Connect, eject and remove disks

A disk in BeamDisk can be connected, which means BeamDisk is logged in to it on the server, and attached, which means it’s on this Mac, in Finder and Disk Utility. Normally a disk is both. Ejected, it stays connected, its state reads Not attached, and other computers can use it until it’s attached here again.

Connect at login

For your disks to come back by themselves when you log in, two switches need to be on:

• Open at Login, in Settings → General or the quick menu, so BeamDisk starts with your Mac. If macOS asks, approve BeamDisk in System Settings → General → Login Items & Extensions.
• Connect at login for each disk: in Add Disk, on the disk’s page, or in its Options menu.

At login, BeamDisk stays in the menu bar, connects to your servers and attaches the disks marked Connect at login.

Connect All and Disconnect All

Connect All, in the window’s toolbar and the quick menu, connects to your servers, attaches the disks marked Connect at login, and tries again for any disk that couldn’t connect. It’s dimmed when there’s nothing left to do.

Disconnect All ejects every disk, then disconnects from the servers. Before it logs out, BeamDisk makes sure each server has stored everything written to it, and gives up its hold on each disk, so another Mac can use it. If something is still using a disk, BeamDisk ejects the others but stays connected, and says which disk is in use. See A disk won’t eject or disconnect.

Eject a disk

1. Quit the apps using the disk.
2. Open the disk’s page in BeamDisk’s window and click Eject, in the toolbar or at the bottom of the Disk card.

The disk leaves Finder but stays connected, and only this Mac can use it. Click Attach to put it back.

Remount a disk

Remount, in a disk’s Options menu, ejects the disk and attaches it again. Use it when a disk says Remount needed after a long outage, so macOS checks its volume afresh. See When the server stops responding.

Remove a disk from this Mac

Removing a disk makes this Mac forget it. The disk and its data stay on the server.

1. Eject the disk (above). Remove… stays dimmed until it’s ejected.
2. Choose Remove… from the disk’s Options menu, or click it on the Disk card.
3. Click Remove to confirm.

BeamDisk disconnects the disk and deletes its CHAP secret from your Keychain, unless another disk on the same target still uses it. To use the disk on another Mac, see One Mac per disk.

When you quit

Settings → General → When you quit decides what quitting BeamDisk does:

• Keep disks connected (recommended): your disks stay available to Finder and Time Machine after you quit, like the iSCSI initiator services on Windows and Linux. Open BeamDisk again to see them.
• Disconnect all disks: quitting disconnects everything first, as Disconnect All does.

Either way, Disconnect All and Quit in the quick menu disconnects everything and quits, this once. If a disk can’t be ejected, BeamDisk stays open and says which.