[HELP] Easy locked files/HDD Unlocker

So, sometimes when I'm using my HDD and then would like to safely remove it, it tells me that it's busy. By what? Why should I care? I need my HDD out right now! Same for some files and folders, can't delete them because they are used by smth. And way to see what uses it and kill it?

 

Are we talking ext HDD or what? And if your system is bogged down with to many apps loaded that will also cause the system to slow down releasing the drive. So since no one knows exactly your setup or what connected and not to system are the same lack of info doesn't help other help but only make general response.

 

I'm assuming he means a external HDD.

I have had that happen also with an external HDD. (Western Digital Drive). Usually happens when I use a program to access something on that drive. Even happens when I do a directory access of that drive. After a reboot of the computer it then allows me to unplug that drive safely.

When I use SyncBack, my back up program, to back up my C: drive to that external drive I never have any problems un-pluging that external drive. But I still do the safely unplug thing.

 

Try restarting Windows explorer process in task manager

 

That message means that Windows is detecting that a program is accessing the drive. Note that because Windows detects this, it doesn't mean that the drive is in actual use. A good example of this would be 7-zip, the moment the drive it is accessing is an external device, Windows will give you that message regardless of whether or not data is actually being read or written to the drive. Sometimes, programs also do not "release" the drive properly which makes windows think that the drive is still in use. It's not common, but I've had it happen a few times over the last couple of years.

If you are 100% certain that nothing is being read or written to the drive, then you can just unplug it. Otherwise, the restart TreeTops Ranch suggested will do the trick.

If you're also talking about files on the OS drive or any internal drive, any program that has a file or folder open will result in that error when you try to move, delete or do other operations on the file or folder. For example, if a Word document is open in Word, try to delete it and you'll get that message. Depending on what kind of file you're trying to move, delete, etc. I would be very careful of doing anything to it. If they are files you created such as word documents, etc. then nothing to worry too much about. However, a lot of programs will create files that they use for various purposes (configuration files and so on) that may not seem to serve a purpose initially, but are needed. A lot of those files will end up in user folders because since Windows Vista, permissions for certain folders are restricted (and with good reason). An example of this, is a software that I use for treatment of micro X-ray CT image stacks, where it stores, UI preferences, etc. in the user folder for that very reason.

 

Exactly what i'm talking about, and i can't say its a rare case. And definitely restarting pc or explorer is not a good option. I though people already wrote a utility that will show that bastard that locked my HDD... That's what i was looking for.