=?Utf-8?B?dmljdG9yZDY2?= wrote in
:

When I try to safely remove my Maxtor usb drive I get an error
message: 'The device 'Generic volume' cannot be stopped because a
program is still accessing it.' There are no programs accessing the
drive as I only use it for storage. How can I eliminate this
problem? Thanks.

The os is writing to a System Volume Information folder/ file on the USB
hdd. Booting to Safe Mode and renaming _that_ file on the usb hdd won't
solve the issue. It may take one or two times to redetect the hdd after a
rename but XP will make a new System Volume Info folder on it. And
probably keeps writing to it to deny "safe removal".

Perhaps there's a "bootable" flag being detected in the usb hdds MBR?