Missing "Safely Remove Drive" option from Quicklists. Only have "Eject".

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

I noticed this yesterday on quantal. There are no Safely Remove or Eject options for my USB harddrives.

I think this is a gio/gvfs bug. Do you have Safely Remove/Eject options in the nautilus sidebar?

In Nautilus, right-clicking on a USB-External-Harddrive only provides the "unmount" option also. Selecting it doesn't remove the device from the left-pane of Nautilus NOR does it remove the device from Unity's Task-bar.

In 12.04, you could right-click on the device (from the Unity Taskbar) and select "Safely Remove". After that the device would be removed from the task-bar and you could then unplug it with some degree of confidence.

"Safely Remove" and "Eject" are missing from the Unity-Taskbar-Device-Icon's context menu. I don't know how Nautilus was before, but it too doesn't provide those options now (in its left-pane, under the "Devices" section). Nautilus may have been that way before; I cannot confirm that.

Yet, this bug report is specifically indicating the un-evolved behavior of the Unity-Taskbar-Device-Icon's Context-Menu, which seems to have un-evolved to a less-ensuring indicator of "whether it is safe to unplug your USB hard-drive or not".

To be fair, when you do select "unmount", if you right-click on the device-icon again, the "unmount" option will no longer be selectable. Perhaps this is a more subtle indicator that the drive has been successfully unmounted, but it does take an additional step to confirm (versus the behavior in 12.04). 12.04's behavior was more apparently without that additional step.

One plus, about this new behavior, is that if you want to mount the device again, the device icon remains on the taskbar, and it auto-mounts it upon clicking it. This prevents you from having to unplug and replug the device to get the icon to re-appear on the task bar.

Perhaps a great compromise would be to indeed bring back the "Safely Remove" option (because to a new user that makes more sense than the technical term "unmount". And, once removed, allow the icon to remain on the task bar, but modify the icon so that it indicates an "unmounted" status (with a red x or something else more elegant).

Additionally, upon "Safely Remove", perhaps a message notification should fade up to explicitly indicate that the safe removal was successful.

This is a gio/gvfs bug. Marking as invalid in unity.

I'm sorry about the mess that i did with the status above, i just want to confirm that the problem afects me too. When i need to unplug the external drive the option "safely remove drive" turns off the drive. When i just unmout he still remains spinning. I'm afraid to damage my drive.

Original reporter should use the proper terms for the Unity desktop components involved. There's no "Unity-Task-Bar" -- it's called the Launcher. And the pop-up that appears when right-clicking on a Launcher icon is called a Quicklist, not a context menu. For general Unity terminology, see: http://askubuntu.com/questions/10228/whats-the-right-terminology-for-unitys-ui-elements/19166#19166

Anyhow, under 12.04 and earlier my Patriot USB memory stick also had the "Safely Remove" Quicklist entry, but in 12.10 there's only "Eject" which doesn't perform a sync operation before telling me the device has been ejected. Ejecting (i.e. unmounting) without syncing can corrupt the filesystem if a write operation has been recently performed.

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Could you get a "gvfs-mount -li" log with the drive mounted and add it to the bug?

The "safe remove" functionality was removed from udisks2, and it's not planned to bring it back. It caused too much trouble with e. g. devices which are internally wired to an USB port, and you could never use them again until after a reboot. Also, having two options was a constant source of confusion. So I'm afraid this is "wontfix" from the distro side.

Attaching output log of `gvfs-mount -li`. My 16 GB Patriot USB stick is auto-mounted and listed as "Drive(2)".

Also, the safely remove option would recognise if the external drive had multiple partitions and offer to remove the master device if I remember correctly. Now I have to manually unmount four partitions on my 2 TB external disk every time I want to remove it.

Expected behaviour - Expected behaviour - when Unity detects that the user is ejecting a partition that is on an external drive containing more partitions, it should offer to safely remove the whole device. Alternatively there should be two options upon right clicking a drive icon - "unmount only the partition" and "safely remove master device".

