Removing USB pens

[kernowmint]

I don't if this is a Mint question or an XFCE question. I'm running Lisa main edition but with XFCE instead of Gnome under mint4win on my HP laptop. Every time I select the option to eject a USB pen drive, I get a message saying there is data being written to the drive and not to remove it. This happens even when I've only inserted the USB pen to have a look at what's on it and I haven't actually done anything with it. On other occasions the red light on the USB pen has been steady, which I thought meant the file operations were finished and it was ready for removal, and the drive name vanishes from the Thunar window. I've had to ignore the messages so I can remove the pens, but how can I know whether a USB pen really is ready for removal or not?

[viking777]

Well, you could always do what I do and disable automounting, but since most people seem to be unable to live without this hideous device, I guess I had better think up another tactic.

My other suggestion would be this. Go to your file manager (or run the 'mount' command) and find out where your usb device is mounted (it will be /media/something) put that address into the following command:

Code: Select all

sudo lsof +D /media/0FDD-636E/

(The address I typed there is from a usb device I just mounted on my computer - please don't copy it directly - copy the command by all means, just not the address).

If there is no output from that command then there are no open files on that device so it should be safe to remove.