Comment 27 for bug 108643

I can confirm that this is still a problem in Feisty.

Using a CoolerMaster USB-SATA device with ntfs, vfat and ntfs partitions (yes, two ntfs) I'm given only an "Eject" option in Nautilus/Desktop (no "Unmount Volume" option like I get for network shares). Selecting the Eject option unmounts all three partitions, gives a "Cannot eject volume" error and then remounts all three partitions a second or so later. If the "Disk Mounter" applet is running an empty error dialog also pops up.

For me "sudo unmount /media/sdg?" and "sudo eject /media/PartitionName" will both unmount the device so that it can be unplugged safely (albeit hacking through Terminal *and* requiring a sudo privelege), so I'm kinda in agreeance here with Sergio that the Eject command needs to be fixed in hal.

Although I can't think of any reason why it would benefit me, personally, there probably is a case for having an "Unmount Volume" command for each partition of multi-partition devices so that they can be unmounted individually. Avoiding accidental writes to the wrong partition is probably a good reason.

I have to disagree with Mikele, though, where he says that USB storage devices _cannot_ be ejected. There are plenty of USB devices that can and do have a real eject function. Syquest-like devices on a USB-SCSI/IDE bridge accept and act on Eject commands, spinning down the cartridge and disengaging it for manual completion. Plus Zip and Jazz drives, and Sony electronic-eject floppy drives, CD/DVD's, etc. There's bound to be a few DLT's around as well. Having a working Eject command would be a requirement for those devices.