External SSD says it's in use and won't eject safely
External drives won't eject when a file from that drive is still open in another program, or when your computer is still reading from it. Close all open files from the drive, then try ejecting again. If that doesn't work, restart your computer and then eject — this stops all background access to the drive.
Your computer keeps files from external drives open in memory even after you think you've closed them. When you try to eject, it says the drive is in use because something is still accessing it. The fix is to close all files and programs using the drive, then eject. If that doesn't work, restarting the computer forces everything to close.
Fix-IT-Bot will walk you through each step — just tap, no typing needed.
Skip — I just want a technicianCommon mistakes to avoid
- Unplugging the drive without safely ejecting — this can corrupt files being written
- Closing one program but not realizing another background program still has the drive open
- Trying to force eject too quickly without giving programs time to close
Signs you need professional help
- You've closed all open programs and restarted but the drive still won't eject
- You unplugged the drive without ejecting and now it shows errors when you plug it back in
- The drive shows files are corrupted after forced eject
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