How to find out what is holding me back from disconnecting an ext USB drive?

[tracerit]

It's bugging me that whenever I try to safely remove my eternal hard drive, it'll say something is using it but i know it's not. i end up just unplugging it.

is there a way to find out what program is using it?

also is there a widget or something that i can put on the desktop to safely remove the hard drive? clicking on the bottom right icon to do it there's a lag that's annoying.

[Emulex]

explorer
search indexer
antivirus
sometimes try ejecting it 2-3 times in a row.

[tracerit]

what do you mean by all that? are those options or steps?

[corkyg]

C heck Device Manager, drive properties, Policies, and which check box is active . . . Optimize for Quick Removal or Performance. That determines whether or not write caching is in play for that drive.

[Cerb]

http://www.filehippo.com/download_unlocker/

Try that, maybe? I've never tried using it on a drive, but it works great for files and directories.

[Veliko]

Do you have any media sharing services setup? Windows Media and Winamp are two examples.

[Damascus]

Do you have any programs like browsers or instant messengers that could have open file handles from say opening/saving files on the drive?

Oh and try Process Explorer.