Safely eject external hard drive

Anyone know of a good way to safely eject external hard drives shared over a network with a Time Capsule? It seems to me like you'd need to unplug the Time Capsule, as that is the only way to power it off, before disconnecting an external hard drive. This interrupts the network connection at home, though, so if there's some way to do this in Finder on a connected Mac, I'd like to know!

Sorry but I am a bit unclear..
The drive is plugged into a Mac and the share is from this Mac to the network?? Or is the external drive plugged into the Time Capsule?
You should be able to eject the hard disk if mounted simply by clicking the arrow in the normal way. That will not stop it showing up in the client computer.. simply dismount it when mounted. As a network shared disk.. the share will still be active..
To dismount the disk from the computer it is shared on, will have to be done from that computer.
Unless you use Remote Access of some sort to take over the local computer you really cannot control shares that are offered from another computer.
I am not sure I have answered your question though.
What are you trying to achieve.

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Safely Eject External Hard Drive Before Sleep

After returning from a state of sleep, my computer always gives me this error message:
This is referring to the "unsafe ejection" of my external hard drive which I have hooked up to Time Machine for backups. I would think that the Mac has some sort of shutdown script it would run before going to sleep to safely eject the hard drives connected to the machine, but apparently it does not.
Does anyone know how I can avoid this message? In other words, is there a way to have my computer safely eject all drives before going to sleep?

In case anyone remembers the "good old days" - a few years back (mostly during OS 10.4 - Tiger), there were multiple problems reported with either USB and/or Firewire externals on wake-up; this included hard drives and hubs mostly. I was experiencing problems myself continuously with one of my hubs. Apple finally came out with one of their articles stating that the problems arose because, upon wake-up command, the computer would get confused momentarily as to what to start with first - internal HD, external HD, hub, or whatever and suggesting that you simply unmount (before sleep) whatever was causing the problem. The second suggestion was to unplug/plug in the USB or firewire cable after wakeup, which is what I had to do to get my keyboard and mouse working which were plugged into the hub. That was when I started to unmount and unplug my externals unless I actually needed them and I'm actually still doing that (habits!). I haven't had a problem with my hubs for a while now, but I'm wondering if it could be the same type of problem.

Is it safe to eject external hard drive while Macbook Pro is on sleep?

Hi guys. This is the external hard drive I use for Time Machine. When in sleep mode, the external hard drive is off, but wakes up periodically when Macbook Pro Retina does its Power Sleep features including periodic back up. So...is it ok to eject external hard drive while on sleep?
Thanks.

Oh. Normally I leave my external hard drive connected to Macbook Pro and rarely eject it. But once in a while, I need to get that hard drive to connect to other computer for file transfer. So the question was when I need to do this (eject hard drive) while Macbook is on sleep, do I need to wake it up and log in and eject? I thought you were saying that I should always eject before the machine goes to sleep. I think I misunderstood you.
So, I need to wake it up, log in and eject before disconnecting it?

Forgot to eject external hard drive-won't mount, doesn't show

Hello,
I just bought a great running G-Technology (500GB) firewire/usb portable hard drive to replace an older much less stable drive. I wanted to copy the files from one to another when the imac disc just stated spinning forever. Having experienced this before I tried shutting off the old drive, but to no avail. So I panicked and shut everything down. Obviously, I didn't eject the new hard drive. After restarting I was able to get the old drive to appear on the desktop but not the new one. It doesn't show in Disk Utility and I've tried going to Go/Go To Folder/type:/volumes and where the icon of the new drive doesn't show up. I've unplugged it, restarted the computer with and without the new drive plugged in. The new drive light is on and power seems to be going to it when plugged in. What to do? I hope I didn't ruin the drive. It's less than a week old. Thanks for any help! Kris

If you are trying yo use the drive's USB connectivity, "portable" could be the key word. Some drives that must get their power from the computer's USB port ("bus-powered drives") may not get enough power under some circumstances. Their counterpart is the desktop or "self-powered" external drive that comes with its own power brick.
There are workabouts for your existing drive if it lacks its own power supply:
1) Try a different USB port. Not all USB ports provide the same level of power. Ports on the keyboard should be avoided--they can seldom power even a thumb drive
2) Get a self-powered USB hub. It adds to the power feed for the drive and usually fixes the issue
3) Get a USB "Y" cable like this:
1 Meter USB 2.0 A to 5 Pin Mini B Cable - Auxiliary USB "Y" Power Design for external hard drives.
It uses two of the comptuer's ports for extra power.
If you are connecting with FireWire, then the drive is likely faulty.

