XP USB Thumb Drive Removal

[mpm]

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

 

[mpm]

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.

Must be a viewer program that isn't cleaning up after itself when it
closes then.??
Because I get this error message when only the desktop is showing (no
programs running).
I never thought about attempting to eject with an active viewer is
open.
But like you say, you would EXPECT to get the message in that case.

 

[Martin Brown]

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...

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

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.

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.

stumped here.  XP-Home, SP-2

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

 

[Martin Brown]

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

And you trust the driver to do this entirely reliably. That is very
brave!
(the risk of data loss is extremely low unless a write actually is in
progress)

I would prefer to have them readonly by default unless I actually
want to write to them. It is hard for even the most unreliable OS to
corrupt media when it cannot enable a write operation due to hardware
interlocking. I would also prefer that cameras were implemented as
readonly PC devices by default with active intervention needed to
upload stuff.

Regards,
Martin Brown

 

[JW]

Because I get this error message when only the desktop is showing (no
programs running).

Not even an anti-virus process?

 

[mpm]

Not even an anti-virus process?

That's a good point.
I hadn't thought about that.

 

[AnimalMagic]

For example, having an Explorer window open should not
prevent stopping the drive.

ONLY if the cursor focus is NOT on that drive.

That is the main issue.

You cannot be browsing the drive when you intend to stop it.

Your focus has to be moved to another volume.

Then, do NOT right click on the icon, standard LEFT click on it and
select the drive you want to unmount. It will with a single mouse click.

The right click method is lame as it requires one to go through two
more menus to kill and release the volume.

 

[mpm]

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.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

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.