Seagate FreeAgent USB 2.0 Ejection problem

[asiniv]

Hi,

I have a very specific problem which seems to only happen with my Seagate FreeAgent 500GB.
More often than not when I finish my work with it - close all related tasks and try to eject it, I get the error "Problem ejecting USB mass Storage Device - Windows can't stop your 'Generic Volume' device..." (Win 7 64Bit).
Whenever this happens I use Process-Explorer in order to identify the related handle and try to shut it down. Thing is - whenever it's in this state it's also usually a system handle which causes this, and prevents me from accessing it and properly shutting it down.

I'm unable to identify the exact conditions as such that causes this state and am not sure how to get rid / avoid this annoying problem.

(It's worth noting that other USB storage device, like my SanDisk 4GB Flash Stick do not seem to present this problem at all).

So a couple of questions come to mind:

a. How do I solve this issue properly ?
b. In case (a) is not attainable - what is the long-run risk of force ejecting a USB storage device without a proper ejection?

Advice much appreciated.
Thank you!

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there asiniv,

Well, I believe you can use some third party tool that can show you what is accessing the drive: http://superuser.com/questions/477086/how-to-find-out-whats-accessing-a-particular-hard-drive-on-windows
Apart from that, you can try attaching the drive with a different cable to another port. You can even attach it to another system to see if the issue persists.

Keep in mind that non proper ejection could result in data loss.

Let me know how this goes,
D_Know_WD

 

[asiniv]

Hello Dknow_WD and thank you for your advice.

I have already tried to switch cables / USB ports, to no avail - it doesn't seem to be related to the problem, as it sometimes happens on either combination.

In addition, the link you have sent me contains a reference to the sysinternals tweak tools, in which I already use Process Explorer for the matter at hand. Even with this tool, whenever I encounter such a situation, and identify the relevant handle by performing a search based on the driver letter only, it finds the relevant processes, but it's unable to close them on account of it being locked as a system process.

So - any suggestions on how I can avoid such a state, or perhaps shutdown such a process, which hinders a proper ejection, even by brute-force termination?

Thanks in advance!

 

[asiniv]

Hi there again,
PSB a link to a PrtSC image, which directly illustrates the problem:

https://goo.gl/photos/gfG8aQRwzMLkG1Vg9

I have just finished work with lightroom / photoshop / google drive ; And now I cannot properly eject the FreeAgent USB drive (the former were properly terminated). Via Process-Explorer, you may see that Upon searching for a handle, by the drive letter (h); some metadata system process is found.

When I try to kill it nothing happens.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!