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#1
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safely removing external USB drive
Sometimes when I've backed up my internal hard drive to an external USB hard
drive with Acronis True Image, I can't "safely remove" the external drive. I click on Safely Remove Hardware and get told the device cannot be stopped now and I should try later. Tonight I've been trying to remove the external drive for at least 3 hours and am still getting the same message--and now and then I see the light flash on the drive. It looks like the drive is going to stay connected at least til morning. Is there something I can do to be able to remove the drive in a reasonable amount of time without running the risk of losing data? Thank you! Jo-Anne |
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#2
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safely removing external USB drive
"Jo-Anne" wrote in message ... Sometimes when I've backed up my internal hard drive to an external USB hard drive with Acronis True Image, I can't "safely remove" the external drive. I click on Safely Remove Hardware and get told the device cannot be stopped now and I should try later. Tonight I've been trying to remove the external drive for at least 3 hours and am still getting the same message--and now and then I see the light flash on the drive. It looks like the drive is going to stay connected at least til morning. Is there something I can do to be able to remove the drive in a reasonable amount of time without running the risk of losing data? Thank you! Jo-Anne Restart the pc using Shutdown/Restart. While it's booting take the drive out (earlier the better, immediately when it shuts down is best so even the BIOS doesn't see it). Windows should flush anything required and stop anything using the drive during the shutdown procedure so data should be ok. I occasionally have the same problem but usually just selecting the option to "safely remove" a second time is all that's required. |
#3
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safely removing external USB drive
Jo-Anne wrote:
Sometimes when I've backed up my internal hard drive to an external USB hard drive with Acronis True Image, I can't "safely remove" the external drive. I click on Safely Remove Hardware and get told the device cannot be stopped now and I should try later. Tonight I've been trying to remove the external drive for at least 3 hours and am still getting the same message--and now and then I see the light flash on the drive. It looks like the drive is going to stay connected at least til morning. Is there something I can do to be able to remove the drive in a reasonable amount of time without running the risk of losing data? Thank you! Jo-Anne There is a thread here on the subject. In particular, the accessing of a ".tib" file on the affected disk. http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=242607 To analyze, you can get a copy of Process Explorer, click "Explorer.EXE" then look in the lower pane for "File" entries. You might see the open file on the external drive that way. At least, in the previous thread, that is what the poster was checking. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/s.../bb896653.aspx There is a second program called "Handle", and it runs from the Command Prompt. I tried changing directory to where I have this unpacked, and typed "handle", and it seems to give me a list of open files on my system. An open file prevents Safe Removal. Virtually everything open right now, is a file on my C: partition (and of course, there's little chance of "Safely Removing" a C: partition). http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/s.../bb896655.aspx I believe the person who wrote Handle, thinks Process Explorer is a functional equivalent, but you might like the output of Handle better. You can always redirect the output to a file, such as handle output.txt and then review the contents of output.txt with Notepad. Otherwise, there may be too much output from Handle, to be able to scroll back the Command Prompt window and see it all. If you see your external drive letter, in the output.txt file, then you can determine which process is doing it. Paul |
#4
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safely removing external USB drive
"pjp" wrote in message
... "Jo-Anne" wrote in message ... Sometimes when I've backed up my internal hard drive to an external USB hard drive with Acronis True Image, I can't "safely remove" the external drive. I click on Safely Remove Hardware and get told the device cannot be stopped now and I should try later. Tonight I've been trying to remove the external drive for at least 3 hours and am still getting the same message--and now and then I see the light flash on the drive. It looks like the drive is going to stay connected at least til morning. Is there something I can do to be able to remove the drive in a reasonable amount of time without running the risk of losing data? Thank you! Jo-Anne Restart the pc using Shutdown/Restart. While it's booting take the drive out (earlier the better, immediately when it shuts down is best so even the BIOS doesn't see it). Windows should flush anything required and stop anything using the drive during the shutdown procedure so data should be ok. I occasionally have the same problem but usually just selecting the option to "safely remove" a second time is all that's required. Thank you, pjp! I did what you said and will hope for the best. I've occasionally had a brief problem with my memory stick--not using Acronis True Image--but, as you say, usually trying a second time clears it. I left the external hard drive connected all night and still couldn't safely remove it today, so I followed your directions. Thank you again! Jo-Anne |
