Windows 7: Error Ejecting USB Mass Storage Device

Sometimes, when trying to eject (remove) an exteal USB hard drive, Windows 7 issues the following error:

Problem Ejecting USB Mass Storage Device

Windows can't stop your 'Generic volume' device because a program is still using it. Close any programs that might be using the device, and then try again later.

This question addresses this issue when it happens in Windows XP or Windows Vista. Are there better techniques to use in Windows 7 SP1, preferably something that does not require a third-party tool?

Note that this error commonly occurs even after closing all applications and letting the system sit for 5 minutes to finish any outstanding NTFS joual writes. Indexing is disabled. There are no shares.

My technique in the past was to tu off the system, but chkdsk often detects errors after doing this.

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