most of the time when i want to safely eject my flash drive after using portableapps.com platform for some time, i get a error message telling me "there is a problem ejecting usb mass storage device", that "windows can't stop my generic device because a program is still using it", now i shut down everything i was using. and even looked in the task manager to try and see what might be using it but i still have no idea....
i dont know how to upload a image of the screen shot i took of the error message, but it just tells me to "close any other programs that might be using the device. and try again later".. and this can go on for ever, usually i just shut the computer down and leave the usb in..
i've searched for this topic but havnt seen anything on it...running vista basic, any ideas? 8) thanks
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Windows locks the drive for no reason, especially under Vista and later. If you attempt safe removal three times and still no luck, just pull the drive. I've been doing that for years with no issues.
Nice thing about Windows 7 (I've been using the beta since it came out) is that if safe removal fails it'll let you ignore the warning and continue anyway. Very useful for when the OS doesn't want to let it go.
very often an unclosed process (Acrobatreader plugin in Firefox),
problems with the recycle bin
-> solution use unlocker
portable https://portableapps.com/node/12210
or local http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/
"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisici elit, sed eiusmod tempor incidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis .." Friday Next -
"May The Schwartz be with You!" Yogurt the Yoda
Try right clicking on the portableapps icon on the taskbar.
The offered choices in the popup menu of eject and exit seem to work allow removal "safely"
Have you noticed editing is always needed for the inevitable typos that weren't there when you hit the "post" button?
the OS itself holds onto the drive, evidenced by the fact that Unlocker can't find any outstanding handles. This is extremely frustrating, and the only way out at that point is to either pull the drive or shut down/hibernate (hibernating closes files and dismounts USB devices, which is why some portable programs react badly coming out of hibernation, even if the drive is still physically plugged in).
but simply plugging off should be the exception after unlocker hasn´t found any handle...
"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisici elit, sed eiusmod tempor incidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis .." Friday Next -
"May The Schwartz be with You!" Yogurt the Yoda
Which is why I do just pull it when that happens, as stated in my original post (except in Windows 7, where I can just click Continue to ignore the "still in use" warning).
thanks you've all been really helpful i think this answers my question