More on drives refusing to unmount; solution from Symantec
More on drives refusing to unmount; solution from Symantec
We continue to receive reports of users who have problems unmounting devices under Mac OS X 10.4.x. In some cases Norton AntiVirus is involved, in others it is not.
Previously, we reported that in some cases, the "Auto-Protect" component of Norton AntiVirus (NAV) can prevent FireWire drives, and potentially other devices, from properly unmounting. The solution is to either use the "Disable Auto-Protect" option within Norton AntiVirus' preferences, or remove the utility entirely. We subsequently received word from Symantec that the issue is under investigation.
MacFixIt reader Gary Coyne writes:
"It's not just FireWire or USB 2.0 with Norton, it's just plain un-mounting USB 2.0
"I use flash drives daily and ever since moving to X.4 it's been very difficult to un-mount the drives--and it seems to be getting worse. Initially it just seemed to take a long time after clicking on the un-mount button for the drive to disappear from the desktop. Occasionally it would disappear from the desktop but not from the listed drives in the upper left of a Finder's window. Lately I've been getting messages when trying to remove a flash drive that I have to quit a program so that I can remove the drive. After quitting all programs I'm still getting the same message. So, I've been reduced to restarting so that I can remove a drive."
Meanwhile, we've received word from Symantec indicating a workaround for instances of this issue that involve Norton AntiVirus Auto-Protect. Spokesperson Deena Benz writes:"With Norton AntiVirus 10 installed on Tiger, you may get an alert stating 'The disk "disk name" is in use and could not be ejected. Try quitting applications and try again." when attempting to unmount or eject a volume or disk. A second attempt almost always results in a successful unmount/eject.
"Cause: Tiger's Spotlight is constantly indexing mounted volumes and NAV 10's Auto-Protect is scanning those indexing files. When selecting a drive/volume to eject/unmount, Spotlight quickly stops indexing and the system tries to unmount the drive. This happens so quickly that Auto-Protect is still scanning those index files and you are presented with the alert that the disk is still in use.
"Workaround: Add the .Spotlight-V100 directory (invisible, at the root of any writable-mounted volume) to Auto-Protect's "unSafeZones."
- Open up System Preferences
- Open Auto-Protect Preferences
- Select the SafeZones tab
- Under "Everywhere EXCEPT in:" add the .Spotlight-V100 folder on the writeable disk (it's at the root of the volume)
"For any drive that you have trouble unmounting, you should add the .Spotlight-V100 folder that is at the rool of that volume.
Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.
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