#5
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safely removing external USB drive
"Paul" wrote in message
... Jo-Anne wrote: Sometimes when I've backed up my internal hard drive to an external USB hard drive with Acronis True Image, I can't "safely remove" the external drive. I click on Safely Remove Hardware and get told the device cannot be stopped now and I should try later. Tonight I've been trying to remove the external drive for at least 3 hours and am still getting the same message--and now and then I see the light flash on the drive. It looks like the drive is going to stay connected at least til morning. Is there something I can do to be able to remove the drive in a reasonable amount of time without running the risk of losing data? Thank you! Jo-Anne There is a thread here on the subject. In particular, the accessing of a ".tib" file on the affected disk. http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=242607 To analyze, you can get a copy of Process Explorer, click "Explorer.EXE" then look in the lower pane for "File" entries. You might see the open file on the external drive that way. At least, in the previous thread, that is what the poster was checking. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/s.../bb896653.aspx There is a second program called "Handle", and it runs from the Command Prompt. I tried changing directory to where I have this unpacked, and typed "handle", and it seems to give me a list of open files on my system. An open file prevents Safe Removal. Virtually everything open right now, is a file on my C: partition (and of course, there's little chance of "Safely Removing" a C: partition). http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/s.../bb896655.aspx I believe the person who wrote Handle, thinks Process Explorer is a functional equivalent, but you might like the output of Handle better. You can always redirect the output to a file, such as handle output.txt and then review the contents of output.txt with Notepad. Otherwise, there may be too much output from Handle, to be able to scroll back the Command Prompt window and see it all. If you see your external drive letter, in the output.txt file, then you can determine which process is doing it. Paul Thank you, Paul! For now, I did what pjp suggested (this morning I still was getting the same message as last night). I'll check out the other methods too, though. I did check processes in Windows Task Manager, and nothing seemed to be happening. At that point I did a shutdown/restart and removed the drive during shutdown. Jo-Anne |
#6
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safely removing external USB drive
On 11/13/2010 10:25 AM, Jo-Anne wrote:
wrote in message ... Jo-Anne wrote: Sometimes when I've backed up my internal hard drive to an external USB hard drive with Acronis True Image, I can't "safely remove" the external drive. I click on Safely Remove Hardware and get told the device cannot be stopped now and I should try later. Tonight I've been trying to remove the external drive for at least 3 hours and am still getting the same message--and now and then I see the light flash on the drive. It looks like the drive is going to stay connected at least til morning. Is there something I can do to be able to remove the drive in a reasonable amount of time without running the risk of losing data? Thank you! Jo-Anne There is a thread here on the subject. In particular, the accessing of a ".tib" file on the affected disk. http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=242607 To analyze, you can get a copy of Process Explorer, click "Explorer.EXE" then look in the lower pane for "File" entries. You might see the open file on the external drive that way. At least, in the previous thread, that is what the poster was checking. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/s.../bb896653.aspx There is a second program called "Handle", and it runs from the Command Prompt. I tried changing directory to where I have this unpacked, and typed "handle", and it seems to give me a list of open files on my system. An open file prevents Safe Removal. Virtually everything open right now, is a file on my C: partition (and of course, there's little chance of "Safely Removing" a C: partition). http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/s.../bb896655.aspx I believe the person who wrote Handle, thinks Process Explorer is a functional equivalent, but you might like the output of Handle better. You can always redirect the output to a file, such as handle output.txt and then review the contents of output.txt with Notepad. Otherwise, there may be too much output from Handle, to be able to scroll back the Command Prompt window and see it all. If you see your external drive letter, in the output.txt file, then you can determine which process is doing it. Paul Thank you, Paul! For now, I did what pjp suggested (this morning I still was getting the same message as last night). I'll check out the other methods too, though. I did check processes in Windows Task Manager, and nothing seemed to be happening. At that point I did a shutdown/restart and removed the drive during shutdown. Jo-Anne Not a good idea if you disconnected at a point when the drive was still mounted... you should have waited for the machine to have shut off |
#7
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safely removing external USB drive
