Eject Disk is a menu item command in the Finder's Special menu (keyboard shortcut: command-E). It is responsible for ejecting disks and other removable media on the desktop.
This menu command has been part of the Macintosh system software and the Mac OS for over 18 years, right from the first version (System 1) through to the last version (Mac OS 9.2.2). In Mac OS X, the similarly-named Eject command has been moved to the file menu
Until Mac OS 8, this command not only ejected your floppy disk or removable volume, but also left a grayed-out copy of its icon on your desktop. New users would eject a disk via this command and double-click the icon again, only to be requested to reinsert the disk. (Starting from System 3.2, you could actually press command-p twice to escape from the disk insertion request loop.)
Beginning with Mac OS 8, however, this command ejects your disk or removable media and removes the icon from your desktop. The old method (with the ghosted image), however, is still recallable -- hold down the option key to reveal the Eject and Leave Behind command, which is the same Eject Disk command as the pre-Mac OS 8 variant.
Workarounds and Tips
- If you're using a version of the Macintosh system software or Mac OS prior to Mac OS 8, eject the disk or removable media using the "put away" command in the file menu where available to remove the disk and the icon.
- Use the older Eject Disk command or the newer (hidden) Eject and Leave Behind command only if you have to copy files from one floppy to another, but have only one disk drive.