Time Machine Disk Won't Eject

[eddjedi]

For the last few days I have not been able to eject my Time Machine disk without forcing it. I have tried leaving it for hours in case there is some kind of indexing going on, and also ejecting immediately after a backup finishes, but I still always get the below message.



I have tried running first aid on the disk through disk utility, but get the below error which appears to be simply failing to unmount the disk. If I try to unmount the disk, I get the message "Failed to unmount “Time Machine” because it is currently in use by “Finder”."



So have Apple broken disc utility in Monterey? This HD is only about 18 months old so I don't think it's a mechanical failure, it has also been fairly recently formatted (October) when I get my new MBP.

 

[Slartibart]

try to exclude it from Spotlight.

 

[eddjedi]

try to exclude it from Spotlight.

I can try that, I've never had to do it for the last 10+ years of using Time Machine though.

 

[gilby101]

If I try to unmount the disk, I get the message "Failed to unmount “Time Machine” because it is currently in use by “Finder”."



So have Apple broken disc utility in Monterey?

That is Disk Utility working properly. It can't repair unless the disk can be unmounted. And your first line above says that is because it is open in Finder.

Try Command-Option-Escape to bring up the Force Quit Applications dialog and Relaunch Finder (which will be at the bottom of the list).

 

[eddjedi]

So this issue has still not been resolved. I have left the disk plugged in for days to allow Spotlight to index it, but it still won't eject. I understand disabling Spotlight indexing on the drive may solve the issue, but that is not something your average Mac user is going to do, so surely Apple aren't still shipping an OS that has a broken backup or indexing utility? I am fully up to date (12.3.1.)

 

[Taz Mangus]

Open the Terminal application. Enter the following command:

lsof "/Volumes/Time Machine"

This command will return all the commands that are presently accessing the drive. This might give you a clue as to why you can't unmount the drive.

 

[Te0SX]

Same here, even after formatted the external disk.

 

[Taz Mangus]

Same here, even after formatted the external disk.

What does the lsof command return that I suggested in post #6? If I run the lsof command I can see spotlight indexing on the drive.

 

[eddjedi]

I should add that mine has finally started ejecting, I don't know if the 12.4 update had anything to do with it, or it's just a coincidence. If it happens again I will run the command to check.

 

[downsmemer]

this video worked for me

 

[DerSteyn]

This started happening to me as well. So annoying. If I browse files via Finder, no problem, the backup disk ejects fine – I can even preview documents via space bar (this sometimes caused problems unmounting). It is only when I "Enter Time Machine" and then exit via "cancel" that the backup disk won't eject. Disk Utility can't unmount or eject either for the same reason: "Failed to eject “Disk XYZ-Media” because it is currently in use."

@downsmemer, I think restarting Finder and other such foolery is exactly what people want to avoid. I just want to use the backup disk and have the OS eject it properly when I want. Just like it used to work for years and years.

Has anyone found a solution? (and/or what's causing it).

Running 12.5.1, Terminal returns this (I don't know enough to get what it means):
lsof "/Volumes/Time Machine"
lsof: status error on /Volumes/Time Machine: No such file or directory
lsof 4.91
latest revision: ftp://lsof.itap.purdue.edu/pub/tools/unix/lsof/
latest FAQ: ftp://lsof.itap.purdue.edu/pub/tools/unix/lsof/FAQ
latest man page: ftp://lsof.itap.purdue.edu/pub/tools/unix/lsof/lsof_man
usage: [-?abhlnNoOPRtUvVX] [+|-c c] [+|-d s] [+D D] [+|-f[cgG]]
[-F [f]] [-g ] [-i ] [+|-L [l]] [+|-M] [-o [o]] [-p s]
[+|-r [t]] [-s [p:s]] [-S [t]] [-T [t]] [-u s] [+|-w] [-x [fl]] [--] [names]
Use the ``-h'' option to get more help information.

 

[the.doc]

This worked for me:

sudo mdutil -i off /Volumes ## turns off Spotlight indexing for all disks mounted under /Volumes
go back to finder and eject disk ## bloody hell!! success
sudo mdutil -i on /Volumes ## turn Spotlight indexing back on for remaining disks

(sudo mdutil -i off /Volumes/backupdisk does not work; can't follow the path "/Volumes/backupdisk")



Time Machine was looking for backup disk and not backing up. Fearing something wrong with my drive, I too entered Time Machine and used cancel to get out of it. That seemed to verify that the drive was ok.

Turned out that because I had recently upgraded from Big Sur to Monterey, I had to go into Time Machine preferences and rechoose my backup disk to get it to find the backup drive. Did backup just fine, but then I could not eject the drive. Web search got me here; don't remember where I found mdutil, but "man mdutil" reveals all.