Unable to remove external hard discs safely

Hello Donald,

Thank you for posting your question, I will be happy to help. The issue is not related to Acronis software directly, however from what you have told me this may be the possible solution.

Most probably, USB drive write caching is enabled (Optimize for performance). Disable write caching for the USB drive:

- Right-click the My Computer icon and then click Manage;

- Click the Device Manager icon;

- Click the plus (+) sign next to Disk Drives;

- Double-click the USB hard drive string:

- Click the Policies button then click the Optimize for quick removal radio-button and click OK:

After that please see if the issue remains and let us know the results. Please let me know if the provided information is not clear or if you have any other question. 

Thank you.

Same issue. Waiting for an answer.

DONALD GUERRIERO wrote:

Dell Inspiron 8600, Windows XP Professional, Acronis True Image Home 10.0 Build (4942)

I backed up my computer to a WD Passport external hard drive. Now when I want to remove this WD external hard drive, I cannot. First, I click on the Safely Remove Hardware Icon in the tray next to the clock. I receive a list of hardware devices and click on the WD Passport device. A popup with the heading Problem Ejecting USB Mass Storage Device and a Yellow ! Icon. then shows the message, "The devic 'Generic volume' cannot be stopped right now. Try stopping the device again late. OK

Unfortunately, I can wait forever and will receive the same message. The only way I know to stop the device is to turn off the computer. Will that make it safe to take off the device without losing the data on the backup drive?

This problem does not seem to be universal as I cannnot find it in Avronis or Dell/Microsoft help sites.

If someone has an answer, it will help me. Thanks, Don

I sometimes get this also with a WD Passport. I try it twice and if it doesn't clear, I make sure that the drive isn't being written to and pull out the cord. Before you try this for the first time I would recommend that you backup the Passport.

Hello !

I've the same problem using WD external drives or iomega drives ( no other drives to test). This problem occurs on different windows 2008 SBS servers (HP and Fujitsu).

I noticed that this problem only occurs when ABR is installed on the server (11345). If you uninstall ABR, everything works fine again. I analysed the process that was locking the drive.

Lockhunter shows that [system] is locking the drive,

F:\$Extend\RmMetadata\$Txf
F:\$Extend\RmMetadata\$TxfLog

(according F: is my usb drive)

I tryied to stop all acronis related services with no success.

I hope someone can help us...

bump.

This is critical for our customers.

Has this ever been resolved, just downloaded WD version for my WD passport elite. Which could be removed safely with Memeo backup software that came with drive. Problem started with use of Acronis WD version, have tried all remedies above.

Vista SP2 OS Home Premium
laptop, Core2 DUO
WD3200MLBP with WD Drive Manager

I have the same problem with esata Seagate 2TB on Windows 7 64 after a correctly ended backup.
After previous backups the problem did not shpw up. Very upsetting.

Maurizio,

Normally eSata disks are not ejectable. Some controllers with some software enable hot plugging/unplugging, but I do not recommend it. Shutdown the computer, unplug your eSata disk and reboot. This is a drawback of eSata versus USB 3.0.

Just one question, Have you shutdown (closed ) ALL Acronis GUI's before you try to eject the drive?

I have found that with an open GUI window this sometimes happens.

The Seagate HD 2 TB I usae are hot swappable; I can use the same procedure for secure remove than I use for USB drives. Is the Acronis SW that does not release the resource.
By the way, after closing Windows 7 Ultimate 64, switching off the PC, at rebooting time Acronis send a message telling a device is missing!! Notice that I previously closed the NONSTOP backup and deactivate it into the Windows services. So it is one of the monitoring functions of Acronis where the problòem resides.
You should not dispose of the PC resources without notifying the user.

No GUI open at problem time.

same problem with different external drives. appears after I used ATI with them. disseapears after shut down > unplug > switch on > plug in

WIn10

ATI2020

I also have this problem - solutions awaited - definitely a failt with true image 2020 - was not a fault with TI 2016

The solution provided by Steve Smith (#4) helped me on Windows 10:

https://forum.acronis.com/forum/acronis-true-image-2016-forum/eject-external-drive#thread-top

Same issue. Waiting for an answer.

riiupw afrass wrote:

Same issue. Waiting for an answer.

Hi! If you have Acronis True Image 2021, please refer to the topic https://forum.acronis.com/comment/553137#comment-553137