«

I have a Seagate drive that I use with my two laptops, both running XP.
Recently I found that if I change any data on the drive then I cannot turn
it of via the keyboard on the laptops, I have to switch the laptop of then
remove the drive. Attemptin to disconnect the drive via the USB gadget icon
simply comes up with a message saying that the device cannot be turned off
as a program is still using it. I have no idea what program might be using
it.

The drive came with all sorts of software bundled with it, none of which I
want, so I have deleted some of the software to make space for my jpegs.
Is this likely to have been the cause of my problem?

On 2007-12-18, podger <> wrote:
> I have a Seagate drive that I use with my two laptops, both running XP.
> Recently I found that if I change any data on the drive then I cannot turn
> it of via the keyboard on the laptops, I have to switch the laptop of then
> remove the drive. Attemptin to disconnect the drive via the USB gadget icon
> simply comes up with a message saying that the device cannot be turned off
> as a program is still using it. I have no idea what program might be using
> it.
>
> The drive came with all sorts of software bundled with it, none of which I
> want, so I have deleted some of the software to make space for my jpegs.
> Is this likely to have been the cause of my problem?

Your computer may well be continuing to copy data to or from the external
drive, or 'verifying' the copies, even if your other progams seem to
indicate that the copying is complete; have you got an 'icon' anywhere to
'disconnect' or 'unmount' the external drive? Clicking on that should
eventually give you a message on screen to say 'the device can now be
safely removed' or some such thing.

--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~

"Whiskers" <> wrote > Your computer may well be
continuing to copy data to or from the external
> drive, or 'verifying' the copies, even if your other progams seem to
> indicate that the copying is complete; have you got an 'icon' anywhere to
> 'disconnect' or 'unmount' the external drive? Clicking on that should
> eventually give you a message on screen to say 'the device can now be
> safely removed' or some such thing.
>
The icon is there but clicking on it brings up the message about a
program still using the drive. Is it possible that I might have to wait
several minutes instead of the one minute that I currently wait before
deciding to switch of the computer? I don't have the drive with me right
now so I cannot test this out.

podger wrote:
> I have a Seagate drive that I use with my two laptops, both running
> XP. Recently I found that if I change any data on the drive then I
> cannot turn it of via the keyboard on the laptops, I have to switch
> the laptop of then remove the drive.

IIRC that the default XP install, has prog(s?) that access the drives
in the background. Pose the question to a Seagate forum?

On 2007-12-18, podger <> wrote:
> "Whiskers" <> wrote > Your computer may well be
> continuing to copy data to or from the external
>> drive, or 'verifying' the copies, even if your other progams seem to
>> indicate that the copying is complete; have you got an 'icon' anywhere to
>> 'disconnect' or 'unmount' the external drive? Clicking on that should
>> eventually give you a message on screen to say 'the device can now be
>> safely removed' or some such thing.
>>
> The icon is there but clicking on it brings up the message about a
> program still using the drive. Is it possible that I might have to wait
> several minutes instead of the one minute that I currently wait before
> deciding to switch of the computer? I don't have the drive with me right
> now so I cannot test this out.

Unless the connection is rather slow, you probably won't have to want for
'several minutes' for data to be copied completely - but if you have your
system set up to 'verify' all the copies thoroughly I've heard that some
versions of Windows can take a very long time to do that.

--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~

"podger" <> wrote:

>I have a Seagate drive that I use with my two laptops, both running XP.
>Recently I found that if I change any data on the drive then I cannot turn
>it of via the keyboard on the laptops, I have to switch the laptop of then
>remove the drive. Attemptin to disconnect the drive via the USB gadget icon
>simply comes up with a message saying that the device cannot be turned off
>as a program is still using it. I have no idea what program might be using
>it.
>
>The drive came with all sorts of software bundled with it, none of which I
>want, so I have deleted some of the software to make space for my jpegs.
>Is this likely to have been the cause of my problem?
>

Worth a try:

In Windows Explorer right click on any drive, properties, Hardware,
double click on the drive in question, Policies.

Select "optimize for quick removal"

--

Misadventures in advertising
http://tinyurl.com/2z52d5