Why is it a "Won't fix" when there are workarounds avaible?
http://nikunjlahoti.com/2012/11/09/missing-safely-remove-in-ubuntu-12-10/
Couldn't it be fixed this way? I think this is a serious bug for a operating system. It made me change back to 12.04 because i don't want to lose my data when I disconnect my Harddrive while its still used and spinning!

The function of "Safely Remove" is to remove POWER from USB connected devices.

Unplugging any device while powered up is UNSAFE! This bug is not about unmounting a USB drive/stick.

If Windoz has no problem with "Safely Remove" are we saying Ubuntu cannot do it? Really?

I agree we could just:
  1. Unmount all partitions; and then
  2. Suspend the drive (put it to sleep).
That should be a safe way to remove the drive.

The main issue with this bug is that the Unity launcher is presently tied to the Nautilus behaviour. So far we have only mirrored what Nautilus would let you do. But we don't really need to. If there's a safe way to shut down a drive without risking removing it (it may be an internal device), then we should. But a better solution would be to keep the smarts in the Gnome API so the same fix applies to Nautilus and the launcher.

Again, putting a drive to 'sleep' is NOT correct fix!

You have to REMOVE POWER first, to *safely* remove/disconnect a USB drive.

That is what Safely Remove did in older versions of Ubuntu.

Actually, you have to unmount all partitions first to avoid filesystem corruption. That's the one thing that is absolutely critical.

After that, yes, remove power if you can. However the reason why Gnome is treating this bug as Won't Fix is because there are too many device types that are unsafe to power down. Devices like optical drives and card readers that look like internal devices to you, but to the OS are USB devices in some cases. So Linux thinks they're safe to power down (which you can't recover from without rebooting).

Some USB sticks have a light to indicate when they are powered. In 12.04, when "Safely Remove" was selected the light on the stick (and USB hub if plugged into a hub) go off. This is the expected behaviour.

There is no longer a "Safely Remove" option in 12.10. If I select "Eject", neither the light on the stick or hub go off. This doesn't give a good indication to the user that the drive can safely be removed.

I also have a problem that a Lexar 64MB Jumpdrive (05dc:0080) will re-appear on the launcher after I eject it.

Martin Pitt (pitti) wrote on 2012-11-13: #13
The "safe remove" functionality was removed from udisks2, and it's not planned to bring it back. It caused too much trouble with e. g. devices which are internally wired to an USB port, and you could never use them again until after a reboot. Also, having two options was a constant source of confusion. So I'm afraid this is "wontfix" from the distro side.

Martin, There is myself and I am sure many others who find this justification "unacceptable"! I have several systems in which devices are connected internally via USB headers/ports. Yes, the option does exist, be it Ubuntu 12.04.1, Windows XP-7, etc. to safely remove these devices via a right-click, even though they are devices that would not normally require such action. Examples of these devices are a wireless N network adapter, an internal media card reader with USB port, etc. Quite frankly, it comes down to a user exercising diligence when right-clicking on any device and knowing what device it is that they are about to safely remove beforehand! Saying that it causes too much trouble for devices that would then require a reboot to use again is in my opinion, a cop-out! It is a chance that most users would be willing to take, to err on the side of caution when it comes to properly powering down a device first before removing it! If it is a choice between having the safely remove command available to remove a device properly by completely powering it down or not having the safely remove command available at all in an attempt to eliminate the confusion that exists in correlation to the eject/unmount commands while helping to prevent some users from accidentally removing the wrong device, I think the majority of users do not find it as confusing as you implicate. I and others I am sure would rather have the option to safely power down our devices using the safely remove command and thus this is a request to have it formally reinstated. This too, has prevented me from upgrading to Ubuntu 12.10!

If there can't be a "safely remove" option, could you at least add an
"unmount all partitions on device" option or something similar so that
people don't have to right-click and unmount X partitions separately before
they can unplug the device? I'm guessing it can't be that hard to find
other partitions mounted from a certain device if one has been selected.

