The problem
=
I've got a simple question: what's the difference between ejecting flash drive using GNOME Files (formerly known as Nautilus ) button (see image below) and
Before you will read rest of this question I encourage you to think if you expect any difference between results of clicking eject button in GNOME Files and typing
and command line using e.g.
and I run those commands once again, there is no
umount
command?

umount
command? If yes, then what's the difference? If no, then read on...
---
1st try: GNOME Files eject
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When I insert my flash drive to my computer's USB socket, Debian automatically mounts it, which is reflected both in GNOME Files :

df
command:
me@host:~$ df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
(...)
/dev/sdf1 3,6G 3,6G 0 100% /media/me/Debian 9.1.0 amd64 1
or blkid
command:
root@host:~# blkid
(...)
/dev/sdf1: UUID="XXXX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX" LABEL="Debian 9.1.0 amd64 1" TYPE="iso9660" PTUUID="XXXXXXXX" PTTYPE="dos" PARTUUID="XXXXXXXX-XX"
/dev/sdf2: SEC_TYPE="msdos" UUID="XXXX-XXXX" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="XXXXXXXX-XX"
When I click eject button marked with a red circle:

sdf
string in commands' output (which is probably what I should expect after ejecting /dev/sdf1
):
root@host:~# df -h | grep sdf
root@host:~# df -ah | grep sdf
root@host:~#
Note that I added -a
(--all
) flag to df
command and I got the same (empty) result.
root@host:~# blkid | grep sdf
root@host:~#
Note that now I'm unable to remount /dev/sdf1
without reinserting my flash drive:
root@host:~# mkdir -p /mnt/test
root@host:~# mount /dev/sdf1 /mnt/test
mount: special device /dev/sdf1 does not exist
---
2nd try: umount
command
=
Now repeat the hole procedure with only changing the way I unmount my flash drive. Instead of clicking eject button, I type:
umount /dev/sdf1
Here is the result of df
:
root@host:~# df -h | grep sdf
root@host:~# df -ah | grep sdf
root@host:~#
df
result is probably as expected because it's the same as above... but here comes the blkid
:
root@host:~# blkid | grep sdf
/dev/sdf1: UUID="XXXX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX" LABEL="Debian 9.1.0 amd64 1" TYPE="iso9660" PTUUID="XXXXXXXX" PTTYPE="dos" PARTUUID="XXXXXXXX-XX"
/dev/sdf2: SEC_TYPE="msdos" UUID="XXXX-XXXX" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="XXXXXXXX-XX"
Note that remounting works fine in opposite to the previous try:
root@host:~# df -h | grep sdf
root@host:~# mkdir -p /mnt/test
root@host:~# ls /mnt/test | wc -l
0
root@host:~# mount /dev/sdf1 /mnt/test
mount: /dev/sdf1 is write-protected, mounting read-only
root@host:~# ls /mnt/test | wc -l
24
---
The question
=
Why is that?
What is the precise, underlying reason of above differences in blkid
output? Does GNOME Files do something more than umount
command? It seems to me that GNOME File eject button is kind of 'permanent' unmount. Why?
Asked by patryk.beza
(1229 rep)
Oct 4, 2017, 05:26 PM
Last activity: Oct 4, 2017, 08:11 PM
Last activity: Oct 4, 2017, 08:11 PM