Level 3

632 points

Cannot eject Time Machine drive from MacBook Pro

For the better part of the past week, I have been unable to eject my Time Machine drive. Every time I try from the finder, I'm presented with the following:

I use Jettison, and that can't eject it either:

I don't know why this problem, suddenly, developed. No applications are open and nothing is using the disk.

I have tried both of the following:

Restarting the finder.
Logging out and logging back in.

Neither is permitting ejection.

I tried to run First Aid on the volume in Disk Utility, but that won't work because the disk can't be unmounted.

Force ejecting the drive is the only thing that works.

How can I figure out what is, persistently, preventing this disk from being ejected?

My machine is a 2023 16-inch MacBook Pro running the current build of Tahoe (26.4).

[Edited by Moderator]

MacBook Pro 16″

Posted on Apr 7, 2026 8:53 PM

Top-ranking reply

Cerebro Author

Level 3

632 points

Posted on May 1, 2026 3:35 PM

Okay. I think I, finally, solved my problem. After still having issues with my TM drive failing to eject because it was "busy" (Busy doing what?), I wondered it this might be connected to another frequent issue I've been having, recently, where TM backups were failing because it claimed that my disk was "no longer encrypted":

This was a surprise to me, because I didn't remember encrypting it in the first place. Going into settings told me:

Removing my TM drive and, then, re-adding it would fix the problem. But, only temporarily.

I did some research on this and learned of one thing, unbeknownst to me, that Tahoe changed. Tahoe enabled FileVault by default. Prior to Tahoe, I did not have this enabled. Since my internal drive was, now, encrypted and my TM volume was not, this led to frequent conflicts. It seems there are two solutions:

Turn off FileVault on my internal drive.
Reformat my TM volume with encryption.

I chose the second one. Now, I haven't seen any errors all week with, either failed disk ejections, or failed back-ups. Hopefully, I'm good to go, now.

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47 replies

Jul 7, 2026 5:57 PM in response to Lauraald4

Feedback - macOS - Apple

This is the most common way to report a macOS problem to Apple if I understand correctly.

Cerebro Author

Level 3

632 points

Apr 8, 2026 8:31 AM in response to Cerebro

I have tried dialabrain's suggestion of removing the drive from Time Machine (which I shouldn't have to do). I have tried steve626's suggestion of not using Jettison. No joy. The drive STILL refuses to eject. There MUST be some underlying process that is holding the drive hostage and preventing it from ejecting properly. But I'm at a loss as to what it could be. Some things I'll try when I get home from work...

I'll try running "sudo lsof | grep" on my volume to see if I can pinpoint a cause.

On earlier versions macOS, I was able to use a great app called "What's Keeping Me?" to figure out what programs are being accessed by my attached volumes. Unfortunately, it's no longer supported. I have been searching online for similar alternatives. I found:

Ejector (available on GitHub). The description says "Ejector is a macOS utility that helps you safely remove external drives. It automatically ejects any drives that are ready to go and highlights the processes that still have files open so you can address them quickly." Sounds promising.
Ejecta. A menubar app that seems to have similar functionality.
Sloth.
What's Open.

Anyone tried any of these and have any opinions?

Owl-53

Level 10

112,141 points

Apr 8, 2026 9:26 AM in response to Cerebro

Attempt to unmount

" If no application dissented the unmount request, DiskArbitration will attempt to unmount the volume. At this point, the volume should unmount! If any application has an open file on the affected volume, however, the unmount request will fail. Occasionally the ensuing dialog will indicate which application is using the volume, but often you get a very generic message that the disk wasn't ejected, "because one or more programs may be using it."

Does that embolden text look familiar ?

I tend to agree about using the Etrecheck application

Alancito

Level 7

30,926 points

May 23, 2026 1:01 AM in response to Lauraald4

Lauraald4 wrote: "...Apple, it's a bug. Please let us know your plan to fix it!"

Lauraald4 ~ Apple is unlikely to see your plea in these user-to-user communities. Use this form:

Feedback - macOS - Apple

õ¿õ¬

Aug 7, 2026 7:42 AM in response to Cerebro

I too have recently upgraded to Tahoe 26.6 and so far have not had the "systemmigrationd" issue when unmounting my external Time Machine hard drive. Having little faith in consumer technology and being somewhat cynical, we'll see how long the "fix" lasts. Hopefully, the issue has been resolved.

Force

Owl-53

Level 10

112,141 points

Apr 8, 2026 4:02 AM in response to Cerebro

2 cents here

Although the link pertains to a Cloning Software that can make Backups or Timed Backups

The overarching principal of backing up to an external drive remains

Why can't I eject the destination volume after the backup task has completed?

John Galt

Level 10

160,092 points

Apr 8, 2026 7:55 AM in response to steve626

steve626 wrote:

dialabrain wrote:

FWIW, as long as a drive is assigned to Time Machine it is considered in use. You would have to first remove the drive from Time Machine in System Settings > General > Time Machine.

Is that really true?

No.

May 28, 2026 7:28 PM in response to Cerebro

It's not just Time Machine. I can no longer eject my little thumb drives. Same message: the disk wasn't ejected because one or more programs may be using it.

I had one support call with Apple and the external drives ejected fine -- but only for about a week. Back to the same old same old now.

BTW, FILE VAULT is turned OFF.

[Edited by Moderator]

May 28, 2026 4:22 PM in response to Michael Force

>> that's Tahoe for you

I'd say it's more like that's Time Machine for you.

Once they got out of the TimeCapsule/AirPort business, started viewing iCloud as a backup solution, of sorts, and migrated from AFP to SMB, it seems Time Machine gets no particular love either for use with local attached storage or network shares. When it works, lucky for you. When it doesn't, well, that's why you should have stored your stuff in iCloud where they wanted you to store it all along.

May 29, 2026 3:52 PM in response to Lauraald4

Lauraald4 wrote:

…On my machine, the problem isn't confined to Time Machine. I've gotten the same error message when trying to eject a thumb drive running Office 365 and PDF docs.

My bet is that this says more about your having tried it than it says about others of us not reporting it.

Jun 17, 2026 5:56 PM in response to Sam Knutson

Would you share the URL for reporting this bug to Apple? I thought I reported it, but didn't get the expected auto "we received your communique." Everyone here is reporting this bug, yes? Looks like the first post might have been in early April.

dialabrain

Level 10

137,821 points

Apr 8, 2026 1:00 AM in response to steve626

steve626 wrote:

Is that really true?

Well, I have to choose 'Force Eject" as does the OP.

Cerebro Author

Level 3

632 points

Apr 9, 2026 8:10 PM in response to Cerebro

Maybe I spoke too soon. Just tried ejecting, again, so I could install the Tahoe 24.6.1 update. And, it failed again.

dialabrain

Level 10

137,821 points

Apr 9, 2026 8:19 PM in response to Cerebro

I assume you meant 26.4.1. Why are you trying to eject Time Machine to install an update? It's not necessary.

May 29, 2026 12:32 PM in response to JLG89

I'm going to try this. On my machine, the problem isn't confined to Time Machine. I've gotten the same error message when trying to eject a thumb drive running Office 365 and PDF docs.

Cannot eject Time Machine drive from MacBook Pro