MacBook Pro 10.6.8. All software/hardware up to date. Utilizing NexStar 3 exteranl HD for music samples in Pro Tools (audio application). When I quit PT, the HD will not eject properly -- I'm getting the 'disc still in use' message when ALL applications are shut down. I've connected the HD in both the eSata ports and FW with the same results. Called NexStar tech support and they were stumped.
Help?
Thx ---
JG
ProTools-OTHER, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
i was having the same problem, not sure if you all got it figured out already. my external hard drive is a clone of my internal Retina Macboo Pro hard drive. everytime i would clone, then quit the cloning application, and then try to eject the external hard drive, OS X would tell me that the drive could not be ejected because something else was using it, even though there were no applications running...only the OS. after some internet research, i discovered what the problme is....Spotlight was indexing my external hard drive and wasn't allowing me to eject it. all i did was go into my System Preferences/Spotlight/Privacy, and i added my external hard drive...i told Spotlight to ignore my external hard drive. problem fixed for me.
I've had this issue pop up several times especially when using USB thumb drives that will not eject. You get a message "Finder is currently using "xxx" drive" during this occurrence. I found the best way to get your external drive to eject during this is simply by:
Going to your Finder icon (at the dock), while holding down Option Key, do a right mouse click to select "Relaunch" from Finder pop-up menu. Make sure to not have the "External Drive" you want to remove selected on your Finder window. If it is, simply choose another folder to deselect the targeted drive.
Hope it helps those with this issue.
Just let me help you in an evil way.
1. Check for the last time if any of your apps are running.
2. If not just unplug the External HD from your mac.
The only risk is that your unsaved files will not be saved.
Thank you.
The only other thing that comes to mind is to shut down the application via Activity Monitor but that is a rather clumsy way of dealing with this phenomenon.
I'm grasping at straws now, but perhaps a bit of FIRST AID in DISK UTILITIES?
I'm not sure I have any more arrows left in my quiver.
Ciao.
I'm having this issue after migrating to a new Mac. The issue only happens on the new one -- if I use the same drive with the old Mac, it ejects fine. On the new Mac, it happens even if no applications are open!
Same problem here but worse, much worse.
OS: El Capitan 10.11.3
Format of external drive: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
- External drive does not eject on Macbook (bought it on 2010).
- Moving it to Spotlight's Privacy shows an error.
After some research I discovered that the process mds_stores is running for ever and this could be the problem.
My main concern is that since Spotlight's indexing has been running for ever, I cannot use Finder, since Finder cannot search the contents of the external drive.
Any help??
You can fix the problem this way :
This will stop the Spotlight program :
"The Spotlight program creates a virtual index of all files and folders to speed up search on Macintosh systems."
http://www.ghacks.net/2009/08/19/spotlight-v100-and-trashes-folders-on-usb-flash -drives/
âš BE CAREFULL âš The second solution may harm your drive. Perform some search before acting. Do it at your own risk. âš BE CAREFULL âš
If this solution don't solve the ejection error, try to find the process using your External Hard Drive like this :
Sorry for my english, I hope I can help some people 🙂
This comes from Mac Help:
If you’re trying to eject an external disk:
Choose Apple menu > Log Out, and then log in again. Try to eject the disk again.
If you still can’t eject the disk, choose Apple menu > Shut Down. Disconnect the disk from your computer, and then start up your computer again.
The only other thing I can think of trying a 'Force Quit' on the application.
Ciao.
Thx for the reply. I've done all the usual steps you mentioned but still am unable to safely eject.
There are no open programs to 'force quit' -- they've all effectively been shut down.
There seems to be some sort of thread that is keeping the drive activated -- I am only able to shut it down by powering down the computer and then turning off the drive. This is a drag.
My other external drives eject perfectly (they are also audio drives utilized by the same audio programs).
Yes and no.... Turns out that the drive was somehow initially partitioned to be both mac and windows compatible. Looks like it came that way from the factory and I didn't initialize before loading on my info. So.... I am able to use it but have to shut down every time I want to eject. Pain in the rear, but at least I know why now.
Uninstall any Nexstar software if, you have that, and reformat the drive in "Mac OS Extended (journaled)" and it will be over.
If you really want compatibility with windows, format the drive in "Exfat" which is read/write for windows and osx (and it does not have the 4GB filesize limit).
Lex
@steeldragon i tried your solution but it didn't work for me. i'm using mac os 10.11.2 on a late 2013 macbook pro 15". i think all your solution did for me is make spotlight searches faster when my external HD is connect to my laptop. otherwise, i'm still having issues ejecting this particular hard drive.
Steel Dragon - THANK YOU. I am on system 10.11.13 and had a brand new hard drive, and this was making me nuts, I was unable to eject it without any programs running. As soon as I added it to the Spotlight list under "Privacy" I could eject it no problem.
This just happened to me, so I stumbled upon this thread and tried logging out to no avail. It kept saying it couldn't eject due to the finder being in use... but the finder was not open at all or being used.
Logging off didn't work, but along the same thought I decided to try Restart, and once I logged back in it allowed me to eject it. ;-) Thought I would share, I am sure no one wants to reformat and lose years of data!
Hopes this works for others too 🙂.
When I connect the drive the 'mds_stores' process consumes over 100% of CPU so I assume something is wrong there.
Killing both the processes 'mds' and 'mds_stores' helped and I was able to eject the drive.
BUT my problem is that spotlight does not work with the external drive. I hoped that by ejecting and then connecting it again that issue would be fixed, however every time I connect the drive, I have to kill the processes as described above for ejecting it... and in all cases I cannot find any file on external drive when using the Spotlight or Finder's search.
The ONLY way to search through the files I have saved in the external drive is to copy them so I can perform the search in the laptop's hard disk.
Being unable to search the 1TB+ data in the external drive does not help my work at all. 😟
External Hard Drive not ejecting?
