On a Mac, you may not be able to eject a disk or external drive because a program is using it or has it open. This can happen if you have a file on the disk or drive open in a program, or if the program is using the disk or drive for some other purpose.
How to Properly Eject an external hard drive from my Mac?
To eject an external hard drive from your Mac, follow these steps:
- Click on the Finder icon in the Dock.
- In the Finder window, click on the external hard drive under the "Devices" section on the left side of the window.
- Click on the "File" menu at the top of the screen, and then select "Eject [Name of External Hard Drive]" from the drop-down menu.
- Alternatively, you can also eject the external hard drive by right-clicking on its icon and selecting "Eject" from the pop-up menu.
If you are unable to eject the external hard drive using these methods, it is possible that the hard drive is in use by another application. In this case, you will need to close the application or quit it before you can eject the hard drive. Once the hard drive is no longer in use, you should be able to eject it as described above.
Why can’t I eject a external drive?
There are several possible reasons why you might not be able to eject an external drive on a Mac:
The drive may be in use: If the drive is being used by a program or process, you won’t be able to eject it. Try closing any programs that might be using the drive and then try ejecting it again.
The drive may be damaged: If the drive is physically damaged or has a faulty connection, it may not be able to be ejected. In this case, you may need to seek assistance from a professional or try using a different cable or port to connect the drive.
The drive may be locked: Some external drives have a physical lock mechanism that prevents them from being ejected. If your drive has a lock, make sure it is unlocked before attempting to eject it.
There may be an issue with the operating system: In rare cases, there may be an issue with the operating system itself that prevents the drive from being ejected. If you’ve tried all of the above and still can’t eject the drive, you may need to restart your Mac and try again.
If you are still unable to eject the drive after trying these steps, you may need to seek additional assistance. It’s always a good idea to make sure you have saved and closed any important files before attempting to eject an external drive, as forcibly ejecting a drive can result in data loss.
How to Fix If You’re Unable To Eject External Hard Drive?
If you are unable to eject an external hard drive on your Mac, here are a few things you can try:
Drag the hard drive icon to the trash: In Finder, you should see the hard drive listed under "Devices" on the left side. Simply drag the hard drive icon to the trash. This should eject the hard drive.
Use the "Force Eject" option: If dragging the hard drive icon to the trash doesn’t work, you can try using the "Force Eject" option. To do this, hold down the "Option" key and then right-click (or control-click) on the hard drive icon. You should see a "Force Eject" option in the context menu.
Restart your Mac: If the above steps don’t work, you can try restarting your Mac and then attempting to eject the hard drive again.
Use the Terminal: If none of the above steps work, you can try using the Terminal to forcibly unmount the hard drive. To do this, open the Terminal app (located in the "Utilities" folder within the "Applications" folder), and then type the following command: "diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk2" (replace "disk2" with the appropriate disk number for your hard drive). This should forcibly unmount the hard drive and allow you to eject it.
If none of these steps work, it’s possible that there may be some issue with the hard drive itself, or that some program or process is using the hard drive and preventing it from being ejected. In this case, you may need to try quitting any open programs and/or using the "Activity Monitor" app (also located in the "Utilities" folder) to force-quit any processes that may be using the hard drive.