The message “Disc Not Ejected Properly” usually only shows up in the upper right corner of your Mac screen if you remove removable external drives without first safely ejecting them. Funny thing is, you don’t unplug your external hard drive from your Mac; it just keeps unplugging on its own. This message keeps showing up after you upgrade to macOS Monterey or Big Sur. In this article we will show you how to Fix ‘Disk Not Ejected Properly’ error on Mac.
Also, it might show up after your Mac restarts or wakes up from sleep. How can you stop the pop-ups that keep coming up? It keeps showing up on your Mac, “Disc Not Ejected Properly.” This post will show you how to get rid of it. You can follow it to find out what’s wrong and how to fix it.
Why ‘Disk Not Ejected Properly’ error on Mac
- Directly Disconnecting: If you unplug a disc without first using the “Eject” option in Finder or the macOS Dock, data movement can be interrupted, which can cause this error.
- If you force-quit an app, it might still be using disc files even though it looks like it’s stopped. The mistake can happen if you force quit them without ejecting.
- Not putting your Mac to sleep or hibernation while discs are linked can sometimes make this problem happen.
- Cable That Doesn’t Work Right: A cable that doesn’t work right can lead to mistakes and disconnections.
- Failure Disc: The hardware on the external disc could be broken, making it hard for the Mac to read or write data reliably.
- USB or Thunderbolt Port Problems: If your Mac’s port isn’t working right, it can also make it hard to connect drives.
- Operating System Bugs: There may be bugs or problems in macOS that make it hard to manage discs.
- Software That Doesn’t Get Along: Third-party apps or background processes may not get along with how the disc is handled.
- File System Errors: Errors can happen when the disk’s file system gets stuck.
Fix: ‘Disk Not Ejected Properly’ error on Mac
Adjust Hard Disk Sleep Settings on Your Mac
- On your Mac, open System Preferences. You can do this from the Scope search bar.
- Click on “Energy Saver” after scrolling down.
- “Put hard discs to sleep when possible” should be checked on the Energy Saver page. This should help your hard drive stay awake.
Check the Disk for Errors
- Before you check the disc, make a copy of your important files.
- In order to get to Disc Utility, go to Programmes > Utilities > Disc Utility.
- Choose the bad hard drive that is causing the mistake from the list on the left.
- Click the Run button after the First Aid button to move on.
- After First Aid checks the disc for mistakes, wait for it to finish.
- First Aid will try to fix any mistakes on its own if there are any. In that case, you might need to get help from a professional.
- When the scan is done, safely remove the external drive to stop the error from happening again.
Safe Mode
Start up your Mac in Safe Mode, then try to remove the disc from that mode. Hold down the Shift key until you see the Apple badge and restart your Mac. This will put it into Safe Mode. Safe Mode turns off third-party apps, which might help figure out what’s wrong and fix it.
Check for Background Processes
At times, tasks running in the background may be accessing the disc. Check Activity Monitor to see if there are any processes that are linked to the disc. If there are, force-quit them.
Reformat the external hard drive
- Use the external hard drive to make a copy of your info.
- You can get to Disc Utility by going to Finder > Applications > Utilities.
- From the menu, choose the damaged external hard drive. Then, click the Erase tab.
- Name, Format, and Scheme of the storage drive must be chosen, and then the Erase button must be pressed.
- Pick “GUID Partition Map” from the Scheme menu that appears.
- Choose the type of file system and give the drive a name. exFAT is the best file format because it works with both MacOS and Windows.
FAQs
Try any of these: If the CD or DVD is being used by an app: Close the app and try to remove the disc again. If you can’t close the game that’s using the CD or DVD: Close the file on the disc you want to remove, and then try to remove it again.
Straighten out the paperclip until it’s at least 1 to 2 inches (2 to 5 cm) long. There should be a small hole right under or above the drive bay door, which is what “ejects” the disc. Put the paperclip through the hole in the pin and gently push it in.
This key is in the upper right corner of the computer, right above the number pad. If you have it, press it. It has the picture on the left. This key is great because you don’t have to choose the disc. Just press it, and the CD or DVD will come out.
