macOS Eject icon says "No drives" when a drive is mounted (macOS 14.8.7).

It could very well be the eject button is not enabled by default. As I wrote, I was able to (re)install it. I may have done so long ago. Attached is how it looks by itself, and in context (on my system).

It's quite likely that it only ejects optical media. This Apple support article explains how that icon ejects optical media. It doesn't explicitly state that it does not work with non optical media, but given the fact that it doesn't mention non optical media, that may be the only kind of drives it works with. It feels like a UX mismatch, given the same icon works with non optical media (when it is next to a drive in the sidebar), yet having two, different looking, icons for both purposes would be more confusing. As I wrote in another reply, having hover tooltip would be useful, as well as the information presented when clicking it with no (apparently optical only) drive attached should state: "No optical media mounted".

Since optical drives in newer Macs is less prevalent (or non existent?), it probably makes sense that the toolbar eject icon is not installed by default. (One could have an external optical drive, but that's not so common these days.)

Your idea seems the most likely answer.

It could very well be the eject button is not enabled by default. As I wrote, I was able to (re)install it. I may have done so long ago. Attached is how it looks by itself, and in context (on my system).

It's quite likely that it only ejects optical media. This Apple support article explains how that icon ejects optical media. It doesn't explicitly state that it does not work with non optical media, but given the fact that it doesn't mention non optical media, that may be the only kind of drives it works with. It feels like a UX mismatch, given the same icon works with non optical media (when it is next to a drive in the sidebar)—yet having two, different looking, icons for both purposes would be more confusing. As I wrote in another reply, having hover tooltip would be useful, as well as the information presented when clicking it with no (apparently optical only) drive attached should state: "No optical media mounted".

Since optical drives in newer Macs is less prevalent (or non existent?), it probably makes sense that the toolbar eject icon is not installed by default. (A person could have an external optical drive, but that's not so common these days.)

Your idea seems the most likely answer.

The problem persists when I selected the drive before clicking the menubar eject icon.

(I only just now tried that; I usually click the eject icon next to the drive in the sidebar.)

I've not read how using the icon in the toolbar is supposed to work. I thought it would eject all external drives. In retrospect, there is an argument for requiring the user to select the (external) drive(s) desired to be ejected, although I'm guessing the majority of people only have one external drive mounted at a time, so no having the select the drive first would be easier.

In any case, when I hover the cursor over any toolbar icon (I've waited over 5 seconds), there is no hove tooltip presented about what the icon's name (and maybe function) is. That would be very useful. When contextual clicking on some (but not all) toolbar icons, a menus is presented (although that is probably would be irrelevant in the case of an eject icon).

In any case, it defintely seems like a bug that a mounted drive which is selected, is not ejected by clicking the toolbar eject icon.

Also, instead of reporting: "No drives", it should state: "No drives selected", or "No drives mounted".

Thank you for the suggestion.

The problem persists after a restart.