MacMost Now 738: Properly Ejecting External Drives

Removing an external hard drive or USB flash drive is easy, but should be done properly by first ejecting the disk in the Finder before removing it physically. The same is true for iOS devices which can be ejected from inside iTunes.

Comments: 13 Responses to “MacMost Now 738: Properly Ejecting External Drives”

    Syed
    12 years ago

    usb ejects after few seconds on inserting and message coming on "DISK NOT EJECTED PROPERLY"

    how do i fix this problem.

    thank you

      12 years ago

      It sounds like the usb drive is defective or broken.

    Robert
    12 years ago

    Hi Gary, thank you for your tutorial! To eject external devices I just drag the icon on the desktop to the trash then physically remover, is that ok as well? Many thanks!!
    Robert

      12 years ago

      Yes. Dragging to the trash is the equivalent to using the Eject icon.

    Rick
    12 years ago

    Great reminder Gary,
    Different devices operate differently too.
    If my Garmin GPS is plugged in and the computer sleeps it will show a red warning that the disc wasn't properly disconnected when it wakes up.
    My USB flash drive was removed by the kids without ejecting and never worked again.
    iPhone and iPad can be disconnected without ejecting but again, not good practice. I don't want them ending up like a cheap flash drive.

    cheraflu
    12 years ago

    I always use the eject button in finder or in iphoto -- but it always tells me that I did not, after I pull the drive off. I have tried waiting a significant time after clicking the eject and having the device disappear from the desktop, but it doesn't matter

      12 years ago

      Does the device disappear from the Finder? If not, then it hasn't ejected -- possibly because some process is still using it. Very hard to say what the problem could be without being there. I'd have an expert take a first-hand look.

    Val
    12 years ago

    I accidentally removed a flash drive without ejecting it. Now, when I put it back in, the icon does not appear on the screen.

    How can I re-access this disk?

      12 years ago

      You may have damaged it (not physically, but the data). Try using Disk Utility to mount it.

    Val
    12 years ago

    Gary: Thanks for the prompt reply - I really appreciate it.

    I don't know what 'mount it' means.

    I took the disk in to a local computer store and had them burn the contents onto a CD. They could open the disk on a PC, and were able to print most of the images, but not all of them.

    The flash drive image still doesn't come up on the screen when I put it back into my Mac.

    I posted two pictures to show you what I see when I use the disk utility. One has an 'M/' which is clickable. The other doesn't. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to click that M/ or not, since I don't know what it is for. It looks like that is for my hard drive, not for the flash drive. I don't know what the flash drive is named - the name on the flash drive is San Disk. The only thing I have named Samsung is my printer, and it is disconnected from the computer right now.

      12 years ago

      I don't see the flash drive at all on the left. You've got your main hard drive (manufactured by Samsung) and your DVD drive. If the USB drive was working it would show up in that list. Nothing is there so something is wrong. It sounds like the guys at the store used recovery software to get your files back -- at least the ones that could be saved.

    Val
    12 years ago

    Okay - thanks again for the prompt reply, Gary. I seldom use these flash drives, for exactly this reason.

    My desk is quite organized - it's not like I wasn't being careful - but when I reached for my camera I clipped the flash drive and knocked it loose from the hub.

    What a pain trying to recover the data and get this sorted out. I live 40 miles from the nearest town and had to drive there to get this matter attended to, and I still have lost data. Not to mention being set back a day on the catalogue I was working on, plus having to ask the customer for a copy of the info that was on that drive!

    I really appreciate your help. I was delighted to find your site and am very thankful for your help.

    However, I still have lost data to deal with and a not very happy customer. Surely there must be a better way to remove these devices so that this type of thing doesn't happen so easily?

      12 years ago

      Some best practices when using USB Flash drives:
      1. Don't work with the files on the drive. Plug in the drive, get the files off it and on to your hard drive, then remove the drive properly. Likewise, transfer files to the drive when you are done with them and are ready to transport them elsewhere.
      2. Format matters. I'm guessing that the drive was formatted FAT32, a very old Windows format. More modern formats protect against trouble better. A Mac OS Extened, Journaled format may not have had this issue.

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