How can I safely disconnect a Seagate or Maxtor-brand External Storage Drive from a Mac computer?

Problem:

The Mac gives the following error message:

Cause:

The drive was improperly disconnected from the Mac Computer.

Solution:

You must disconnect your External Storage Drive from the Mac properly.

1. Click & Drag your External Storage Drive's Icon to the Trashcan.
   
   If using Mac OSX 10.3 (Panther), you will be prompted to authenticate (login) as a user with Administrative Privileges. Once this is completed, you can proceed to the next step.
   
2. You can now safely unplug/shutdown your External Storage Drive.