Anyway, from all the machines with Linux installed I've worked on over the
years I haven't once encountered an internally wired USB device and I have
to deal with my multi-TB external disks and their numerous partitions
daily. I think that a mistake of forgetting to unmount one of 6-7
partitions and causing the loss of data greatly outweights having to reboot
your machine if you accidentaly unmount an internally wired CD drive or
something.

On Fri, Dec 7, 2012 at 7:01 AM, Blair Zimmer <email address hidden> wrote:

> Martin Pitt (pitti) wrote on 2012-11-13: #13
> The "safe remove" functionality was removed from udisks2, and it's not
> planned to bring it back. It caused too much trouble with e. g. devices
> which are internally wired to an USB port, and you could never use them
> again until after a reboot. Also, having two options was a constant source
> of confusion. So I'm afraid this is "wontfix" from the distro side.
>
> Martin, There is myself and I am sure many others who find this
> justification "unacceptable"! I have several systems in which devices
> are connected internally via USB headers/ports. Yes, the option does
> exist, be it Ubuntu 12.04.1, Windows XP-7, etc. to safely remove these
> devices via a right-click, even though they are devices that would not
> normally require such action. Examples of these devices are a wireless
> N network adapter, an internal media card reader with USB port, etc.
> Quite frankly, it comes down to a user exercising diligence when right-
> clicking on any device and knowing what device it is that they are about
> to safely remove beforehand! Saying that it causes too much trouble for
> devices that would then require a reboot to use again is in my opinion,
> a cop-out! It is a chance that most users would be willing to take, to
> err on the side of caution when it comes to properly powering down a
> device first before removing it! If it is a choice between having the
> safely remove command available to remove a device properly by
> completely powering it down or not having the safely remove command
> available at all in an attempt to eliminate the confusion that exists in
> correlation to the eject/unmount commands while helping to prevent some
> users from accidentally removing the wrong device, I think the majority
> of users do not find it as confusing as you implicate. I and others I
> am sure would rather have the option to safely power down our devices
> using the safely remove command and thus this is a request to have it
> formally reinstated. This too, has prevented me from upgrading to
> Ubuntu 12.10!
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to a
> duplicate bug report (1081716).
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1067876
>
> Title:
> [quantal] Missing "Safely Remove Drive" and "Eje...

I have encountered internally wired USB devices in two cases:
  1. An old Thinkpad connected the internal optical drive via USB.
  2. An internal card reader that fits a 3.5" drive bay and connects to a USB header.
In both cases, a full "Eject" of the device rendered it unusable till next reboot.

But I agree they are rare and we should not be punishing everyone just to avoid problems with such devices.

Safely Remove missing from ubuntu 12.10 qicklist ...
do we have any solutions ... Unplugging any device while powered up is dangerous!

So - we had this feature. And then it got removed to avoid rare problems and replace them with common problems?
(sigh)

Excuse me, is there any way it could get fixed in Ubuntu, evethough Gnome guys decided they won't fix it? There surely must be a way to recognise HDDs from card readers. A script that would do it is nice, but needs more clicks, can't we just have the old feature back?

This Gnome approach to things makes me a bit angry and wishing bad things to people.

Jan,

The "won't fix" decision is not by users and IMHO is bogus. Ubuntu 12.04 had the 'Safely Remove' feature and it worked. 'They *removed* it in 12.10 version.

'They' are also saying that Windoz CAN have the feature but Ubuntu cannot, which is BS.

By the way, I've tried Linux Mint and SUSE and both had the feature.

You can use my bash script from command line or through a shortcut key.

Why not have "Eject" for USB sticks and other removable media, and "Safely remove" for external hard disks? For USB sticks and alike, "Eject" is alright, because it's usually safe. But for an external hard disk, it should be made more safe:
Clicking "Safely remove" should show a dialog window to confirm the action, so that users don't do this by accident.

How does the system distinguish between USB sticks and external hard drives (other than size)?

