Ejecting external hard drive problem

[skyshots]

Hi all,

Purchased this HP Envy 4060 in April '25, and am having problems disconnecting external hard drives. The Seagate 2TB drive has astroimages on it in various formats that I process using PhotoShop and an astro-processing program called PixInsight. I've waited a fair amount of time after closing both of these programs, but still get the "Unable to remove the volume device" message. Suggestions have been to run Task Manager, but do not understand the columns and their corresponding amounts to determine what, if anything, might be accessing the external drive. This was never an issue with my old HP WIN 10 desktop, so am baffled. Also, computer always shuts down after a period, even when 'Sleep' command selected. A bit frustrating.

Many thanks,

Steve

[Kuroi_Kenshi]

Hi @skyshots,

Welcome to the HP Support Community! 

Thanks for reaching out about your query regarding external hard drive ejection problems!

We're thrilled to have the opportunity to assist you and provide a solution.

Try these steps:

Close All Programs: Ensure that all programs that might be accessing the drive (e.g., Photoshop and PixInsight) are completely closed.

Use Task Manager to Identify Active Processes: You can use Task Manager to check for any processes that might still be using the external hard drive.

• Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
• Look under the Processes tab for any processes related to PhotoShop, PixInsight, or file explorer windows that might be accessing your drive.
• Right-click each related process and select End Task.

Check for Background Services: Sometimes, background services or system processes might be using the external hard drive.

• In the Task Manager, go to the Services tab to check if any services are running related to data indexing, antivirus scans, or backup processes.
• Stop these services temporarily if necessary.

Use the Safe Eject Option: Try using the 'Safely Remove Hardware' option again:

• Navigate to the system tray (bottom-right corner of the screen).
• Click on the Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media icon.
• Select your external hard drive and click Eject.

Wait for Write Cache to Finish: Ensure the write cache on the external hard drive is finished.

• Often the system is ensuring that all data is correctly written to the external hard drive before it allows you to eject it.

Command Prompt Method: If the above steps do not work, you can use the command prompt to safely remove the device.

• Open Command Prompt by typing cmd in the Windows search bar.
• Type diskpart and hit Enter.
• Type list volume and hit Enter (this will list all connected drives).
• Identify the problematic external drive volume.
• Type select volume X (replace X with the number associated with your external drive).
• Type remove and hit Enter.

I hope this helps.

I'm glad I could help! 😊 If this resolved your issue, please mark it as "Accepted Solution" and click "Yes" on "Was this reply helpful?" Your feedback not only keeps us going but also helps others find the solution faster! 👍✨

Take care and have an amazing day ahead! 🚀

Best regards,

[skyshots]

Hi Kuroi,

Just an update on the Envy 4060 issues. I took the tower back to Best Buy. They were very helpful, and were able to resolve the audio issue by downloading an audio driver update from somewhere I would never have known to go to. The eject media issue remains, however, and their suggestion was to reload Windows 11, which I'm cautious to do at this point. The options I have are to reload Windows 11, or to simply wait until I shut down the computer, then unplug the external drive, which I understand is safe to do as long as there isn't power going to it (the shutdown).

I am grateful for your continued suggestions and support. Perhaps this is an operating system issue, as I've always had wonderful luck with HP hardware and software, and believe it must be a bug in Windows 11. If you have genuine concerns about reloading Windows 11 without corrupting anything, then I obviously won't do it, unless something else vital appears.

Many thanks, again.

Steve Solon