Problems Disconnecting External USB Hard drive

I am having a problem safetly disconnecting a Crossfire 160gb usb external hard drive on a win XP home computer. I am getting the following error message:-

Problem Ejecting USB Mass Storage Device
The device "Generic Volume" cannot be stopped right now try stopping the device again later.

This happens even if i have not accessed the drive for several minutes,
I have tried the different settings for drive caching in device manager but it does not make any difference,at the moment i have it set for quick removal in device manager, would it be okay to just switch the drive off ?

many thanks for any help.

 

Mine is switched off most of the time - use for backups, with no ill effects, so don't see any reason why you wouldn't be able to un plug it and use for a remote purpose and then plug it back in. It has to be the same port though.

Regards - Charles

 

charlesvar
I am quite happy to leave the drive connected to the USB port all the time as i also just use it for backups, i want to be able to switch the power to it on and off as required to save unnecessary wear and tear on the drive, without having to switch the computer off as well.

 

To answer your basic question, no, you don't have to uninstall the USB HD to switch it off, I do it all the time, switching it back on for backups or to look up something.

Regards - Charles

 

Many thanks charlesvar for your prompt reply
I will take your advice and just switch it on and off as required and will not bother with the "Safely Remove Hardware" option.

 

You will get this message if any window that you have open is referencing the drive

Hi PeteC
I think i may have found the problem in the SysOpt Forum after a Google search i quote "I'm running Norton Anti-virus and the Norton Protection through the Recycle Bin was activated on my removable USB hard drive. I disabled this and was able to stop the drive with no problems "
I have tried the above and it work okay lets hope that it is a permanent solution will post back with any more problem i may encounter.
Many thanks to all who replied.