Having issues ejecting USB from laptop

bobbyss

I am very much a novice when it comes to computers.

Can anyone help with the following issue. When I go to eject my USB stick sometimes I get a message:

This device is currently in use. Close any programmes or windows that might be using the device and then try again.

What should I do at that point? As far as I can see I have nothing else open. Not that I can see.

What does it mean? What should I do? If anyone can explain as simply as possible I would appreciate it.

Thanks.

arsebiscuits82

Just yank it out. I’ve never had an issue

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058321126/having-issues-ejecting-usb-from-laptop

Make sure that you close whatever applications were writing to the device. What kinds of files did you put on the device and how did you put them there?

DopeTech

Some application is using the usb. If nothing obvious then maybe you have OneDrive, google drive, Dropbox or similar set to back it up?

Glaceon

Sometimes Windows itself ends up locking the drive. You can usually tell what is locking it from the event logs but it gets quite technical. If you’re not sure, shutting down Windows before removing is really the safest way. 99% of the time you’d be fine just removing it anyway but there’s always a risk.

FishOnABike

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121326502#Comment_121326502

You might be lucky most of the time but it can end up corrupting the data on the USB drive.

Close any open applications ( including file manager) and try ejecting the USB drive from the pop up (usually on the right hand side) in the task bar

If all else fails, as @Glaceon said above. Shutdown and remove the USB when the system has shutdown fully. It might seem like overkill but it depends on how important the data on the USB is. And always have a separate backup if you can't afford to lose the data.

The Nal

..

windowcills

Yank the drive when ever you want

never save from word, etc to a usb, save to computers documents then backup or copy to usb or cloud asap (well wait for the copying to complete)

smuggler.ie

Among other things that were mentioned, antivirus could be in process of scanning the drive

Restarting "Windows Explorer" from Task Manager should let it go, restart of computer somewhat overkill, but perhaps an option

For me "yank it" would be acceptable - do not store "important data" on USB if its the only copy that you have.

bobbyss

Thank you all. Sometimes I just pull it out but then some folder or other has gone missing. I was told the safest way to deal with this issue was to shut down.

While I am at it could I ask what are these things on my usb stick? I can not delete them. 99% of all my folders are Word documents. I have about 2 folders which are like this. Nothing I do can get rid of them. Qat are they? How to delete them?

Thanks again.

Glaceon

Corrupt files, you’ll need to run a disk check on it. Right click the drive in File Explorer, choose Properties and go to the Tools tab. Click the Check button.

DopeTech

Copy the files off the usb that you want to the computer. Format the usb and then copy your files back onto it. As mentioned above though always make sure to have a cloud copy becuase usbs can fail.

smuggler.ie

...and this might explain why you can eject the drive. OS still trying to "read" that corruption.

What drive is it, by chance not the one of "982GB" for a tenner?

ItHurtsWhenIP

I have an external hard drive I use for backups that doesn't always eject on my first request ... a second eject request always works on it.