Have closed all the applications but when want to safely remove the portable HD, still receive the error message as “the device “Generic volume” cannot be stopped right now. Try stopping the device again later.” When using portable hard disk, have you meet this situation? Yes, I do. I used to shut down the computer to plug it out or sometime directly remove with the risk of losing documents. That’s really annoyed. I don’t know what the problem is, but I find several ways to reduce the risk and try to avoid the problem.
1. Right click the taskbar, choose “task management”, and then select “Processes” tab. Find the Image name of “rundll32.exe”, end it. Sometimes this will work, but still has some risk of losing document.
2. This method is to remove the portable HD after make computer in to the stand by mode. This will be faster than restart the computer.
While, the two methods are how to do after the problem happened. Now, in the 3rd method, we can see how to avoid the problem.
3. Double click “My computer”, right click your portable HD, and choose properties. Then click the “Hardware” tab, choosing the portable HD you’re using now. Choose Properties, then choose “Policies”, you can see two options in this page: Optimize for quick removal & Optimize for performance. You can also find the detailed explanation for both of the options.
Well, this is my opinion; any other suggestions are also welcomed. Just for communication and hope can help someone.