HOWTO: NTFS with read/write support using ntfs-3g (easy method)

[Spike-X]

I'm having the same problem with being unable to unmount my external USB NTFS drive (running Feisty).

I can do it by using the command

sudo umount /dev/sdc1

but I can't understand why I'm unable to do it with Right-Click > Eject, when I was able to do it in Edgy.

[T-One]

So, it appears I'm not alone...something's borked in the Feisty builds...this shows an open file write lock, but what file, and why?

# sudo fuser -vma /dev/sdb1
                       USER        PID ACCESS COMMAND
/dev/sdb1:           root       8081 F.... mount.ntfs-3g

# ps -ef|grep 8081
root      8081     1  0 07:55 ?        00:00:00 /sbin/mount.ntfs-3g /dev/sdb1 /media/Pocket -o rw,nosuid,nodev,locale=en_US.UTF-8

[dannyboy79]

So, it appears I'm not alone...something's borked in the Feisty builds...this shows an open file write lock, but what file, and why?

# sudo fuser -vma /dev/sdb1
                       USER        PID ACCESS COMMAND
/dev/sdb1:           root       8081 F.... mount.ntfs-3g

# ps -ef|grep 8081
root      8081     1  0 07:55 ?        00:00:00 /sbin/mount.ntfs-3g /dev/sdb1 /media/Pocket -o rw,nosuid,nodev,locale=en_US.UTF-8

T-One, I KNEW IT!!! I kept telling people that something was still accessing the drive but no one thought so. Anyway, now that we know the PID we should be able to troublshoot this with the NTFS-3G developers/Ubuntu developers.

[m94mni]

T-One, I KNEW IT!!! I kept telling people that something was still accessing the drive but no one thought so. Anyway, now that we know the PID we should be able to troublshoot this with the NTFS-3G developers/Ubuntu developers.

Well, as the process is the NTFS-3G mount process itself, this process is probably the one implementing NTFS through FUSE. So I don't think this is the problem - I think it's perfectly normal.

However, I can imagine higher layers of the stack seeing this process and assuming the FS cannot be unmounted.

[szaka]

Well, as the process is the NTFS-3G mount process itself, this process is probably the one implementing NTFS through FUSE. So I don't think this is the problem - I think it's perfectly normal.

Correct. When somebody or something calls umount on the volume then NTFS-3G gets an event from FUSE then it syncs the data to the device, closes/releases it and then exits.

So the device either wasn't unmounted or after unmount it was immediately remounted. The /var/log/daemon.log file should contain the NTFS-3G logs, including all mount and unmount events.

Szaka

[m94mni]

This is what I get

Apr 27 00:24:58 daneel ntfs-3g[9122]: Unmounting /dev/sdb1 (WD Passport) 
Apr 27 00:24:58 daneel hald: unmounted /dev/sdb1 from '/media/WD Passport' on behalf of uid 1000
Apr 27 00:24:59 daneel NetworkManager: <debug info>^I[1177626299.240382] nm_hal_device_removed (): Device removed (hal udi is '/org/freedesktop/Hal/
devices/volume_uuid_11DA662E4B05CA95'). 
Apr 27 00:25:00 daneel NetworkManager: <debug info>^I[1177626300.477678] nm_hal_device_added (): New device added (hal udi is '/org/freedesktop/Hal/
devices/volume_uuid_11DA662E4B05CA95'). 
Apr 27 00:25:01 daneel ntfs-3g[21540]: Version 1.328 
Apr 27 00:25:01 daneel ntfs-3g[21540]: Mounted /dev/sdb1 (Read-Write, label "WD Passport", NTFS 3.1) 
Apr 27 00:25:01 daneel ntfs-3g[21540]: Options: noatime,rw,nosuid,nodev,silent,allow_other,nonempty,fsname=/dev/sdb1,blkdev,blksize=4096 
Apr 27 00:25:01 daneel hald: mounted /dev/sdb1 on behalf of uid 1000

[navneeth]

Can I use the Edgy repo for Feisty? Is it safe? The first post was last updated before Feisty was released.

EDIT: Never mind. There's a line I missed in the first post.

[dannyboy79]

This is what I get

Apr 27 00:24:58 daneel ntfs-3g[9122]: Unmounting /dev/sdb1 (WD Passport) 
Apr 27 00:24:58 daneel hald: unmounted /dev/sdb1 from '/media/WD Passport' on behalf of uid 1000
Apr 27 00:24:59 daneel NetworkManager: <debug info>^I[1177626299.240382] nm_hal_device_removed (): Device removed (hal udi is '/org/freedesktop/Hal/
devices/volume_uuid_11DA662E4B05CA95'). 
Apr 27 00:25:00 daneel NetworkManager: <debug info>^I[1177626300.477678] nm_hal_device_added (): New device added (hal udi is '/org/freedesktop/Hal/
devices/volume_uuid_11DA662E4B05CA95'). 
Apr 27 00:25:01 daneel ntfs-3g[21540]: Version 1.328 
Apr 27 00:25:01 daneel ntfs-3g[21540]: Mounted /dev/sdb1 (Read-Write, label "WD Passport", NTFS 3.1) 
Apr 27 00:25:01 daneel ntfs-3g[21540]: Options: noatime,rw,nosuid,nodev,silent,allow_other,nonempty,fsname=/dev/sdb1,blkdev,blksize=4096 
Apr 27 00:25:01 daneel hald: mounted /dev/sdb1 on behalf of uid 1000

WOW, i see what's happening. the umount is causing nm_hal_device to be removed as well, but then it's as if the computer see's nm_hal start back up and assumes that nm_hal is related to /dev/sdb1 so it's remounting it. huh, I would say m94mni should post this as a bug since it clearly states that an entry for a debug info.

Apr 27 00:24:59 daneel NetworkManager: <debug info>^I[1177626299.240382] nm_hal_device_removed (): Device removed (hal udi is '/org/freedesktop/Hal/
devices/volume_uuid_11DA662E4B05CA95').
Apr 27 00:25:00 daneel NetworkManager: <debug info>^I[1177626300.477678] nm_hal_device_added (): New device added (hal udi is '/org/freedesktop/Hal/
devices/volume_uuid_11DA662E4B05CA95').

[m94mni]

WOW, i see what's happening. the umount is causing nm_hal_device to be removed as well, but then it's as if the computer see's nm_hal start back up and assumes that nm_hal is related to /dev/sdb1 so it's remounting it. huh, I would say m94mni should post this as a bug since it clearly states that an entry for a debug info.

What package would that be, do you think?

[dannyboy79]

network-manager. which is causing problems with setting static ip's in it because then vpn capabilities get greyed out once you set a static ip within feisty. at least that's what I have read in the forums. i currently haven't tried feisty yet but am merely trying to help people.