Anotehr first-timer question:

Migrating from Windows, I'm used to removing my "usb pen-drive" by clicking first on the "safely remove hardware" icon, then remove it only when "it is safe to do so".

There is no such icon in Linux. So I just took it out and it did not seem to do any harm.
Is this correct, or am I in for trouble in the long term?

Thanks again for your patience with me
Christel

My ubuntu system puts an icon for the device on the desktop. Before I remove the 'stick', I right click on the device icon and click on 'Unmount Volume'.

Don't know about the harm for pulling the device without unmounting it. Posibly you could lose some data from files left 'open', or somesuch.

Thanks, I'll try that.

What do you think of ubuntu?
I also have it on a disk but I chose to install Mandrake because I was told that the installation (partitioning etc) was simpler for beginners.

I should mention that, like any removeable media (floppies, et cetera), you should always "umount" before removing the media -- this allows linux to write any changes and happily (and safely) prepare the device/media for removal.

In Mandrake, you should be able to just right-click on the USB-drive icon on your desktop, and click on "unmount" from the popup menu.

Thanks for the tips.
I'm afraid I need more explanations though.

Here's what I have:
The first time I plugged in the usb drive, an icon "Hard Disc" appeared on KDE desktop.
When I removed the pen, the icon disappeared.

Today, after reading your posts, I turned on Mandrake (10.0) and the icon was there, even though the pen was not plugged in. Fine with me, no harm in having an extra icon.
The description upon moving the mouse on top of it is: Mounted hard disk partition.

I plugged the device in.
If I right-click on it I have 2 options: Open or Properties.

When I open, the "location" is /mnt/removable.
In Properties, it tells me "devcsihost0bus0target0lun0part1mntremovable".

In short, it's all very confusing.
Is it removable and can I remove it freely?
or maybe I should only remove it when the computer if off (which really would cancel the whole point of such portable drive).
There's no visible option to unmount it!!
How do I do that? Thanks in advance for your input

Christel

PS I tried gnome and it's the same: no obvious "unmounting" procedure.

I admit, with my USB jumpdrive, I usually just plug it in, wait for it to be mounted, use it, then unplug it. Udev seems to handle that just fine. I don't remember if udev was used in 10.0 or not, though. That might still use devfs.

although i've successfully unmounted my usb flash drive from my fedora 6,
the LED of USB drive still light. Is it really safe to remove and no damage to usb drive ?
because in windows 2000 and xp, when i safely remove, the led go off.

nyt