Time Machine and MacBook Mojave OS 10.14.6?

marilynfromaiken wrote:

In doing a Search for it, Time Machine Backup is the only selection that has the Eject command available.

Right!

1. You don't eject an app.
2. You don't eject Time Machine.
3. You don't eject an alias.
4. You do eject external disks.

Fair enough, but if you want to disconnect the Time Machine backup drive while your Mac is "on" it's best to eject it. Click the drive icon, then File > Eject "name".

Just turning Time Machine "off" doesn't do that.

I surmise the backup disk not shown as mounted on your Desktop, and you're attempting to use "eject" on its alias. That won't work.

Select the backup disk icon in a Finder Sidebar, or use Finder's Preferences and select external disks on the Desktop. Then, you can select it and use File > Eject, or drag the Time Machine hard disk icon to the Trash (whose icon will change accordingly).

That's the way to do it.

😂

It helps to have knowledge of antiquated systems that used floppy disks that had to be "ejected" from the drives that held them, using a menu selection (or a manual "eject" pushbutton on some PCs). The floppy disk would then pop out of the drive so you could toss it in a drawer. Otherwise you couldn't remove them, which was a good thing because doing that could result in data corruption.

Even though the file structure used by Time Machine makes that kind of data corruption unlikely, it's considered good practice to "eject" the drive before disconnecting it. That ensures it's not being used before you remove it.

Unlike those early floppy discs, an external hard drive doesn't actually go anywhere by ejecting it. So, it's more technically accurate to use the word "unmount", but the old "eject" terminology stuck.

If I select the main icon for the Time Machine drive, which is on the right side of my desktop, just under the HD icon, the "eject' was selectable / available. Does that remove the app from my computer?

Nope. That's not even possible.

And then when I plug it in again, Time Machine mounts again - and continues from where it left off backing up files?

Exactly.

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marilynfromaiken wrote:

What a round-about way to turn Time Machine off whenever I want to disconnect it.

I give up. Congratulations.