Unable to Eject the Disk

Brief Description:

If an external hard drive is being ejected and a popup message appears indicating that one or more programs may be using it, the application in question must be closed.

However, closing all applications may not resolve the issue.

I have attempted numerous solutions suggested online, none of which have been effective, including those provided by Apple Support.

Rather than enumerating every potential method, let us focus on addressing the root cause of the problem, which is the presence of corrupt files and replacing them.

While I cannot guarantee that this idea will work for everyone, it is a good start.

Follow these steps:

1. With the external drive plugged in, open the drive by double-clicking its icon on the desktop.
2. From the Finder window that appears, press Command + Shift + . (period) to show hidden files.
3. Click to select all of the hidden files (folders) that appear, then delete them by pressing Command + Option + Delete.
4. Confirm Delete operation from the dialog box that appears.
5. Close the Finder window.
6. Double-Click the external drive icon on the desktop to open the Finder.
7. Those hidden files should be in the process of rebuilding.
8. Press Command + Shift + . (period) to hide the hidden files.
9. Close the Finder window.
10. After a reasonable amount of time, with the external drive selected on the Desktop, press Command + E to eject the drive.

NOTE: If you are still facing the issue after a reasonable amount of time has elapsed, continue to wait for the entire process to complete, then try again.