Can't safely remove usb hard drive

[victord66]

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.

[John]

Most likely you still have a view of it open in windows explorer or my
computer. close it & try again.
"victord66" <***@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:E238E9DA-C7AC-4B10-961B-***@microsoft.com...
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.

[Mark@VRTS]

I had the same problem. Then I decided to shutdown the system and pull the
USB off while it was shutdown. During the reboot mine stops and says...
insert boot device... and until I plug it back in the system won't boot! Try
and boot without your Maxtor connected.

Post by John
Most likely you still have a view of it open in windows explorer or my
computer. close it & try again.
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.

[Sano]

Post by victord66
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?

[Sano]

Post by Sano

Post by victord66
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?

Sano- thread found thru tomshardware-

I have a 60GB pata FAT32 ext usb hdd, formerly on a w98SE machine as a
data hdd. It has 6 partitions, one of which is marked "Active" in XP Pro
Disk Management. (the first position on the disk). I've used it on and
off for several months. I don't recall if it has always thrown the

'The device 'Generic volume' cannot be stopped because a program is
still accessing it.'

message. But it has the last two days I've used it.

I plugged it in and opened XPs Disk Management> opened properties for
the active partition> which opened a window with -all- disk devices
listed. Floppy, boot drive, USB hdd, and two optical drives.

Selected the USB hdd and ticked Properties.

Policies are set to optomize for Quick Removal. Ticked the Volumes tab
and the hdd is set with a MBR. I ticked Populate and all the partitions
appeared. I ticked the active one and then ticked the Properties button.

In the resulting box, I was presented with an option to remove all
backups except the last (I assume Good) one... "to save space". I ticked
that option.

My P4 2.8Ghz hummed for maybe a minute removing backups. I didn't
consider the "where" of those backups. Maybe 'every' extra backup on the
entire machine or perhaps a backup, hidden, and written to the 60GB hdd,
(the ext usb hdd).

After closing out of all that and closing Windows Explorer.... removing
the hdd is _not_ a problem.

[mike loeven]

i think i found a fix for this as well as the fix for phantom drive accesses.
in the disk properties there is a check box that says allow indexing service
to index this disk for fast file searching. if you uncheck this and select
all folders and subfolders. it does fix the problem for me. but if you havent
done this try disabling the indexing service and trying to eject the drive
again i have a feeling that is whats locking it down. if you have an active
virus scanner you can try adding the drive to the exclude list or disabling
the scanner just before ejecting. alot of services can access the disk
without you knowing that they are even there

Post by Sano

Post by Sano

Post by victord66
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?

Sano- thread found thru tomshardware-
I have a 60GB pata FAT32 ext usb hdd, formerly on a w98SE machine as a
data hdd. It has 6 partitions, one of which is marked "Active" in XP Pro
Disk Management. (the first position on the disk). I've used it on and
off for several months. I don't recall if it has always thrown the
'The device 'Generic volume' cannot be stopped because a program is
still accessing it.'
message. But it has the last two days I've used it.
I plugged it in and opened XPs Disk Management> opened properties for
the active partition> which opened a window with -all- disk devices
listed. Floppy, boot drive, USB hdd, and two optical drives.
Selected the USB hdd and ticked Properties.
Policies are set to optomize for Quick Removal. Ticked the Volumes tab
and the hdd is set with a MBR. I ticked Populate and all the partitions
appeared. I ticked the active one and then ticked the Properties button.
In the resulting box, I was presented with an option to remove all
backups except the last (I assume Good) one... "to save space". I ticked
that option.
My P4 2.8Ghz hummed for maybe a minute removing backups. I didn't
consider the "where" of those backups. Maybe 'every' extra backup on the
entire machine or perhaps a backup, hidden, and written to the 60GB hdd,
(the ext usb hdd).
After closing out of all that and closing Windows Explorer.... removing
the hdd is _not_ a problem.
.