If you still can’t eject your external hard drive, use the Task Manager to close any suspicious tasks running on Windows. Open Task Manager by right-clicking the Taskbar and selecting Task Manager. Alternatively, you can press CTRL+ALT+DELETE keyboard shortcut and select Task Manager to open it.
What do I do if my external hard drive wont eject?
Go to the Start Menu, type in Disk Management and hit Enter. Locate the external hard drive that you want to eject. Right-click on your external hard drive and select ‘Eject’. Ejecting External Drive using Disk Management.
How do I eject an external hard drive in Windows 7?
How to Safely Remove Hardware in Windows 7
- Click the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the system tray, near the clock. …
- Click the item you want to remove on the pop-up menu. …
- When you see a pop-up message saying that it’s safe to remove the hardware, you can unplug the device.
Why can’t I safely remove my external hard drive?
Double-click on Computer to open it, then right-click on the external drive’s drive letter (for example, E:) and select Properties. Uncheck the Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed in addition to file properties box. Then retry the Safe Removal.
Why does my hard drive not eject?
If you can’t eject the external hard drive, you can reboot or turn off your computer, and this will close all programs and processes to make sure no programs are using the files on the external hard drive. After your computer restarts or turns off, you can try to eject the external hard drive.
How do I safely eject an external hard drive?
How to safely eject an external USB hard drive on Windows
- Navigate to the bottom right corner of the bottom toolbar.
- If the USB icon is hidden, click the Up arrow.
- Locate the USB icon and find your external hard drive.
- Click Eject, and wait for a message stating it’s safe to disconnect. A bell noise should also play.
Where is the eject button on Windows 7?
In Windows 7, open the Start menu. Click Computer to enter Windows Explorer (or press Windows key + E on the keyboard to open Windows Explorer). From there, right-click the DVD drive icon. Select Eject.
Can I just unplug my external hard drive?
When you use external storage devices like USB flash drives, you should safely remove them before unplugging them. If you just unplug a device, you run the risk of unplugging while an application is still using it. This could result in some of your files being lost or damaged.
Can’t remove this device while it’s in use?
How to Fix “The device is currently in use’ and Safely Remove the USB Mass Storage Device?
- Find the application that is currently using the USB device in Task Manager. Press “Ctrl + Alt + Del” keys to bring up the Task Manager. …
- Eject the USB in Disk Management. …
- Eject the USB in Device Manager.
How do I safely remove USB from Windows 10?
To avoid losing data, it’s important to remove external hardware like hard drives and USB drives safely. Look for the Safely Remove Hardware icon on the taskbar. If you don’t see it, select Show hidden icons . Press and hold (or right-click) the icon and select the hardware you want to remove.