2

My laptop screen isn't producing an image - damn floor hit my computer - though it seems to be working fine from the normal sounds (bootup, on board sound keys, purring... etc.)

My Timemachine has backed everything up and I would like to unmount my external rather than just unplug it. All I have is the keyboard since I don't know where I'm clicking with the trackpad.

I don't have an external monitor and won't have access to one for a bit. think "remote."

So does anyone know of a keyboard shortcut for unmounting a disk or all disks?

Jonah Goldstein
  • 201

3 Answers3

2

ssh in and umount. Or open a terminal first if possible.

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams
  • 114,604
1

You need to somehow get into Finder. Perhaps click at one of the screen edges (a few seconds of moving the pointer there will do), or use an application launcher (e.g. Quicksilver, LaunchBar). If you never disabled the keyboard shortcuts, press Ctrl-F3 once to get Dock keyboard focus, then Return.

  1. Cmd-N to open a new window
  2. Cmd-Shift-C to get to top (machine) level
  3. Press Esc, then type Volume Name once to get the desired entry
  4. Press Cmd-E for Eject

If you have mounted disk images on external volumes, this might not work at all, they block ejecting.

If you don't know the volume name, replace steps 3 and 4 with:

  1. Press Esc, then Down once to select the first list item.
  2. Press Cmd-E for Eject
  3. Select another list item by pressing Esc (clearing selection), then Up or Down once or more.
  4. Repeat these steps a few times to unmount all volumes except the ones you cannot (i.e. Network item and your start volume)

Alternatively, find out your exact umount command and start Terminal using an application launcher, or by finding Finder like above, then pressing Cmd-Shift-U to open the Utilities folder, then type Terminal to locate the program, then Cmd-Down to start it.

If you have a launcher such as Launchbar, type your hotkey then "shutdown". Press enter and see if the machine gets turned off.

Close the lid to go to sleep. Not a dismount, but there shouldn't be any more disk activity.

Click the very top left of the screen to open the Apple menu (move the pointer for a few seconds there), or, if you didn't disable the keyboard shortcut, press Ctrl-F2 then Enter to focus the menu bar, then open the Apple menu. Press Up twice, and then Option+Enter. This will shut down the machine.

Daniel Beck
  • 111,893
0

Perhaps I am off the mark here, but why not just shut the laptop down - either with the common keyboard shortcuts or even by just pressing the power button? When it is off, no program can have any handles on the drive, so it is safe to unplug it.

Cerberus
  • 695