Improperly ejected external hard drive is not displaying on computer...not even in Disk Utility

My external hard drive has been repeatedly ejected improperly and now it is not displaying on my computer, not even in disk utility. How do I re-mount this external hard drive? In the past when this has happened, all I had to do was go to Disk Utility or use DiskWarrior to fix the issue but now it won't even show up in either of these apps.
Any help would be appreciated
2008 MacBook Pro 10.9.3, WD My Studio 1 TB External HD

From the menu bar, select
 ▹ System Preferences ▹ Energy Saver ▹ Power Adapter
and uncheck the box labeled Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible, if it's checked.
If the drive has more than one interface (USB, FireWire, Thunderbolt, eSATA), try one of the other interfaces.
Check that the data cable is securely inserted at both ends.
Try a different cable.
If you're connecting the drive through a hub, connect it directly to a built-in port on the Mac.
If you're connecting it directly, try a different port.
Disconnect all other devices on the bus, or as many as possible.
Test the drive with another Mac. Test another drive with this Mac.
If the drive is bus-powered, but has an AC adapter, connect the adapter.
Start up in Recovery mode and launch Disk Utility. Is the drive recognized?
Start up in Safe Mode and test.
Reset the NVRAM.
Reset the System Management Controller.
If the drive doesn't work under any of the above conditions, and if another drive does work with the same Mac, then the drive has failed. You may be able to salvage the mechanism by removing it from the enclosure and installing it in another one, or in a drive dock.

Switching on external audio ejects external hard drives

Hi folks. Weird problem here.
I have an iMac (27-inch, Late 2012, 2.9 GHz Intel Core i5, 32 GB 1600 MHz DDR3) with a regular 3.5mm line-out jack going from the audio out port to an external speaker/subwoofer system.
Whenever my mac is on and I have forgotten to power up the external speakers, once I flick the switch on the system all the external Hard Drives attached to my mac eject (750GB WD USB2, 4TB Seagate USB3, 5TB Seagate USB3).
Normally they reappear after a minute or so but sometimes they don't and I have to restart in order to have them show up.
I am beginning to think that it is related to an issue I have had ongoing for a number of months (since upgrading to Yosemite actually) 27" iMac randomly reboots whereby I would have messages appearing throughout the day saying "external Disks have not been ejected properly", and then having 2 HD's terminally fail on me.
I have seen other threads talking about glitches with their audio when using audio in/out devices but I have seen nothing about hard- drives being ejected.
I suspect that the Headphone/optical digital audio output (minijack) is susceptible to power surges, such as a connected device being switched on and this somehow causes the ejection.
Anyone else have similar problems or know of a possible cause?

Hi folks. Weird problem here.
I have an iMac (27-inch, Late 2012, 2.9 GHz Intel Core i5, 32 GB 1600 MHz DDR3) with a regular 3.5mm line-out jack going from the audio out port to an external speaker/subwoofer system.
Whenever my mac is on and I have forgotten to power up the external speakers, once I flick the switch on the system all the external Hard Drives attached to my mac eject (750GB WD USB2, 4TB Seagate USB3, 5TB Seagate USB3).
Normally they reappear after a minute or so but sometimes they don't and I have to restart in order to have them show up.
I am beginning to think that it is related to an issue I have had ongoing for a number of months (since upgrading to Yosemite actually) 27" iMac randomly reboots whereby I would have messages appearing throughout the day saying "external Disks have not been ejected properly", and then having 2 HD's terminally fail on me.
I have seen other threads talking about glitches with their audio when using audio in/out devices but I have seen nothing about hard- drives being ejected.
I suspect that the Headphone/optical digital audio output (minijack) is susceptible to power surges, such as a connected device being switched on and this somehow causes the ejection.
Anyone else have similar problems or know of a possible cause?

