Are my external hard drives not ejecting properly? ⏏

Is it normal for external hard drives to still be visible in Disk Utility after ejecting them?

Yes because you are not "ejecting" them. In Disk Utility you are unmounting the volumes using the same symbol as the Eject key in the Finder. You can re-mount the unmounted volumes.

I asked them to change the symbol in Disk Utility, but they disagreed with me.

is it safe to physically disconnect the drive in this state?

Yes. It is essentially the same, but in Disk Utility, you can actually re-mount the volume without disconnecting the drive.

When you eject in the Finder, you have to disconnect the drive and reconnect in order to mount the volume.

If you Eject in the Finder, leave the drive connected, then open Disk Utility, you can Mount the volume(s) again.

I suppose they should really call it "Unmount" in the Finder as nothing is actually ejected like a floppy or optical disk.

that is completely normal. my catalina boot drive is ejected. it's still physically connected to the iMac. that's why i still "see" it in DU. but in this state it would be safe to physically disconnect the drive if i so desired.

thanks Barney-15E. i guess i didn't know the proper terminology. which means i need to ask. since i pressed the ⏏︎ icon and the catalina volume is greyed out, is it safe to physically disconnect the drive in this state?

thanks. yet another day where i've learned something new! :)

you're welcome. :)