"Jo-Anne" wrote in message ... "pjp" wrote in message ... "Jo-Anne" wrote in message ... Sometimes when I've backed up my internal hard drive to an external USB hard drive with Acronis True Image, I can't "safely remove" the external drive. I click on Safely Remove Hardware and get told the device cannot be stopped now and I should try later. Tonight I've been trying to remove the external drive for at least 3 hours and am still getting the same message--and now and then I see the light flash on the drive. It looks like the drive is going to stay connected at least til morning. Is there something I can do to be able to remove the drive in a reasonable amount of time without running the risk of losing data? Thank you! Jo-Anne Restart the pc using Shutdown/Restart. While it's booting take the drive out (earlier the better, immediately when it shuts down is best so even the BIOS doesn't see it). Windows should flush anything required and stop anything using the drive during the shutdown procedure so data should be ok. I occasionally have the same problem but usually just selecting the option to "safely remove" a second time is all that's required. Thank you, pjp! I did what you said and will hope for the best. I've occasionally had a brief problem with my memory stick--not using Acronis True Image--but, as you say, usually trying a second time clears it. I left the external hard drive connected all night and still couldn't safely remove it today, so I followed your directions. Thank you again! Jo-Anne Hopefully it's only a mild irritation occasionally. Windows for everyone always seems to have a few though seldom the same |
#8
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safely removing external USB drive
"philo" wrote in message ... On 11/13/2010 10:25 AM, Jo-Anne wrote: wrote in message ... Jo-Anne wrote: Sometimes when I've backed up my internal hard drive to an external USB hard drive with Acronis True Image, I can't "safely remove" the external drive. I click on Safely Remove Hardware and get told the device cannot be stopped now and I should try later. Tonight I've been trying to remove the external drive for at least 3 hours and am still getting the same message--and now and then I see the light flash on the drive. It looks like the drive is going to stay connected at least til morning. Is there something I can do to be able to remove the drive in a reasonable amount of time without running the risk of losing data? Thank you! Jo-Anne There is a thread here on the subject. In particular, the accessing of a ".tib" file on the affected disk. http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=242607 To analyze, you can get a copy of Process Explorer, click "Explorer.EXE" then look in the lower pane for "File" entries. You might see the open file on the external drive that way. At least, in the previous thread, that is what the poster was checking. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/s.../bb896653.aspx There is a second program called "Handle", and it runs from the Command Prompt. I tried changing directory to where I have this unpacked, and typed "handle", and it seems to give me a list of open files on my system. An open file prevents Safe Removal. Virtually everything open right now, is a file on my C: partition (and of course, there's little chance of "Safely Removing" a C: partition). http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/s.../bb896655.aspx I believe the person who wrote Handle, thinks Process Explorer is a functional equivalent, but you might like the output of Handle better. You can always redirect the output to a file, such as handle output.txt and then review the contents of output.txt with Notepad. Otherwise, there may be too much output from Handle, to be able to scroll back the Command Prompt window and see it all. If you see your external drive letter, in the output.txt file, then you can determine which process is doing it. Paul Thank you, Paul! For now, I did what pjp suggested (this morning I still was getting the same message as last night). I'll check out the other methods too, though. I did check processes in Windows Task Manager, and nothing seemed to be happening. At that point I did a shutdown/restart and removed the drive during shutdown. Jo-Anne Not a good idea if you disconnected at a point when the drive was still mounted... you should have waited for the machine to have shut off The original advice did say do it after pc had rebooted but preferably before even the BIOS sees the device (more so to not have it check try to boot from it, a just in case scenario). It certainly isn't "mounted" at that time and hopefully Windows cleaned it up properly before it completed shutdown (which has been my experience when I run across the original problem stated). |
#9
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safely removing external USB drive
In ,
pjp typed: "Jo-Anne" wrote in message ... "pjp" wrote in message ... "Jo-Anne" wrote in message ... Sometimes when I've backed up my internal hard drive to an external USB hard drive with Acronis True Image, I can't "safely remove" the external drive. I click on Safely Remove Hardware and get told the device cannot be stopped now and I should try later. Tonight I've been trying to remove the external drive for at least 3 hours and am still getting the same message--and now and then I see the light flash on the drive. It looks like the drive is going to stay connected at least til morning. Is there something I can do to be able to remove the drive in a reasonable amount of time without running the risk of losing data? Thank you! Jo-Anne Restart the pc using Shutdown/Restart. While it's booting take the drive out (earlier the better, immediately when it shuts down is best so even the BIOS doesn't see it). Windows should flush anything required and stop anything using the drive during the shutdown procedure so data should be ok. I occasionally have the same problem but usually just selecting the option to "safely remove" a second time is all that's required. Thank you, pjp! I did what you said and will hope for the best. I've occasionally had a brief problem with my memory stick--not using Acronis True Image--but, as you say, usually trying a second time clears it. I left the external hard drive connected all night and still couldn't safely remove it today, so I followed your directions. Thank you again! Jo-Anne Hopefully it's only a mild irritation occasionally. Windows for everyone always seems to have a few though seldom the same Set the drive Properties to not need to be flushed before removal and so the icon to safely remove ... isn't needed. That turns off the buffers & wrte-behinds - & t won't appear in safely remove ... anymore. Then: As long as the light's off, you can turn it off/remove the drive. HTH, Twayne` |
