documents and adobe pdf files. One suggestion to me by the WD staff was to disable indexing in it and I tried that but it still gives me the error. Does anyone here have this HD and is able to eject it safely from the windows taskbar?

 

I don't believe its the HD - its the programs you're using with it.

Either the media player doesn't 'let go' or the Adobe program isn't - try killing those processes in Task Manager and see if your HD ejects properly.

 

The same can happen on Vista... you just can't safely eject a drive - I've never figured out why, but I have a feeling the drive itself may be partially at fault - filesystem or what have not...

But then that wouldn't explain while it works sometimes and doesn't another time.

I generally just unplug it provided my "light" isn't flickering - not perfect, I know... but I'm not too worried.
(Set the drives up for "fast removal")