My Mac frequently displays a warning saying “Disk not ejected properly”, even when Time Machine backup is not running. I have to forcibly eject the external hard drive because the system insists that it is still in use. How do i fix it?
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This may not be relevant but it may be for others, what version of Mac OS are you running?
Also, are you absolutely sure that your cables are securely connected?
I personally had some SATA III cables I had to completely toss out because of a motherboard SATA Express low profile issue.
Hi. You might consider backing up your data and replacing the hard drive.
Do you have a virus/malware scanner app installed on the mac?
Might want to check it’s not just scanning the background all the time.
If you are familiair with the macos terminal you can check which processes are using the disk when you can’t eject it.
lsof /Volumes/VolumeName and ps -ef | grep VolumeName don’t forget to replace VolumeName with what’s your disk called in the finder.
Got it from here: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/459843/how-do-i-find-which-processes-are-using-files-on-an-external-volumes-monterey
It’s likely the drive, cable/enclosure, or a process keeping the disk busy rather than Time Machine. Try another cable/USB port, run Disk Utility → First Aid, and check whether apps like Spotlight, Finder, or sync software are accessing it. If it happens on another Mac too, the drive or enclosure is probably the culprit.