HELP "device is busy" how to stop that error

Lleb_KCir · 07-08-2005, 08:55 PM

hello, i just picked up my first USBstick. a nice little 1G PNY. i added the following line to my fstab and manually mounted the stick to /mnt/USBdrive.

now i want to umount the thing. yes doing this all as root and i get nothing but this BS error from the system. absolutly NOTHING is accessing that point, ps ax shows nothing, and i have nothing in that location. how do i get rid of this blasted error msg that is just wrong.

Code:

laptop:~# umount /mnt/USBdrive/
umount: /mnt/USBdrive: device is busy
umount: /mnt/USBdrive: device is busy

Code:

/dev/sda1	/mnt/USBdrive	auto	user,rw,noauto	0	0

now an other problem i have is how do i mount it on my other system. i am running sATA drives and the system lables them with the SCSI tag of sdx so sda1 is already taken in my fstab?

i kind of need access to the data on my stick as my wife needs it in the morning for a class.

thanks for the help.

stalefries · 07-08-2005, 08:59 PM

I find that my usb stick is recognized and is mounted immediately. I would remove its entry from fstab, mine never has an entry for my usb stick. Then just pull it out. If what you say is true, then it should be fine.

Lleb_KCir · 07-08-2005, 09:08 PM

problem is i do not have automount installed on any of my systems yet, or at least not configured properly if it is installed.

pulling it out is what i did and now i can not read any data on that stick.

i was able to finnaly umount it. for what ever reason i had to close out my GUI even though nothing was pointing to the /mnt/USBdrive mount point the GUI and my user account someplace had it locked up and i was unable to umount it.

once i loged out of the GUI and out of my user i was able to umount. go figure, but now when i try to remount it with the command i mounted it with the first time i get this error:

Code:

laptop:~# mount /mnt/USBdrive/
mount: you must specify the filesystem type
laptop:~# mount - fat /mnt/USBdrive/
Usage: mount -V                 : print version
       mount -h                 : print this help
       mount                    : list mounted filesystems
       mount -l                 : idem, including volume labels
So far the informational part. Next the mounting.
The command is `mount [-t fstype] something somewhere'.
Details found in /etc/fstab may be omitted.
       mount -a [-t|-O] ...     : mount all stuff from /etc/fstab
       mount device             : mount device at the known place
       mount directory          : mount known device here
       mount -t type dev dir    : ordinary mount command
Note that one does not really mount a device, one mounts
a filesystem (of the given type) found on the device.
One can also mount an already visible directory tree elsewhere:
       mount --bind olddir newdir
or move a subtree:
       mount --move olddir newdir
A device can be given by name, say /dev/hda1 or /dev/cdrom,
or by label, using  -L label  or by uuid, using  -U uuid .
Other options: [-nfFrsvw] [-o options] [-p passwdfd].
For many more details, say  man 8 mount .

so more bogus errors as last night i did not have to specify any filetype, yet when i do today i get the above errors.

i love linux i really do, but stupid stuff like this is just nothing but agrivating as h3ll.

Lleb_KCir · 07-08-2005, 09:13 PM

got my mount instructions from this site at the following link:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...icle&artid=115

so mount /mnt/USBdrive is all that is suposed to be needed, why in the world is today differnt then yesterday when i have done nothing to any of my systems so far as updates or upgrades in the past 24hrs.

ralvez · 07-08-2005, 09:15 PM

I've encountered the same problem as you from time to time, but have been unable to resolve it a 100%. This is what I've learned: If I try to unmount the USB and there is a Konqueror session open reading the USB it will refuse to un-mount. I suppose that is a way to "save you" from unplugging on an open file. If I go and close the file manager, then it will un-mount.

I also run a SATA system. To find out how the system recognizes your USB do the following:
open a console session, as root type tail -f /var/log/messages
Then plug in your USB and you will see the system message scroll on the console indicating what device was plugged and its id. From there you can edit your fstab and add it.

Hope this helps

Rick

Brian1 · 07-08-2005, 09:23 PM

Not knowing your distro kernel or gui this might help.
I use this line in my fstab like this so anyone can write to the device.

Code:

/dev/sda1               /mnt/sda1               auto    umask=000,users,noauto,owner,rw,sync,dirsync   0 0

Now if you are running KDE then goto Menu > Control Center > KDE Components > KDE Performance > Preloading and set it to 1 or 0. I currently use 1.
Now this is the strange fix. Goto Menu > Control Center > Desktop > Behavior > Device Icons tab. Check the Show device icons box and then uncheck all the boxes in Device Types to Display.
As long as no window is open or terminal to the mount then I have no issues. This works on my FC3 distro, 2.6.12.2 kernel, with KDE 3.4.1.3

Brian1

aaa · 07-08-2005, 09:23 PM

There is some program accessing the drive. Do "lsof | grep USBdrive", and kill the process. If you are using KDE I heard Konqeuror causes problems like this. As for mount errors if there is no appropriate entry in fstab then you must specify the full mount command as root:

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/USBdrive

You can specify the filesystem with "-t vfat" but it is usally not needed.

As for your other system do "fdisk -l", it should be listed (most likely sdb1). Or do "dmesg | grep scsi".

Brian1 · 07-08-2005, 09:24 PM

Forgot your other question. Since sata uses /dev/sd* as mounts then the next one would be /dev/sdb1. To see which one it is one can plug in the memory stick and in a terminal with root access type ' fdisk -l '

Brian1

Lleb_KCir · 07-08-2005, 09:32 PM

nice, the tail command for what ever reason allowed me to use the mount /mnt/USBdrive and do what ever i wanted to do with the drive, then umount /mnt/USBdrive.

thanks.