I've noticed that Nautilus actions do not trigger OSD notifications. Removing external media by right-clicking within nautilus will not generate OSD notifications.

The OSD notification behavior is not consistent. In 12.04 right-clicking and Ejecting in the LAUNCHER triggers an OSD notification, but right-clicking and selecting Safely-Remove in the launcher does not.

I think that any action on external media - from the Launcher or from Nautilus - should generate OSD notifications whether its Eject, or Safely Remove, or Unmount, etc.

Lisa,

[Safely Remove] = eject + REMOVE POWER from USB device.

The 'remove power' is the main issue. Removing/disconnecting ANY electronic device with power still applied is dangerous. This is the reason for [Safely Remove] option for mounted USB sticks.

Without the [Safely Remove] option, the only way to SAFELY remove/disconnect a USB stick is to shutdown your system first.

As I said before, the reasoning given for NOT putting [Safely Remove] is bogus and dangerous thinking. It is evidence that those who made the decision to remove the option are saying they are dumber than Windoz or other Linux OS which HAVE the option.

Thanks all for your interest to this issue, Ubuntu is neither writting udisk nor responsible for that change, could one of you engage the conversation with the people writing this software by opening a bug on https://bugs.freedesktop.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=udisks ?

OK, I've opened a bug upstream:

https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=60293

Please, everybody who is interested subscribe to that thread too (you can add yourselves to the CC list and save changes, the beauty of having 10 different bug systems :).

> OK, I've opened a bug upstream:

thank you!

I'm seeing the safely remove option just fine in 13.10.

Thank you for good news, Phillip!
For what devices do you have safely remove option?
If it is USB-flash - did LED on it switched off after Safely Remove?
If it is USB-HDD - did it spinned-down after Safely Remove?

I tested 3 flashes and 2 USB-HDDs on Ubuntu 13.10 on Unity session.
Unity launcher and Nautilus showed Safely Remove only for my HDDs. After Safely remove they do not spin-down as were in 12.04. My USB-flashes have only Eject, after Eject they have LED on, which is not expected.
So for me Safely remove is still broken.

I tested with usb flash sticks, and yes, the light goes off after safely remove.

After you safe remote the hd, does the /dev/?da file still show up?

On Sat, 18 Jan 2014 20:59:06 -0000, you wrote:

Q> I'm seeing the safely remove option just fine in 13.10.
Q>

It is NOT working correctly. It does unmount a thumb drive but DOES
NOT POWER IT OFF. I know because my thumb drives have a power LED,
after 'Safely' removing, or unmounting, the LED is still on.

"Safely" remove works correctly in Windoze because it removes *power*
from the port.

Q> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
Q> report.
Q> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1067876
Q>
Q> Title:
Q> Missing "Safely Remove Drive" option from Quicklists. Only have
Q> "Eject".
Q>
Q> Status in GVFS:
Q> New
Q> Status in The Linux Mint Distribution:
Q> New
Q> Status in Nautilus:
Q> New
Q> Status in abstraction for enumerating and managing block devices:
Q> Won't Fix
Q> Status in Unity:
Q> Invalid
Q> Status in “gvfs” package in Ubuntu:
Q> Fix Released
Q> Status in “udisks2” package in Ubuntu:
Q> Fix Released
Q> Status in “udisks2” package in ALT Linux:
Q> Unknown
Q> Status in Fedora:
Q> Unknown
Q> Status in “nautilus” package in Gentoo Linux:
Q> New
Q> Status in “nautilus” package in Mandriva:
Q> Confirmed
Q> Status in openSUSE:
Q> Confirmed
Q>
Q> Bug description:
Q> In Ubuntu 12.04, I could right-click on my usb-external-harddrive's
Q> Unity-Task-Bar icon (launcher icon) and select "Safely Remove". Upon
Q> doing this, the icon would disappear and I would proceed in unplugging
Q> my external hard drive.
Q>
Q> However, since upgrading to Ubuntu 12.10, this option is no longer
Q> available in the context menus (Quicklists) for external drives.
Q>
Q> Instead, all I see is "Unmount", and after clicking "Unmount" the icon
Q> remains on the task-bar (launcher) and no indication is given that
Q> would imply that the unmount occurred successfully.
Q>
Q> The intent of this report is to bring back the "Safely Remove" option
Q> which (by making the icon disappear after selected) indicates that you
Q> may now safely removal your USB external hard drive (by unplugging its
Q> usb connector).
Q>
Q> ProblemType: Bug
Q> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.10
Q> Package: unity 6.8.0-0ubuntu2
Q> ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.5.0-17.28-generic 3.5.5
Q> Uname: Linux 3.5.0-17-generic x86_64
Q> NonfreeKernelModules: wl
Q> ApportVersion: 2.6.1-0ubuntu3
Q> Architecture: amd64
Q> CompizPlugins: [core,composite,opengl,compiztoolbox,decor,vpswitch,snap,mousepoll,resize,place,move,wall,grid,regex,imgpng,session,gnomecompat,animation,fade,unitymtgrabhandles,workarounds,scale,expo,ezoom,unityshell]
Q> Date: Wed Oct 17 14:55:17 2012
Q> InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20120425)
Q> ProcEnviron:
Q>  TERM=xterm
Q>  PATH=(custom, no user)
Q>  XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
Q>  LANG=en_US.UTF-8
Q>  SHELL=/bin/bash
Q> SourcePackage: unity
Q> UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to quantal on 2012-10-04 (13 days ago)
Q>
Q> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
Q> https://bugs.launchpad.net/gvfs/+bug/1067876/+subscriptions
--
=========== Tecknomage ===========
   Computer Systems Specialist
         IT Technician
           (retired)
  ...

Can you run tail -f -n 0 /var/log/syslog, then activate the safely remove option, and paste the output, and check to see if the /dev/sdX node is still present?

It seems that problem is fixed with the newest version udisks2 2.1.3-1 in Trusty.
From NEWS file:
      Send SCSI START STOP UNIT when powering down a drive (see this commit - http://cgit.freedesktop.org/udisks/commit/?id=fcdd8f48b6ac9b1b6da82fdf5f59230fc2ea6feb)
      udisksctl: add power-off verb to power off drives (see this commit - http://cgit.freedesktop.org/udisks/commit/?id=a54c2fa14c522487a78828d4a9dfd89f916a3576)

It spins down my USB-HDD with safely remove. It's great.

Please note:
   * with modern version of udisks2 "Safely remove drive" in Nautilus and "Safely remove parent drive" in Unity options are available only for USB-HDDs,
   * for USB-flashes there is only Eject option and it is normal.

I do not encounter the problem with 14.04 anymore.

This issue still affects me with 14.04, and usb eject option is not always normal.

For flash drives yes, but I have a usb camera and the eject option did not function as it did with 12.04. With 12.04 I used safely remove but with 14.04 I can only use eject and it severely corrupted the camera drive. Not cool.

So while eject may work normally for most flash drives, it does have the potential to cause problems.

Please bring back safely remove as it worked as it should in 12.04.

Dear sureau!
If you can please report the bug upstream (to Udisks Bugzilla, for example write a comment here -
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=71802 ). The problem comes from this component, not Ubuntu itself.

Also I can recommend you to try GNOME Disk Utility (gnome-disks command).
For me it normally do Safe removal for my USB-HDD and USB-Flash.

Ubuntu 16.04 is also missing "Safely Remove Drive" option. Instead it has the "Eject" option, but after selecting this option on an ESATA external hard-drive it offers no feedback to indicate that the "ejection" was successfully.

Because of this, I always have to shutdown my computer before unplugging my ESATA external hard drive. Nothing else gives me any indication that it is safe to unplug it.

Upgraded to Kubuntu 16.04.1, same problem. Had to manually use udisksctl to power off external USB drive.

What project should be added to affected list? KDE base apps, plasma, kio..?