Update: so I still can’t consistently get my external Seagate FreeAgent Go drive to SAFELY remove from Vista. I think it’s due to a confluence of issues.

The best solution that I’ve come up with is to UNSAFELY unplug the drive without problems (so far). Before, whenever I unplugged the drive (even with no processes running), I would get the blue screen of death (BSOD).

Now, this is what I do:

  1. plug in the drive.
  2. when done, go to Task Manager, click on Services, and “stop” both the Avast! service and the FreeAgentGoService.
  3. Go to Process Explorer, search for the drive letter, and end all processes attached to the drive (the four $RmMetadata processes). Instead of INSTANTLY coming back, these processes will take awhile to return if both the Avast and the FreeAgentGo services have been stopped.
  4. Repeat the Process Explorer search & stop the processes a few times to ensure that no processes are attached. At the same time, try SAFELY removing the drive a few times (but it won’t work).
  5. When no processes are running that are attached to the drive, just unplug it. If you hadn’t stopped the Avast! service, you’d get the BSOD.

It’s that simple :wink: