Mailinglist Archive: opensuse (3605 mails)
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Re: [SLE] Safely Removing USB Stick as a user
- From: "Bryan J. Smith" <b.j.smith@xxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 07 Jun 2006 10:00:22 -0400
- Message-id: <1149688822.18822.183.camel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
On Wed, 2006-06-07 at 08:36 -0400, Bryan S. Tyson wrote:
> I recommend this because as Randall stated, normally we expect the lighted LED
> to mean activity. However, I have a PNY thumb drive that is the opposite.
> Under Windows it behaves as expected, i.e. when idle, the LED is dark. When
> saving a file, the LED lights up while saving, then goes out.
That's because Windows is setting status information -- probably c/o a
PNY support driver/executable automagically installed when you first
insert it (that why they say don't touch/delete the included file).
*HOWEVER*, Microsoft _still_ recommends you go to the little
notification try and say "eject" before you pull it. Because the NT
kernel can still have buffers open, etc... I've gotten a _lot_ of
corrupted USB sticks from users who didn't -- even 1 minute _after_ they
stopped writing.
> However, with Linux (several different distros I have tried) it is the
> opposite! When I plug it in, the LED lights up. If I save a file and watch
> the LED, it goes out for a while while saving, then the LED comes back on!
It depends on the kernel, distro, etc...
On kernel 2.4, I've seen this happen -- just how the Linux kernel
accesses the device, uses buffers, etc... You typically and _always_
want to run "umount".
Kernel 2.6 seems to handle /media correctly. As long as you wait about
30 seconds for a sub-100MB write (or sub-1GB write on higher speed
media), then you're typically safe.
I'd still run "df" to confirm in any case. You _never_ know when you
"touch" the filesystem accidentally.
NOTE: Another alternative is to set up /media to _always_ mount
read-only by default. That way, you can plug and unplug to your heart's
desire! Only when you need to write should you then run a "mount -o
remount,rw" command on the media -- or you can create a script that does
such that a user runs (and set the media to be "user" [re]mountable).
--
Bryan J. Smith Professional, technical annoyance
mailto:b.j.smith@xxxxxxxx http://thebs413.blogspot.com
-------------------------------------------------------
Illegal Immigration = "Representation Without Taxation"
--
Check the headers for your unsubscription address
For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@xxxxxxxx
Also check the archives at http://lists.suse.com
Please read the FAQs: suse-linux-e-faq@xxxxxxxx
> I recommend this because as Randall stated, normally we expect the lighted LED
> to mean activity. However, I have a PNY thumb drive that is the opposite.
> Under Windows it behaves as expected, i.e. when idle, the LED is dark. When
> saving a file, the LED lights up while saving, then goes out.
That's because Windows is setting status information -- probably c/o a
PNY support driver/executable automagically installed when you first
insert it (that why they say don't touch/delete the included file).
*HOWEVER*, Microsoft _still_ recommends you go to the little
notification try and say "eject" before you pull it. Because the NT
kernel can still have buffers open, etc... I've gotten a _lot_ of
corrupted USB sticks from users who didn't -- even 1 minute _after_ they
stopped writing.
> However, with Linux (several different distros I have tried) it is the
> opposite! When I plug it in, the LED lights up. If I save a file and watch
> the LED, it goes out for a while while saving, then the LED comes back on!
It depends on the kernel, distro, etc...
On kernel 2.4, I've seen this happen -- just how the Linux kernel
accesses the device, uses buffers, etc... You typically and _always_
want to run "umount".
Kernel 2.6 seems to handle /media correctly. As long as you wait about
30 seconds for a sub-100MB write (or sub-1GB write on higher speed
media), then you're typically safe.
I'd still run "df" to confirm in any case. You _never_ know when you
"touch" the filesystem accidentally.
NOTE: Another alternative is to set up /media to _always_ mount
read-only by default. That way, you can plug and unplug to your heart's
desire! Only when you need to write should you then run a "mount -o
remount,rw" command on the media -- or you can create a script that does
such that a user runs (and set the media to be "user" [re]mountable).
--
Bryan J. Smith Professional, technical annoyance
mailto:b.j.smith@xxxxxxxx http://thebs413.blogspot.com
-------------------------------------------------------
Illegal Immigration = "Representation Without Taxation"
--
Check the headers for your unsubscription address
For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@xxxxxxxx
Also check the archives at http://lists.suse.com
Please read the FAQs: suse-linux-e-faq@xxxxxxxx
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