system
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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:
- plug in the drive.
- when done, go to Task Manager, click on Services, and “stop” both the Avast! service and the FreeAgentGoService.
- 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.
- 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).
- 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 