Disk Not Ejected Properly... after ejecting disk

[motrek]

I have an external USB hard drive that I use for backing up some data.

After I'm done copying the data, I right-click on the drive and choose "Eject."

Then I wait for the drive's icon to disappear from the desktop.

Then I unplug the drive.

About a third of the time, after I unplug the drive, I get a message saying "Disk Not Ejected Properly."

What the f**k does Apple want me to do to eject this disk, other than choosing Eject and waiting until the disk disappears from the UI?

Anybody else have this problem?

 

[Fishrrman]

If you RE-connect the drive (after the error msg), does the drive icon then "re-mount" on the desktop, as it should?

In that case, I'd just ignore the "phony messages", so long as the drive dismounted/re-mounted without any other problems...

 

[motrek]

If you RE-connect the drive (after the error msg), does the drive icon then "re-mount" on the desktop, as it should?

In that case, I'd just ignore the "phony messages", so long as the drive dismounted/re-mounted without any other problems...

Yes, the drive seems to remount with no problems, although it can take up to a minute for it to display on the desktop after I type in the encryption key. (Why so long?!)

But who knows if there is any data corruption.

 

[DeltaMac]

My slowest drive is an 8TB Seagate, which often has a delay of a minute or two when ejecting.
Is there a drive activity light on your hard drive?
I usually wait until THAT light goes out, which can be some delay after the drive icon is gone from the desktop.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"Yes, the drive seems to remount with no problems, although it can take up to a minute for it to display on the desktop after I type in the encryption key. (Why so long?!)"

I'll GUESS that the encryption process is slowing down the dismounting of the drive (even though its icon vanishes from the desktop, stuff may still be going on "under the hood").

Like DeltaMac says, observe the light on the drive itself (assuming it has one).
Wait until that "goes out" before unplugging the drive...

 

[motrek]

OP wrote:
"Yes, the drive seems to remount with no problems, although it can take up to a minute for it to display on the desktop after I type in the encryption key. (Why so long?!)"

I'll GUESS that the encryption process is slowing down the dismounting of the drive (even though its icon vanishes from the desktop, stuff may still be going on "under the hood").

Like DeltaMac says, observe the light on the drive itself (assuming it has one).
Wait until that "goes out" before unplugging the drive...

You might be right. Annoying if the drive disappears from the desktop but isn't actually dismounted, seems like a design flaw on Apple's part.

I think one of the drives I use for these backups doesn't have an activity light but I guess I can wait an extra minute or two before unplugging it. I don't even race to unplug these drives the second they disappear from the finder, usually 10-20 seconds later. Surprised that they might not be done writing by then.