Why is UN-MOUNT not an option with removable devices? One area windows is better...

[oshunluvr]

It got immediately marked as a duplicate of another bug I didn't find because it was filed in a different way. There's lots of discussion about the topic but just as much clutter if you ask me. It doesn't appear the developer cares much about the issue.

Strike against KDE IMO.

[oshunluvr]

Here's the bug report if anyone wants to comment:

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=406362

[oshunluvr]

This too:

 onActionTriggered: {                var operationName = mounted ? "unmount" : "mount";
                var service = sdSource.serviceForSource(udi);
                var operation = service.operationDescription(operationName);
                service.startOperationCall(operation);
            }

[oshunluvr]

So in /usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.plasma.devicenotifier/contents/ui is a file named FullRepresentation.qml and here is some suspect code:

 actionIcon: mounted ? "media-eject" : "media-mount"            actionVisible: model["Device Types"].indexOf("Portable Media Player") == -1
            actionToolTip: {
                if (!mounted) {
                    return i18n("Click to access this device from other applications.")
                } else if (model["Device Types"].indexOf("OpticalDisc") != -1) {
                    return i18n("Click to eject this disc.")
                } else {
                    return i18n("Click to safely remove this device.")
                }
            }
            mounted: devicenotifier.isMounted(udi)

So it seems this could be edited to have Unmount as an option.

[oshunluvr]

I agree, this nuisance has annoyed me.

It does something at a low level on the stick; the system cannot even reboot from it. With a Kubuntu Cosmic USB stick, if I do "safely remove", I cannot do a UEFI boot from that stick, even after a full shutdown (the UEFI boot from USB option is not given on the UEFI menu; there is a legacy boot option which doesn't work, it tries a 32 bit boot which goes straight to a grub rescue prompt). I have to switch off the power to the box (using the switch on the back) to avoid removing and reinserting.

More generally, I'd like to be able to change that context menu, or at least add an entry.

I have not encountered that issue but that's even a bigger nuisance than just trying to reuse the drive. With my older motherboard, using safely remove would actually kill the power to my SDcard reader requiring a reboot to bring it back. Granted, it was a cheapo and poorly programmed but I never figured out how to prevent it from going off except to not use the safely remove action.

I believe the command being issued is actually "eject" because you can duplicate the annoying behavior from the command line using eject.

[oshunluvr]

My work-arounds above seem to function OK. I'd prefer it to not show "Unmount" unless it was mounted, but I havn't figured that out yet.

The best functionality IMO would be if the default up-arrow action was Unmount since the down-arrow action is Mount. More usable AND more logical. Leave the "Safely Remove" as a lower option for those who think they need it - I still can't think of a single reason to "eject" a thumb drive.

[Qqmike]

I guess I will weigh-in as being neutral on the issue. I can certainly see the point. And there ARE many examples where you want to do multiple things with your USB, usually in some sort of sequential way, pending other things you do along with it. OTOH, I don't mind removing and re-inserting.

As for jlittle's post #15, that would be annoying! I tested this on my ASUS (motherboard) system:
Upon re-booting, I also did not get a UEFI option to boot from my 18.04 live USB, a surprise to me. I shut down (hitting "c" then grub>halt), powered up, entered UEFI-BIOS, and I DID then see the UEFI option to boot from that live 18.04 USB. So, my results were mixed in comparison to yours. But I do share the surprise at not being able to re-boot easily to UEFI option. Maybe if I had re-booted twice ... but then THAT is also a PITA.

Again, I'm on the fence here. I can see the problem but have become more or less accustomed to working through it, admitting the PITA factor.

[jlittle]

... "Safely Eject Device"...
You now must physically remove the device and re-insert it...
This is a horrible way to have to work.

I agree, this nuisance has annoyed me.

It does something at a low level on the stick; the system cannot even reboot from it. With a Kubuntu Cosmic USB stick, if I do "safely remove", I cannot do a UEFI boot from that stick, even after a full shutdown (the UEFI boot from USB option is not given on the UEFI menu; there is a legacy boot option which doesn't work, it tries a 32 bit boot which goes straight to a grub rescue prompt). I have to switch off the power to the box (using the switch on the back) to avoid removing and reinserting.

More generally, I'd like to be able to change that context menu, or at least add an entry.

[jglen490]

I understand your use case, and on some level it makes sense.

Since it is udisks, or udev, or whatever it is now that is performing the actual mounting process on temporary, removable, attached USB devices, it doesn't seem like much of a reach to think that once the user has indicated that he/she is done with a removable drive - they're done. The process is different between the permanent (session) drives indicated via fstab, and any number of unpredictable removable devices that might be attached via USB at any given moment - and then unmounted even if still physically attached. Other than using udisks to detect the device and discover some attribute (i.e., a label) that the USB device might have, the OS has no means of predicting that the user will re-attach or even re-use some device that it just let go on the user's instruction, and no longer has reference to as it no longer has the device mounted. The OS would need to have a list of every known device that the user could attach or reuse, and the user would have to select it - the device is either currently mounted or it's not.

It's just easier and less of a literal reach for the user to lean over to the USB device, pull it out after telling the OS to release it and then reinsert the device - or insert some other device. Or just leave it attached until that user is actually done. And if the user made a mistake in telling the OS to release it, oh well, he/she just lost 10 or 15 seconds; the universe won't end. Don't make the OS assume that the user wants to use something about which the OS has no knowledge.

[oshunluvr]

Those photos aren't super readable once posted. Here's a better set;
Steps.zip

[oshunluvr]

three of three:

[oshunluvr]

two of three:

[oshunluvr]

To add this to Notifier, open Settings and navigate to Hardware > Removable Storage > Device Actions. At the bottom, click " + Add " and a window will open asking for Action Name. Enter "Unmount device" then another window opens. In the "Command:" entry, enter "umount %f". Now you must go the the window below and start entering the conditions for the action. Here, I used screenshots, so do these one at a time and verify you entered the info as shown. Click "Save Parameter Changes" as you work through each parameter and click "OK" when you're done. Once complete, you may have to log out and back in for the new option to appear.

Here we go:

one of three

[oshunluvr]

#2 The notifier actions. Hey, it turns out you can add any custom actions you want to the device notifier if you know the proper foo to make it work. I did it in about 10 minutes. It's not intuitive so I screenshot-ed the steps. First off - check this out!

[oshunluvr]

OK, yeah well I figured at least part of this out:

#1 Dolphin. I made a service menu to unmount. It doesn't work in the left panel in the Removable Devices section, but if you have the folder in the Dolphin Window, you can unmount it with a right click. Copy the text below into kate or kwrite and save it as "unmount.desktop" in the folder ~/.local/share/kservices5/ServiceMenus/

[Desktop Entry]Type=Service
X-KDE-ServiceTypes=KonqPopupMenu/Plugin
X-KDE-Priority=TopLevel
MimeType=inode/directory;
Actions=unmount;


[Desktop Action unmount]
Exec=umount %f
Icon=folder
Name=Unmount folder
Comment=Unmount user folder

Now if I can get it to appear when right-clicking on the device in the "Removable Devices" menu, that would be perfect. The odd thing is "mount" is the option you're given there, but not "unmount". There's got to be a way to skin that cat.

The only downside to the above is you have to navigate to /media/user/ to unmount. I have enabled the "up one level" action in the Dolphin toolbar, so I have to select the device, hit the up arrow, then unmount. Better than nothing.