External drives won't eject from my MacBook Pro

What’s happening is that Spotlight or background processes like fseventsd or mds_stores are still actively indexing or caching data from your drives, so macOS won’t let them eject cleanly.

The quick fix is to disable Spotlight indexing for those external drives, go to System Settings > Siri & Spotlight > Privacy, add the drive, and it’ll stop scanning it.

Once done, you’ll be able to eject them instantly. If it still hangs, open Activity Monitor, search for mds or fseventsd, and quit them, then eject.

It’s not ideal, but until Apple tweaks how Spotlight handles external volumes, that’s your best move.

“The quick fix is to disable Spotlight indexing for those external drives, go to System Settings > Siri & Spotlight > Privacy, add the drive, and it’ll stop scanning it.[…] It’s not ideal, but until Apple tweaks how Spotlight handles external volumes, that’s your best move.”

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Report this Bug and the Bug Fix to Apple:

The reason it’s been an issue, is probably because it’s been rambled on and on about all over the Web, but just not (if ever) to Apple.

Do your Part: Report this to Apple. Apple may not get back to you directly, but the more feedback Apple receives on this, the more they will know what is going on, and what needs to be fixed in upcoming updates. Apple will know nothing of your occurrences and fixes, if you don’t report them to them.

1. Go Here: Feedback - macOS - Apple
2. Select: "Bug Report" for the "Feedback Type"
3. Select: “Applications/Utilities” for the “Feedback Area”
4. Comment: On the solution, when issue began, and how you came across the soltion. Include the URL to this thread.
5. Proceed from there as necessary

“External Drives Wont Eject: […]The internet is FILLED with people having this same exact issue, FOR YEARS. It's honestly ridiculous at this point. PLEASE FIX THIS!”

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External Drives Not Ejecting with Spotlight Index Running:

A. Create New User:

For temporary use, create a new Administrator. See what happens when you log in to it. Do you still get this issue? If not, then is it a misconfiguration in the current user. If so, then you'd likely have to resinstall the macOS.

B. Reinstall the macOS:

Nothing would be lost. It's just that misplaced items would be placed back to where they should be and corrupt system files would be replaced by clean files. Go Here: Reinstall macOS - Apple Support. Important: Prior to installing an update or performing a reinstallation, to prevent data loss, be sure to Back up your Mac with Time Machine.

C. Report this to Apple:

The reason it’s been an issue, is probably because it’s been rambled on and on about all over the Web, but just not (if ever) to Apple.

Do your Part: Report this to Apple. Apple may not get back to you directly, but the more feedback Apple receives on this, the more they will know what is going on, and what needs to be fixed in upcoming updates. Apple will know nothing of your occurrence, if you don’t report it to them.

1. Go Here: Feedback - macOS - Apple
2. Select: "Bug Report" for the "Feedback Type"
3. Select: “Applications/Utilities” for the “Feedback Area”
4. Comment: when this all started, and how you have troubleshot it thus far. Include the URL to this thread.
5. Proceed from there as necessary

FYI you are not addressing Apple on this site. If it is your intent to contact Apple, then Contact Apple.