Arch Linux

l0tek

Member

Registered: 2018-12-28

Posts: 30

[solved] Powering off usb drives?

When I unmount ("eject") an external USB drive in Windows, the activity light blinks and then turns off, and the drive stops vibrating (motor off). In Linux, the light stays on after unmounting and the motor doesn't shut down. Is there a way to make it behave the same way as in Windows?

I saw this advice in the wiki, but I'm not sure if it's related (I only have 1 partition which I unmount in the Gnome desktop interface after use) and if it is, should I run those commands manually every time?

Thanks in advance

Last edited by l0tek (2022-05-29 09:06:55)

Skunky

Member

Registered: 2018-01-25

Posts: 231

Re: [solved] Powering off usb drives?

If you don't want to run "udisksctl power-off -b /dev/sdX" manually you can use Gnome Disks to power off drives with a GUI

Please note that unmounting and power-off are two different things

Last edited by Skunky (2022-05-29 08:18:07)

l0tek

Member

Registered: 2018-12-28

Posts: 30

Re: [solved] Powering off usb drives?

Thanks a lot, I didn't know Linux doesn't power off disks automatically after unmounting, or that it can be done in Gnome Disks.

Maybe that's the reason for this other issue (file corruption) I'm having?

Last edited by l0tek (2022-05-29 08:41:24)

Skunky

Member

Registered: 2018-01-25

Posts: 231

Re: [solved] Powering off usb drives?

When you unmount a partition on linux ("udisksctl power-off" just unmount and then power off), it should automatically sync, the difference with Windows is that it automatically mount partitions (D:, E: and so on) and when you click "eject" it will unmount and power off the drive all togheter, i'm not sure why file corruption would occur when unmounting properly though

Last edited by Skunky (2022-05-29 10:25:14)