#10
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safely removing external USB drive
"Twayne" wrote in message
... In , pjp typed: "Jo-Anne" wrote in message ... "pjp" wrote in message ... "Jo-Anne" wrote in message ... Sometimes when I've backed up my internal hard drive to an external USB hard drive with Acronis True Image, I can't "safely remove" the external drive. I click on Safely Remove Hardware and get told the device cannot be stopped now and I should try later. Tonight I've been trying to remove the external drive for at least 3 hours and am still getting the same message--and now and then I see the light flash on the drive. It looks like the drive is going to stay connected at least til morning. Is there something I can do to be able to remove the drive in a reasonable amount of time without running the risk of losing data? Thank you! Jo-Anne Restart the pc using Shutdown/Restart. While it's booting take the drive out (earlier the better, immediately when it shuts down is best so even the BIOS doesn't see it). Windows should flush anything required and stop anything using the drive during the shutdown procedure so data should be ok. I occasionally have the same problem but usually just selecting the option to "safely remove" a second time is all that's required. Thank you, pjp! I did what you said and will hope for the best. I've occasionally had a brief problem with my memory stick--not using Acronis True Image--but, as you say, usually trying a second time clears it. I left the external hard drive connected all night and still couldn't safely remove it today, so I followed your directions. Thank you again! Jo-Anne Hopefully it's only a mild irritation occasionally. Windows for everyone always seems to have a few though seldom the same Set the drive Properties to not need to be flushed before removal and so the icon to safely remove ... isn't needed. That turns off the buffers & wrte-behinds - & t won't appear in safely remove ... anymore. Then: As long as the light's off, you can turn it off/remove the drive. HTH, Twayne` Thank you, Twayne! I'll do that when I return home (I'm away for a couple weeks). Jo-Anne |
#11
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safely removing external USB drive
"philo" wrote in message
... On 11/13/2010 10:25 AM, Jo-Anne wrote: wrote in message ... Jo-Anne wrote: Sometimes when I've backed up my internal hard drive to an external USB hard drive with Acronis True Image, I can't "safely remove" the external drive. I click on Safely Remove Hardware and get told the device cannot be stopped now and I should try later. Tonight I've been trying to remove the external drive for at least 3 hours and am still getting the same message--and now and then I see the light flash on the drive. It looks like the drive is going to stay connected at least til morning. Is there something I can do to be able to remove the drive in a reasonable amount of time without running the risk of losing data? Thank you! Jo-Anne There is a thread here on the subject. In particular, the accessing of a ".tib" file on the affected disk. http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=242607 To analyze, you can get a copy of Process Explorer, click "Explorer.EXE" then look in the lower pane for "File" entries. You might see the open file on the external drive that way. At least, in the previous thread, that is what the poster was checking. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/s.../bb896653.aspx There is a second program called "Handle", and it runs from the Command Prompt. I tried changing directory to where I have this unpacked, and typed "handle", and it seems to give me a list of open files on my system. An open file prevents Safe Removal. Virtually everything open right now, is a file on my C: partition (and of course, there's little chance of "Safely Removing" a C: partition). http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/s.../bb896655.aspx I believe the person who wrote Handle, thinks Process Explorer is a functional equivalent, but you might like the output of Handle better. You can always redirect the output to a file, such as handle output.txt and then review the contents of output.txt with Notepad. Otherwise, there may be too much output from Handle, to be able to scroll back the Command Prompt window and see it all. If you see your external drive letter, in the output.txt file, then you can determine which process is doing it. Paul Thank you, Paul! For now, I did what pjp suggested (this morning I still was getting the same message as last night). I'll check out the other methods too, though. I did check processes in Windows Task Manager, and nothing seemed to be happening. At that point I did a shutdown/restart and removed the drive during shutdown. Jo-Anne Not a good idea if you disconnected at a point when the drive was still mounted... you should have waited for the machine to have shut off Thank you, Philo! I'll do that next time. Jo-Anne |
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