The most common causes are background processes like file indexing or antivirus scans. Other potential causes include open files or programs that haven’t fully closed or even a system driver issue. To circumvent your issue, please follow the solutions down below in the same order as provided.
1. Restart your System
Before trying anything else, restart your PC. Temporary bugs or background processes might be preventing the safe removal of the external drive. Restarting closes all applications and system services, clearing any potential lock on the drive.
2. Checking the Hard Drive policy
Modifying the “Removal Policy” to “Better Performance” can help resolve eject issues by improving how Windows manages data transfers to the external drive. In this mode, Windows uses write caching to increase performance, ensuring large files or processes complete efficiently.
3. Using Safely Remove Hardware utility
Using the “Safely Remove Hardware” option tells the system to finish any ongoing operations with the external drive. This ensures that any files being written or read are completed and disconnects the drive from any hidden background tasks.
4. Run the Windows Hardware and Devices Troubleshooter
This issue can be resolved using Windows’ built-in Hardware and Devices Troubleshooter, which helps to identify and fix problems that could be preventing safe ejection. The utility scans for driver conflicts, hardware malfunctions, or misconfigured settings that may cause the system to keep the drive in use.
5. Eject the Drive Using Disk Management
Disk Management is a built-in Windows tool that offers more control over drives. By marking the external drive as “offline” with this tool, you force Windows to disconnect from it completely. This ensures that any background tasks or processes no longer use the drive, making it safe to remove. It is important to note that once you eject the external hard drive, it will appear as Offline. Therefore, the next time you want to use the drive on your system, make sure to change the status to Online in Disk Management.
6. Update USB Drivers
Outdated drivers can cause Windows to misread device status, leading to ejection errors. Keeping drivers up to date ensures smooth communication between the system and external drives, preventing such issues.
