Solved I Can't eject external drive


It is visible in file explorer, where I can see the disk images done by windosd
I select another drive in file explorer and then I close all aplications
Still when I use the eject disk in task bar I get the message that I cannot eject, even after doing a restart
Nothing better that just doing a shutdown and then eject the external drive?
 

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Asus S5606 said:
It is visible in file explorer, where I can see the disk images done by windosd
I select another drive in file explorer and then I close all aplications
Still when I use the eject disk in task bar I get the message that I cannot eject, even after doing a restart
Nothing better that just doing a shutdown and then eject the external drive?
Click to expand...
Yes, Windows defender will scan external drives on insertion and keeps them open so you cannot uninstall it. The only way I know around this is either to shut down the computer and eject it, or to add the drive letter to the exclusion list in defender, so it doesn't scan it on insertion.

You exclude through: settings -> Privacy and Security -> virus and treat protections -> manage settings -> exclusions
If it is say the D: drive, you would add "D:\"
 

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PerpetualCycle said:
Yes, Windows defender will scan external drives on insertion and keeps them open so you cannot uninstall it.
Click to expand...
Windows defender does a lot but it can't prevent it from ejecting a drive. It only watches for threats when doing a read/write to a device. An antivirus program is capable doing more if you give the command; scan the complete drive. At that moment it will hold the drive. When done it will be free. The drive can be visible under File explorer but the question how Windows classifies this drive. (as I said earlier) Go to Device management - Portable devices. The drive must be under that section. If it isn't there Windows classifies it not as a removable drive. Therefor can't eject it. This the first thing to check when diagnosing.
 

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A possible suspect is EaseUs which I tried a month or two back.

My notes say amongst other things, 2 processes in Startup apps.
From memory it can be configured from settings to some degree.
There maybe services as well.

You can stop/disable those with the Task Manager or maybe completely remove EaseUs temporarily to test.
 

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Win Key + X - > select Device Manager -> go to Disk Drivers - > Right Click on your Expansion/External Disk "Samsung T7 (or whatever it's called)" - click on Policies tab -> and check Quick Removal like so:

2025-08-24_155302.webp

And you can safely remove it whenever - without the need of that safety feature. The safely remove feature - is only necessary if it's set to better Performance (using write caching on Disk). For the sake of safety - i prefer Default policy even on a HDD (not much of noticeable difference in practice).
 

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hader said:
Windows defender does a lot but it can't prevent it from ejecting a drive. It only watches for threats when doing a read/write to a device. An antivirus program is capable doing more if you give the command; scan the complete drive. At that moment it will hold the drive. When done it will be free. The drive can be visible under File explorer but the question how Windows classifies this drive. (as I said earlier) Go to Device management - Portable devices. The drive must be under that section. If it isn't there Windows classifies it not as a removable drive. Therefor can't eject it. This the first thing to check when diagnosing.
Click to expand...

As soon as you use the USB drive for anything, which I assume that is the reason for inserting it, defender has the drive open thereafter, and you can't eject it.
 

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I use Defender and there is no problem with safe removal of USB external drives, SSD enclosures + SSD drives, standalone HDD drives, HDD enclosures + HDDs.
No access to Policies, never needed it, I'm on Windows 11 Home like the OP.

"The problem started before I got Avast optimiser".
I have no system mods, nor use any so-called "Optimiser Apps".
 

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neves said:
Win Key + X - > select Device Manager -> go to Disk Drivers - > Right Click on your Expansion/External Disk "Samsung T7 (or whatever it's called)" - click on Policies tab -> and check Quick Removal like so:

View attachment 143252

And you can safely remove it whenever - without the need of that safety feature. The safely remove feature - is only necessary if it's set to better Performance (using write caching on Disk). For the sake of safety - i prefer Default policy even on a HDD (not much of noticeable difference in practice).
Click to expand...
Any important reason why(?) we should enable the write cashing , instead the "quick removal " on our portable USB-drives ??
Are our backup-files safe , without the "write cashing "...........?? :unsure:
If my backups are safe , I will set all my portable drives on "quick removal " !
No more problems with ejecting external portable USB-drives ...............:-)
 

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pietcorus2 said:
Any important reason why(?) we should enable the write cashing , instead the "quick removal " on our portable USB-drives ??
Are our backup-files safe , without the "write cashing "...........?? :unsure:
If my backups are safe , I will set all my portable drives on "quick removal " !
No more problems with ejecting external portable USB-drives ...............:-)
Click to expand...

A performance boost. Tho, only tested this feature on External HDDs - and other than improved responsiveness - didn't see much difference in speed (while tested with CrystalDiskMark). SSDs are already rather fast - but can't really say for sure how big is the performance boost. So hey, try it: CrystalDiskMark - test it with Write Cache enabled and disabled - and decided for yourself based on results. Personally, i'm satisfied with it disable (the extra speed is not worth the risk for me).
 

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WinDOS 25H2Intel & AMDSO-DIMM SK Hynix 15.8 GB Dual-Channel DDR4-26...nVidia RTX 2060 6GB Mobile GPU (TU106M)
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WinDOS 25H2
Computer type
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Intel & AMD
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SO-DIMM SK Hynix 15.8 GB Dual-Channel DDR4-2666 (2 x 8 GB) 1329MHz (19-19-19-43)
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