OS 10.12.6. I back up quite often but every time I try to remove the icon, it says it can't remove it because other programs may be using it. This happens even after I restart twice when I know it is not being used. When I force quit, I get a warning about data being damaged or words to that effect. I use command E to eject. Is there another method of ejecting? Not a big problem but a little annoying. Any ideas?

jaybass

Launch Disk Utility and select the external. Click Unmount. DU may tell you which process is using it. Once you know that, launch Activity Monitor and quit that process. Then, eject the disk.

This has worked for me.

jon,

I connected my external HD and using D/U and clicking unmount, it said that it was IN USE as opposed to MAYBE in use using command E. I highlighted the icon first as I believe I should. D/U never told me about any process so of course I couldn't launch Activity Monitor.

After force quitting, is there any way of knowing if any data is actually corrupted?

jay bass

1. Reboot your system from the Recovery Drive by holding down Command+R (⌘R) when you boot
2. Launch Disk Utility on the Recovery Drive
3. Run First Aid against each of the drives that were mounted when you did the forced shut down

NOTE 1: Steps 1 and 2 are necessary ONLY if you want to check the boot drive otherwise simply launch Disk Utility from your boot drive.

NOTE 2: I have had to do many a unplanned shut down over the years and have not encountered any file or volume damage in probably ten years. There is a window of vulnerability for damage, but it is a VERY small window.

Another thing you might try is to "force quit" the Finder, then eject the drive.

If you're not intimidated by or otherwise averse to /Applications/Utilities/Terminal, try this:

• Launch Terminal
• Enter "sudo lsof | grep" at the prompt. (Use copy & paste, but without the quotes.)
• Leave a space after the p, then drag the icon of the volume in question to the Terminal window. (The volume's path will be automatically pasted in for you.)
• Click "Return"

Note that Terminal will ask for your password, but WILL NOT display anything, not even dots, as you enter it; that's SOP. (More: Before Terminal allows you to enter your password it will pop up an "Are you sure you want to do this?" warning if you've never used sudo before; just click past it.)

Terminal's output should tell you what's in use on your drive.

If you don't mind having the external disconnected, shut down and then unplug it while the computer is off.

I mounted the external HD and re booted from the recovery drive. Launched D/U and ran first aid...no problems and then unmounted the external HD. I then restarted but the HD was still on the desktop. Then command E with the usual window saying it may be in use. I force quit but the warning about data damage did not not appear. I assume that was because first aid had been run.

Question: After clicking 'unmount', and then restarting, is it normal for HD to still be on the desktop?

Thanks for the info and the other responses.

jaybass

If you have your Finder preferences set to show external disks on the desktop, this is normal.

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