New 27" iMac ejecting external hard drive and not detecting it consistently

I purchased my iMac from Best Buy two days ago and am wondering if I have a lemon. During the process of transferring files via an external hard drive I have noticed a number of issues. My old 2007 iMac had no problem reading the drive but my new iMac keeps ejecting the disk every couple of minutes. I will get a message in the corner of my computer stating that it was not ejected properly.
At one point, the new iMac would not read the drive at all. I plugged in my iPhone and it detected it at first but eventually ejected it and would not detect it again either, not even to charge it. I restarted the computer and it started detecting the iPhone and the external the drive, but now I am back to getting the same error message. I have tried to repair the disk using disk utility and it does not detect any problems. I also tried using every single usb port.
I would appreciate any suggestions and will be taking it back if it keeps having issues.
New 27" iMac
3.2 GHz Intel Core i5
8 gb 1600 MHz DDR3
Mavericks 10.9.4

You have 90 days of free AppleCare telephone support, call them today and report the issue. You can find the number in your country by clicking:
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Error message when trying to eject external hard drive

I'm trying to eject an external hard drive (I've tried all of the prompts multiple times) and continue to get the error message, "The volume can’t be ejected because it’s currently in use.". Has anybody run into this?

Well... I did it the "wrong" way and turned off the hard drive before ejecting it. Of course my Mac "yelled" at me. When I tested to make sure the HD was working properly it seemed to and then ejected easily. Who knows???

IMac ejects external hard drives unexpectedly

I am working along and all of a sudden my external hard drives are ejected for no apparent reason.
How do I fix that?

Could be a faulty cable. Try another cable and try the drives one at a time.
Reset the SMC
Shut down the computer.
Unplug the computer's power cord.
Wait fifteen seconds.
Attach the computer's power cord.
Wait five seconds, then press the power button to turn on the computer.

Mac won't eject external hard drive

Hi!
I've a MBP 15-inch Early 2013 256 GB HD and 8 GB Ram, with Yosemite 10.10.2. A year ago I'd problems with the logic board and Apple changed it, two times. Now I've problems when using my external hard drive ADATA Classic CH11. When I connect it everything works fine, Time Machine does the backup, I can transfer files, no problem. When I try to eject the disk it grays out from Finder but stays like that and never ejects. When I try to open disk utility it freezes and I need to Force quit it. If I try to shut down the Mac after that it never does, it closes all programs but stays on without shutting down.
I've searched about it but all the people say that there's something wrong with my Logic board, this is the third one I've so I'm not sure I'll be able to convince Apple to make another exception to change it.
Any ideas?
Thank you!

Howdy Fernando Mata Licon,
Does the issue ejecting disks that are connected to your MacBook Pro occur with one specific storage device or all devices? Take a look at the article linked below which provides general troubleshooting tips that’ll resolve most issues ejecting disks.
OS X Yosemite: If you can’t eject a disk
Ciao,
-Jason

What's the best way to safely eject external backup drive

I just bought a new Seagate external drive and made my first backup. Their website said the best way to disconnect it is to drag the desktop icon to the trash. I apparently ruined my previous backup drive (Adata) by right-clicking and selecting "Eject" from the context menu. This same "Eject" option is available for the Seagate drive and I read on this forum that it's a safe way to disconnect the drive. However, after using my Adata drive for a couple of years and getting frequent warnings saying the it hadn't been ejected properly after the previous backup, last week it just wouldn't work anymore and backups simply failed. So I'm not feeling confident about how to safely disconnect my new hard drive... Thanks for any advice.

