Preventing physical removal of a drive with a medium in motion for mitigating damage events to components of the drive

In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method includes determining whether a medium in a drive is in motion, the drive being mounted in a receptacle, in response to determining that the medium is in motion, preventing physical removal of the drive from the receptacle, and in response to determining that the medium is not in motion, allowing physical removal of the drive from the receptacle. In another embodiment, a computer program product for controlling removal of a drive includes a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith. The computer readable storage medium is not a transitory signal per se. The program instructions are readable and/or executable by a computer to cause the computer to perform the foregoing method.