Unable to disconnect an external disk

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otibag
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Unable to disconnect an external disk

Post by otibag »

Dear Sirs: I have a problem with an external disk that I use as a back up (Lenovo with one TB). When I wanted to disconect this disk I did right click on Lenovo icon, then I click on “expulse” and after a while the light on the disk goes out and a legend appeared at the desktop, telling me that was safe to disconet the disk. Till now, all OK.
After an upgrade (I dont remember which was) when I do the same operation, the legend does not appear, the Lenovo icon disappears from the desktop, but after a while (few seconds) the disk is mounted again. It seems that some program stays active and reconnects the disk. So, I have to wait until I shut off the compute to disconnect the disk. I dont have this problem with USB drives
I use Mint 18.1 with Cinnamon 3.2.7. I attach a file with more information of my machine
I am a newbie, I hope my problem has been clearly stated.
Thanks in advance for any suggestion.
Gabriel
Buenos Aires, Argentina
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greerd
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Re: Unable to disconnect an external disk

Post by greerd »

Hi otibag and welcome to the forum,

It could be something a simple as still having your file manager opened up in one of the external disk's folders. Before trying to un-mount, make sure that nothing is using or displaying anything from that disk.

Hope this helps.
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otibag
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Re: Unable to disconnect an external disk

Post by otibag »

Hi Geerd: thanks for your reply. I just did that, but problem continues. I remember that a time ago, when disconnecting safely a pen drive appeared a legend "You may disconnect...", but this messagge dissapeared, I think simultaneously with my problem with the external disk.
Regards.
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greerd
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Re: Unable to disconnect an external disk

Post by greerd »

You can try using the umount command from the terminal, which should give more information.
First before you plug in the drive open a terminal and run

Code: Select all

lsblk
then plug in the drive and mount it in your normal way, then run the command again and you should be able to tell where its mounted. (probably /media/username/device name)
With it still mounted from the same terminal type for example

Code: Select all

umount /media/greerd/5ef0d5e0-b8fd-481d-8197-b4058b394271
which is from my system, your path and device name (the uuid) will be different.
This might give clues on whats going wrong.
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otibag
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Re: Unable to disconnect an external disk

Post by otibag »

Hi Greerd: I apologize for my great delay in responding to you, but I'm taking up this question now. I followed your suggestion and for some reason, now appears the textbox telling that is "safe to disconnect the external HD". So, this issued is fixed.
Thanks for your interest in my problem.
Gabriel / Argentina
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