Backup Drive Error Message

[Marrk]

This is a notebook-related post. Hope it's in the right forum.

Recently, I've been getting error messages when I try to eject my backup drive.



Quitting out of all programs doesn't help. Then, when I click Force Eject, I get this.


The drive is a LaCie 1TB Rugged Mini.


Any thoughts, gentlemen?

 

[MacInWin]

The icon for the drive indicates it is a Time Machine backup. As such, it may still be tied up by TM making a backup, or preparing to make a backup. It is not wise to force it to eject, as that could compromise the backups on the drive.

Shut down the Mac, disconnect the drive, then reboot, if you really want to get rid of the drive. Otherwise, leave it alone.

 

[Jimmysb]

I leave my TM plugged in all the time, never had a need to eject it.

 

[Rod]

Assuming you have the Time Machine Menu Bar icon on your Menu Bar (at the top of your screen) you can Left click on it and it will show you what Time Machine is doing eg Backing Up an how much is left to backup or when the last backup was performed. See below;




If it shows Latest Backups, like my example above rather than;



Or;



Which means it's actually backing up then you can "Skip This Backup" and eject it but it's safer to do as Jake suggests, shut down, unplug the external drive and restart.

Having the time Machine icon on your menu bar is an easy way to see what TM is up to and of course Browse your Backups or TM Settings.
If you don't have the Menu Bar icon go to Time Machine in System Settings and tick the little box to Show Icon in Menu Bar.

 

[Marrk]

Thanks for the replies.

It seems strange to me that this is something that just started happening. Maybe I'll buy a new drive and see if that works differently.