How to Safely Remove a USB Drive on a Mac

What you need: A Mac with a USB flash drive or external drive connected.

Before you begin: Wait for copying or moving files to finish. Save and close any documents opened from the drive.

1. Click Finder (the blue smiling face) in the Dock, the row of app icons along the edge of the screen.
2. In the menu bar at the top of the screen, click Go, then Computer.
3. Find your external drive in the Computer window and click it once. Do not choose Macintosh HD, which is the Mac's own disk.
4. Click File at the top of the screen, then Eject followed by your drive's name.
5. Wait for the drive to disappear from the Computer window. If the Mac says the drive is in use, leave it connected, wait one minute, then repeat steps 3 and 4. If the message appears again, leave the drive connected and unplug it only after you next turn off the Mac.
6. Once the drive has disappeared, unplug it from the Mac.

Expected result: Your USB drive is safely disconnected from the Mac.