In the process of daily use of USB flash drive, we sometimes encounter the situation that the USB flash drive cannot be ejected safely. This is usually due to a file or program in the USB flash drive that is still occupied, resulting in the inability to exit normally.
Workaround:
Close the program that occupies the USB flash drive.
When the files or programs in the USB flash drive are still occupied, we cannot safely eject the USB flash drive. Therefore, first of all, you need to check and close all the programs that occupy the USB stick. You can check the programs that are currently running through the Task Manager, find the programs that are occupying the USB flash drive and close them.
Log out of the current user or restart the computer.
If you still can't safely eject the USB flash drive after closing the program that is occupying the USB stick, you can try logging out of the current user or restarting the computer. This can help you terminate all background processes that may occupy the USB flash drive, so that the USB flash drive can exit normally.
Use Resource Monitor to deoccupe.
If you still can't solve the problem of USB flash drive occupancy, you can use Windows Resource Monitor to find and remove the usage. Open Resource Monitor, select the "Disks" tab, find your USB stick and see which processes are using it. You can then choose to end these processes to unoccupy the USB stick.
Check for viruses and malware.
Sometimes, viruses and malware can take up your USB flash drive and prevent it from exiting normally. Therefore, it is important to regularly perform a full scan of your system with reliable antivirus software. If you find viruses or malware, remove them immediately.
Check for hardware problems with the USB flash drive.
If none of the above methods can solve the problem that the USB flash drive cannot be ejected, it may be due to a hardware problem with the USB flash drive itself. In this case, you can try to plug the USB flash drive into another computer for testing. If you have the problem on other computers as well, then you may want to consider replacing it with a new USB stick.
When you encounter a similar situation, you can follow the above steps to solve the problem of USB flash drive occupancy and ensure the security of your data. At the same time, in order to prevent similar problems, it is recommended that you avoid running a large number of programs or opening too many files at the same time when using the USB flash drive, so as not to cause system resources to be strained and the USB flash drive cannot exit normally.