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    safely remove hardware problem

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by loft, Feb 15, 2011.

  1. loft

    loft Newbie

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    After using my flashdrive, I go to "safely remove hardware", but get the message that it is still in use. This is despite closing all activities. Any ideas?
     
    loft, Feb 15, 2011
    #1
  2. JKleiss

    JKleiss Notebook Evangelist

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    put computer 2 sleep, take out drive, wake it up
     
    JKleiss, Feb 15, 2011
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  3. JOSEA

    JOSEA NONE

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    ^^^^ IF this does not work, sometimes you have to wait a few seconds depending on the OS and the overall speed of your computer. I have also had success in fixing this (especially if it does not happen all the time) in Vista by ending by ending task - explorer.exe, then file- run explorer.exe from task manager. I noticed this also seemed to happen more often when I had indexing turned on (VISTA)

    I have never had it happen in Win 7 (yet)
     
    JOSEA, Feb 15, 2011
    #3
  4. sgogeta4

    sgogeta4 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    If you are absolutely sure there are no processes running an active write process to the USB key, I've always just unplugged it without any data loss.
     
    sgogeta4, Feb 16, 2011
    #4
  5. Hiker

    Hiker Notebook Deity

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    Since I've switched to Win7, I noticed even though it's "safe to remove hardware" the USB activity light is still on when before it used to shut off
     
    Hiker, Feb 16, 2011
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  6. turqoisegirl08

    turqoisegirl08 Notebook Evangelist

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    I've had this problem also. Most of the time I can disconnect a flash drive by going to start>Computer>>highlight the drive and then eject it. If I have my USB external drive then I have to shut it down or put it to sleep mode and then remove the USB cables.
     
    turqoisegirl08, Feb 16, 2011
    #6
  7. reb1

    reb1 Notebook Evangelist

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    I use unlocker assistant for this problem.
     
    reb1, Feb 17, 2011
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  8. Texanman

    Texanman Master of all things Cake

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    Sometimes this issue confounds myself but then I realize something.... if you have the explorer window open in the flash drive folder... windows will complain that your drive is in use
     
    Texanman, Feb 19, 2011
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  9. Falco152

    Falco152 Notebook Demon

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    Windows 7 and Vista are the ones that automatically closes the explorer window if viewing that particular device as a very last step of verifying if that device is not under input / output operations.

    Windows XP can also do the above does, but it seems rarely works and instead throws the device is in use.
     
    Falco152, Feb 19, 2011
    #9