Safely remove USB Mass Storage Device

Do you need to do this on Mac? If so, how?

Yes, you do need to eject USB and Firewire devices. You can either grab the icon on your desktop and drag it to the trash, click the "eject" symbol next to it in Finder, right-click/control-click on the desktop and select "eject", or highlight it on the desktop and hit command + E.

"USB Mass Storage Devices" (usually USB flash drives or external hard drives) will show up on the Desktop as an icon.

To eject, either:

-right-click the icon on the Desktop and select Eject

-drag the icon to the Trash (the Trash icon will become an Eject icon)

-in a Finder window's sidebar, click the Eject symbol next to that drive's name

Note that unlike on Windows, when you eject a USB flash drive that has an "on" light, the light will remain on.

remain said:

Note that unlike on Windows, when you eject a USB flash drive that has an "on" light, the light will remain on.

Click to expand...

Yeh, that's why I was feeling unsure as to whether or not it has been disconnected.

Thanks remain.

To extend on this topic, does anyone know how to reconnect the device without physically replugging it?

eg. Once you've ejected it, how do you remount it?

Open disc utility, select the device and click "Mount".

baggss said:

Open disc utility, select the device and click "Mount".

Click to expand...

Good one Baggss. I am shocked how few people I know actually know that and unplug and re-plug which can be a pain.

Once you eject the device, it disappears from Disk Utility.

verbatim210 said:

Once you eject the device, it disappears from Disk Utility.

Click to expand...

It keeps Firewire drives there for sure. Just tried it. My iPod Nano though did disappear though.

Edit: Ok update, All Hard Drives do stay in the Disc Utility Menu and you can click Mount. Flash Drives and my Nano go away. At first I thought it was anything USB but my USB 2.0 external Hard Drives stay in Disc Utility.