Fix: Cant Eject External Hard Drive on Windows 10

• Blog
• September 22, 2022

If you can’t eject your external hard drive on Windows 10, don’t worry. There are a few simple fixes you can try. First, try unplugging and replugging the hard drive. If that doesn’t work, try restarting your computer. If you still can’t eject the hard drive, you can try using the Windows Task Manager to force it to eject.

If you’re having trouble ejecting your external hard drive on Windows 10, don’t worry – you’re not alone. Many users have reported this issue, and it can be quite frustrating.

Fortunately, there are a few things you can try to get things working again. In this article, we’ll walk you through a few troubleshooting steps that should help you fix the problem.

First, try ejecting the drive from the File Explorer window. If that doesn’t work, try using the “safely remove hardware” feature in the Windows Taskbar. If neither of those options work, you can try uninstalling the hard drive drivers and then reinstalling them.

Hopefully one of these solutions will work for you. Good luck!

Reasons Why You Might Can’t Eject External Hard Drive on Windows 10

There could be a few reasons why you can’t seem to eject your external hard drive on Windows 10. There might be a process or program still using the drive, there could be a problem with the drivers, or the drive may be corrupted. If you’re having trouble ejecting your external hard drive, try one of the following solutions.

Restart Your Computer

One of the simplest solutions is to restart your computer. This will close any programs or processes that might be using the drive, and could allow you to eject it properly. If you’re still having trouble after restarting, try one of the other solutions below.

Check for Programs Using the Drive

Before ejecting your external hard drive, you’ll want to make sure there aren’t any programs using it. To do this, open the Task Manager by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc on your keyboard. Then, click on the “Processes” tab and scroll down to see if there are any programs using the drive. If there are, try closing them before ejecting the drive.

Update the Drivers

If you’re having trouble ejecting your external hard drive, it could be due to a problem with the drivers. To update the drivers, open the Device Manager by pressing Windows+X on your keyboard and selecting “Device Manager” from the menu. Then, expand the “Disk drives” section, right-click on your external hard drive, and select “Update Driver.”

If there isn’t an update available, you can try uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers. To do this, right-click on the external hard drive and select “Uninstall.” Then, restart your computer and reconnect the drive. The drivers should automatically be reinstalled and should hopefully fix the problem.

Format the Drive

If you’re still having trouble ejecting your external hard drive, you can try formatting it. This will erase all the data on the drive, so be sure to back it up first. To format the drive, open the “This PC” window and right-click on the external hard drive. Then, select “Format” from the menu.

In the “Format” window, give the drive a new name if you want, and make sure the “File System” is set to NTFS. Then, click on the “Format” button to start the process. Once the drive has been formatted, you should be able to eject it without any problem.

If you’ve tried all of the solutions above and still can’t seem to eject your external hard drive, there may be an issue with the drive itself. In this case, you may need to replace the drive.

How to Eject External Hard Drive on Windows 10

If you’re having trouble ejecting your external hard drive on Windows 10, there are a few things you can try.

First, make sure that there are no programs running that are accessing the drive. If there are, close them before trying to eject the drive.

Next, try ejecting the drive from the command prompt. To do this, open the command prompt and type “eject drive_letter”, replacing “drive_letter” with the letter of your external hard drive.

If neither of those solutions works, you can try unplugging the drive directly from the computer. This is not recommended, as it can cause data loss, but it’s sometimes the only way to eject a stubborn drive.

If you’re still having trouble, there may be a problem with the drive itself. In this case, you’ll need to contact the manufacturer for support.

Tips to Prevent Future Issues

If you’re regularly having issues ejecting your external hard drive, there are a few things you can do to help prevent future problems. First, make sure that you’re regularly backing up your data. This will ensure that you have a copy of your data in case something happens to your external hard drive. Second, try to keep your external hard drive organized so that you don’t have too many files stored on it. This will make it easier to find the files you need and will also help prevent your hard drive from becoming overloaded. Finally, make sure that you’re ejecting your hard drive properly. On Windows 10, you can do this by right-clicking on the drive and selecting “Eject.” If you have any other questions or concerns, be sure to contact your external hard drive’s manufacturer for more assistance.

Conclusion

If you’ve been struggling to eject an external hard drive on Windows 10, hopefully this article has helped you out. The most likely cause of the problem is that there are still files open on the drive, preventing Windows from ejecting it. You can use the Command Prompt to close any open files and then try ejecting the drive again. If that doesn’t work, there may be a problem with the drive itself, in which case you should contact the manufacturer for assistance.