Is it safe to "Force Eject" USB HD on mac?

[Applet]

l am trying to Eject my USB HD safely by clicking on the the Eject icon on "Finder" window every time l finish using it. Since l am now using it to update my podcasts on iTunes, l can't eject if iTunes is open. So l close iTunes, but it seems like the only way to get it disconnected is to "Force Eject", or l could just shutdown the whole computer and detach. But are either of these steps 100% safe? I don't quite understand it won't allow me to eject as all programs are closed, and only one Finder window remains. please see attachments.

how should l eject it safely?

cheers

 

[chscag]

Something is holding on to the drive even after you shut down iTunes. Try opening your Activity Monitor to see what may be accessing the drive. You can stop the process from Activity Monitor if you wish but it should be OK to force eject the drive. A force eject will stop all activity to the drive so that when it's ejected it will not damage data.

 

[pm-r]

The old Spotlight and it's indexing sure comes to mind when this happens.

Most of my removable drives I have exempted in the Spotlight privacy that avoids the problem - if that's what t is.

 

[RadDave]

The old Spotlight and it's indexing sure comes to mind when this happens.

Most of my removable drives I have exempted in the Spotlight privacy that avoids the problem - if that's what t is.

Patrick - I'll have to take a look @ that setting? I have 2 external HDs partioned in two to do CCC backups of my MBPro & iMac one on each drive - usually after the backup, the non-connected drive ejects immediately but the one being backed-up will sometimes have this 'Force Eject' option - which I usually just do - has not been an issue; also, this seems to be not happening lately (maybe an OS X update?) - Dave

 

[Rod]

I too have had problems with Spotlight indexing long after the process performed was finished. Have a look at Spotlight preferences and remove/exclude that drive.
My CCC backup did the same until I removed it from the indexing preferences.

 

[Applet]

Something is holding on to the drive even after you shut down iTunes. Try opening your Activity Monitor to see what may be accessing the drive. You can stop the process from Activity Monitor if you wish but it should be OK to force eject the drive. A force eject will stop all activity to the drive so that when it's ejected it will not damage data.

thanks chscag and all. if force eject causes no problems with the data then im fine force ejecting. just the msg in 2nd attachment got me worried. often my computer just shuts down because of low power, ~when 20% power in still available (assume its because l use my mac almost daily for ~several hours) sometimes my USB HD will be connected and mac is writing to it, but when it powers off / goes into standby, and l turn it back on connected to mains, it says something like it wasn't ejected properly, as if l had disconnected it without ejecting first. is this dangerous?

 

[Rod]

Yes disconnecting without ejecting for whatever reason can corrupt your USB HD to the point where it will no longer function.

 

[Applet]

Yes disconnecting without ejecting for whatever reason can corrupt your USB HD to the point where it will no longer function.

Oh dear it happened again
its happened about half a dozen times now, but luckily its ok, how many times does it have to happen? and is it some files will no longer be accessed or all files? luckily my HD still has a 2 year warranty, if l am so unlucky as to have it not function

 

[MacInWin]

The warranty doesn't apply in this case. By "not function" Rod means that the drive will become corrupted and the data may become unreadable. But the hardware should be ok, so you can reformat and reuse it. But your data would be gone. If the drive is USB, it could be that the cable has problems, or it could be that the drive has an internal "sleep" function that to the OS looks like it was disconnected. I disable all sleep functions and refuse to buy drives that have an internal sleep function that I cannot disable easily.

 

[Rod]

We are of course assuming that this USB HD has been originally formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) in the first place. You can confirm this by looking at it in Disk Utility or just Right click it and Get Info. I fail to see why you cannot simply eject it before your battery goes flat which is not a good idea in the first place, "often my computer just shuts down because of low power". this is almost as dangerous to your internal HD as not ejecting your USB HD. I suggest that if your battery life does not suit your requirements that you upgrade to a device with a longer battery life, the Mac Book 12 inch boasts up to 10 hrs. Or a portable charger/power source. Whatever your decision I would advise that you run Disk Utility First Aid on your HD and then perform a full backup using either the built in Time Machine app to another dedicated USB HD or create a bootable clone using a third party application like Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper. I advise everybody to do this but (no offence meant) your usage habits do put you at increased risk of data loss and data retrieval is very expensive if possible at all.

 

[MacInWin]

And running the battery that low is shortening its life, too. LiIon batteries do NOT like deep discharges. Keep it at or above 40%, preferably above 60% most, if not all, of the time. My battery is now almost 5 years old, I've had it for all that time and only have 65 full loadcycles on it. As a result, it is still at 94% of design capacity. I've kept it plugged in anytime it's on my desk. And I don't shut down my MBP, I leave it running 24/7/365. So I get great use of the system and have preserved the battery life as well. Running it down to 0 frequently will dramatically shorten the battery life.

 

[Rod]

Of course our OP may not realise there is a limited number of recharge cycles. Applet, are you aware that recharge cycles are limited? About 1000 for my late 2012 MBP you can check yours here; https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201585 I have 132 cycles on mine.
About this Mac under the apple menu > System report > Power > Battery Information > Health will tell you how many cycles have been used or download the Coconut Battery app (free) which will show you cycles used and battery Health.