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I use a Seagate FreeAgent on my laptop and PC. While it works fine most of the time, sometimes when I try to safely disconnect it, it says the files are in use. Obviously I have by that time shut down all applications.

Now with my laptop, a Toshiba Satellite, I shut down the computer and unplug the Seagate and no ghost drives are found. But no matter what I do with my desktop, it continues to create 'ghost drives'.

Is this due to a feature in the external hard drive, and if so, would anyone have an idea how I can fix it? I am getting tired of deleting the 'ghost drives'.

Both my laptop and desktop use Windows 7.

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What do you mean by "Ghost Drives", is it making additional drive letters each time you plug it in? On the desktop, have you got he drive set to "Optimize for Performance" or "Optimize for Quick Removal"? What's that set to on the notebook? –  techie007 Nov 18 '11 at 21:17
The notebook is set for Optimize for Performance, and yes, it is making additional drive letters. I was told this is called a 'ghost drive'. The other side to the problem though is how can I be sure a file is not in use if the window is closed? That is the only thing i can think of for the Seagate not disconnecting safely. –  Shane Nov 21 '11 at 18:21
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