USB device activity when not mounted

[Polytropon]

On Wed, 13 Jun 2012 22:26:16 -0600, Gary Aitken wrote:
> I can understand why I would see activity on a USB device
> when it's first plugged in.  But why do I see continued
> activity (i.e. the light blinks on a usb disk or memory stick)? 
> When I umount one of these, they keep being beat up on and
> it makes me nervous...  At what point is it sync'd and safe
> to unplug?  I assume when the umount returns, but what's going
> on after that?

I don't think that's a problem. I've got a USB stick here
that has a blinkenlight as soon as it's powered on (plugged
in), even if there is no reading / writing / mounting activity.

After you've successfully performed umount, the USB stick _is_
synced and can safely be removed, no matter what you assume
the funny lights want to tell you.

Maybe that's just a "modern feature" to make the USB stick "more
entertaining". :-)



-- 
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...