Things can happen to drives after a few years of year of use, even if the hardware itself is OK. The directory structure can get corrupted, etc. Choosing "eject" rather than dragging the icon to the trash isn't going to make a difference. I think Seagate tells users to do it because it's perhaps the simplest, most obvious method. Disk Utility can usually fix minor problems with your directory structure or volume info.
One problem with external drives is that some external enclosures are a lot better than others. So a drive can seem to be failing when in fact the enclosure itself has a problem. It's a good idea to have a spare dock or enclosure on hand to test for this possibility. A spare known-good cable is something else to keep in your "toolkit".

Self Ejecting External Hard Drives

Hello all!
Hopefully someone can help with this. Not a major problem, but just a tad annoying.
I have 2 external drives that remain plugged in to my MacPro...one for Time Machine (500gb Western Digital MyBook), the other for media back-up (1.5tb Iomega (re)drive).
I also use a 250gb Western Digital portable drive that goes back and forth from work. Lately, within the last few days, whenever I eject the portable (which I plug-in using the front USB ports), one of the constant external drives ejects itself. I then have to unplug/replug in the drive to remount it. It's even happened once or twice when ejecting my iPhone or iPod.
Any ideas? Thanks in advance for any help, advice, etc.
James

ouch... that sounds like more of a hardware or kext problem.
what i meant was have you recently updated the system? i.e. has this problem coinsided with an update.
What you could do to test if it is a software problem is boot your install DVD... then mount all your drives and try to reproduce the problem. (you can open disk utility from the install DVD to see what is mounted and what is not.)

I didn't safely eject my external hard-drive and now my files are not showing up on my other computer?

I didn't safely eject my external hard-drive as my imac was in sleep mode and I thought it was shut-down. Now I have turned up to uni and plugged my hard-drive into the uni computers (apple) and the word document I was working on last night (before my computer went to sleep mode, and it may still have been open, I cant remember) is gone.....
I have phoned home and got a family member to try and recover the file. They said they can see it when they open Word under recent documents, however its "ghost" and nothing happens when you click on it.
My question is, when I go home and plug my hard-drive back into my imac, will I be able to recover this word file? or have I lost it forever?

I only saved it to my external hard-drive and saved it at the completion of working on it. However left the document open, went to dinner, and this morning pulled the hard-drive out, whilst the computer was asleep not shut-down and now the file doesn't appear.
I thought when I clicked save then it saved straight away, therefore anything i do after that point (ie a un safe ejection) shouldn't make a difference. Clearly, no matter if you saved the document, if you un-safely eject the hard-drive then the file is lost anyway?

Help freeing up disk space on external hard drive

trying to copy itunes library to external hard drive only to find i have insufficient space (need 100GB). deleted prior two itunes libraries and try again, but fail because external hard drive space is still insufficient. empty trash. eject external hard drive and reattach the thing. it still has insufficient space. make a new folder on external hard drive and copy all folders to this folder to see how much space all the files consume--the entire folder is 100GB, it is a 500 GB external drive, and it has only 21 GB free.
Why is the external hard drive which should have 400GB free, not freeing up the remaining space?
imac mac os x version 10.5.8 (free on hard drive about 20GB, so can't copy 100 GB back to hard drive and format or do whatever to external drive)
external hard drive is G-DRIVE mobile USB, purchased from apple I think.
OmniDiskSweeper used and just showed 100 GB used and 20 some Free. No huge files in trashes or temporary files.
Used DiskAid , and disk is normal, tried to repair but nothing to repair.
Suggestions please?

It sounds like there are multiple partitions on the drive, or perhaps only a small one with a lot of unallocated space.
See what Disk Utility (in your Applications/Utilities folder) says. Click the top line for the drive (with the make and size) in the sidebar. You should see something like this:
See if there's more than one partition (indented under the main line).
Also see what's shown for the Total Capacity.

How do i safely eject an external hard drive?

how do i safely eject an external hard drive after back up is done?

Press the eject key, or open a program like iTunes and eject it, or drag the desktop icon to the trash.
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro?view=documents

Safely eject external hard drive

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