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When using Windows 7 libraries for an external hard-drive. There is a problem when I go to safely remove the hard-drive. Windows won't let me because I have the drive assigned to the libraries feature. So the only way I can safely remove the external drive is to remove the library feature. Is there way to keep the library feature on and still safely remove the external hard-drive?

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It might be that the drive is being indexed constantly (this happens to me sometimes, even when I'm not using the shared library feature). Stopping the indexing service might allow you to remove it; personally, I put my computer in standby and then remove it.

This tool may help you; it gives more control over libraries: I never got around to playing with it myself, though.

http://zornsoftware.talsit.info/?p=3

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Turning off indexing didn't seem to help but thanks for the tip. I will give the software a try. – user26684 Feb 2 '10 at 1:36
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Darn, sorry that didn't work. One thing you can use to find out what's accessing it is by looking at the Resource Monitor in Task Manager (CTRL+SHIFT+ESC). Locate the section related to disk performance, and expand Disk Activity. You can sort by file, and find what process is accessing files on your drive. – Tyler Szabo Feb 2 '10 at 8:18
I tried "Resource Monitor" that doesn't show anyone using the external harddrive. I had to use "Process Explorer" (a MSFT program used for debugging) and then search for file handles that were using my external harddrive (search for "e:\" or whatever drive letter yours is). – Trevor Boyd Smith Jun 17 '11 at 22:15
I found out explorer had an open file handle on the external harddrive. How do you close the file handle without closing the process? – Trevor Boyd Smith Jun 17 '11 at 22:15
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