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XP USB Thumb Drive Removal

I occasionally get a Windows error saying a USB drive can't be stopped and to try again later. (Even though the drive is not being accessed.) This happens when I try to eject the drive using the icon in the bottom right taskbar. And of course, waiting and trying later does not work...

Sometimes, I can do a right-click, Start, explore to bring up a directory and this will fix it (refresh?). But other times, no. In which case I just unplug the damn thumbdrive anyway... And even if I do this, about 95% of the time if I plug something else into the port (or even reinsert the same USB device), it registers and works fine.

It's just a nusiance really. Anybody know the cause of this behavior? It is not limited to thumb drives. I've got a couple cameras that do the same thing. Also, it's not reliably repeatable. Occasionally things "eject" just fine.

stumped here. XP-Home, SP-2

-mpm

Reply to
mpm
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I just yank them out. There's a setup mode that disables write caching.

John

Reply to
John Larkin

This situation occurs if you happen to have an open file (such as a viewer looking at an image or directory on the thumb drive or camera memory card). Closing out open files or files being viewed before requesting safe removal should do the trick.

Bert

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Reply to
Bert Hickman

Yes. It would be nice if it gave the name of the application with an open file handle at this point.

If it won't eject then it usually means there is still a file handle open on the device - ie in use as far as the OS is concerned. This could be your AV scanning the media or some application you have run not terminating cleanly. Keep track of which applications result in the silly message and you should find your answer.

Unplugging it is a little bit brutal and could risk data loss if the media is being written to at the time. This is a potential risk if the last thing you were doing is browsing a directory of images since XP insists on creating "Thumbs.db" everywhere it can (system, hidden file).

Regards, Martin Brown

Reply to
Martin Brown

Another approach is to do a chkdsk. If there are open file handles, they'll be closed, which at least makes sure the OS buffers are flushed--though not the application's buffers.

Once the chkdsk is done (which takes about 2 seconds on a thumb drive) you can pull it out with no worries. I commonly do this to save files (e.g. videos) that the browser wants to delete when it closes--you have to set the TMP or TEMP environment variable to a partition you don't mind unmounting on the fly--not a thumb drive, generally.

Cheers,

Phil Hobbs

Reply to
Phil Hobbs
Reply to
Brendan Gillatt

Could indexing be enabled for the thumb drive? Does it actually show any activity on the LED?

The whole thing is a bit clumsy, and when you have 25 windows open and a half a dozen flash and thumb drives mounted, not particularly nice to work with. For example, having an Explorer window open should not prevent stopping the drive.

Reply to
Spehro Pefhany

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The thumb drive has an integral LED. It does not illuminate when this problem manifests. Very often, the drive will have been "idle" for several minutes to even hours. It just won't go quietly...

I am sure it's not actively being accessed (visibly via LED) when this problem occurs. I also keep a pretty tidy desktop. Generally, very few programs open simultaneously. Remember: This problem also occurs when the only thing showing on the screen is the desktop.

Reply to
mpm

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