HELP! External Hard drive won't safely remove on my laptop but does on others

[wsk2450]

Hello I have a 1TB Western Digital External Hard Drive. I recently installed a new Solid state drive on my laptop. However, now USB flash drives and my external hard drive cannot safely be removed. It says "the device is currently in use. Close any programs or windows that might be using the device, and then try again."

This problem never occurred before I installed the new SSD. It can safely be removed on my friend's laptop but not mine. Can you please tell me how to fix this?

Thanks!

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there wsk2450,

It seems that something is accessing your drive. You can use some third party software in order to find out which process is preventing you from ejecting the drive.
Check these out:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/555665?wa=wsignin1.0
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2040932/how-to-safely-remove-a-usb-drive-even-when-windows-says-it-isnt-safe-to-do-so.html
https://www.raymond.cc/blog/how-to-fix-problem-ejecting-usb-mass-storage-device-error/

After you sort this out, I guess it will not hurt to check the drive's health out with WD's Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tool: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=lUQ85p

Hope this will help,
D_Know_WD