I ran into this issue of not able to eject an USB disk. Before you ask the question, I have set the disk for “Better Performance”. So I have to eject the disk before I remove it. (FYI, I would suggest to use “Better Performance” for bigger disks like 1TB or above to get most performance).
Now back to the issue, I was trying to eject the disk I am keep getting this error: “Windows is unable to stop the device” or “This device is currently in use”.
I freaking closed all the programs/windows, even killed explorer.exe from Task Manager. I tried logged out and logged back in.
If you run into this issue, I have a fix for you. Thank me later.
- Open Disk Management console (either run diskmgmt.msc in Run dialog – Windows Key + R, OR Right click on Start Menu and choose Disk Management).
- Find your disk in Disk Management console. Right click on the disk and choose Eject.
If you don’t see Eject, you may see “Offline” option. Then choose Offline, then remove the disk. Next time you connect this disk, you have to go to back to Disk Management and make it Online.
Anand, the Architect 