A disk won't eject or disconnect

macOS won’t eject a disk while something is using it, and BeamDisk doesn’t force it out from under your apps: that’s how files get damaged.

What you see

• Eject: the sidebar’s message line says Projects couldn’t be ejected: it’s in use: quit apps using it, then try again.
• Disconnect All: an alert, Couldn’t disconnect, names the disks still in use: Projects couldn’t be ejected because something is using it (an open file, Spotlight or Time Machine). Quit apps using it, wait a moment, then try again. The other disks are ejected; BeamDisk stays connected.
• Disconnect All and Quit: the same alert, and BeamDisk stays open.
• Format, Erase and Reformat… and Use the New Space… stop with a message that the disk is in use.

Find what’s using it

1. Quit the apps with files open on the disk, and close Finder windows showing it.
2. If Time Machine is backing up to the disk, wait for the backup to finish, or skip it from Time Machine in the menu bar.
3. If you just turned Spotlight on for the disk, it may still be indexing. Give it a moment.
4. Still stuck? In Terminal, lsof /Volumes/Projects (with your disk’s name) lists the files open on it, and which app has each.
5. Try again: Eject on the disk’s page, or Disconnect All.

Remove… is dimmed

A disk has to be ejected before it can be removed: the Disk card says Eject first to remove. Eject it, then choose Remove… from its Options menu.

Still stuck? Get help.