After surveying the Mac and Mac apps since the original hit the streets in early 1984, I’ve come to the conclusion that Apple can’t do it all. The Mac maker leaves out obvious features so app developers can make a living acting as Apple’s unofficial but highly valued research and development arm.
Take Jettison. Please. This useful app doesn’t do much but what it does is useful, even handy, every day; especially so if you have multiple disks connected to your Mac or use CDs and DVDs.
All it does is jettison (eject) external disks when you put your Mac to sleep.
That’s about it.
Wait. I said 4 trick pony, right? What are the other tricks?
Jettison resides in the Mac’s Menubar and you can select Eject External Disks Before Sleep (very handy). Or, select Eject External Disks Now (end result is obvious). Or, Eject and Sleep Now (my favorite). Or, the simple Sleep Now option.
Preferences are similarly simple. Set What To Eject. Set Jettison to launch when you start up your Mac. Display Jettison in the Menubar. And, set the default action to Eject External Disks Before System Sleep.
Jettison can jettison hard disks, DVDs, CDs, Disk Images, and Network Drives. This eject capability is very hand for MacBook users who may forget to put away or eject a connected disk drive when closing the Mac to head out the door.
In an odd way, Jettison isn’t much, doesn’t cost much, but you can use the features in a big way.