1EJECT(1) User Commands EJECT(1)
2
6 eject - eject removable media
7
9 eject [options] device|mountpoint
10
12 eject allows removable media (typically a CD-ROM, floppy disk, tape,
13 JAZ, ZIP or USB disk) to be ejected under software control. The com‐
14 mand can also control some multi-disc CD-ROM changers, the auto-eject
15 feature supported by some devices, and close the disc tray of some CD-
16 ROM drives.
17 The device corresponding to device or mountpoint is ejected. If no
19 name is specified, the default name /dev/cdrom is used. The device may
20 be addressed by device name (e.g. 'sda'), device path (e.g.
21 '/dev/sda'), UUID=uuid or LABEL=label tags.
22 There are four different methods of ejecting, depending on whether the
24 device is a CD-ROM, SCSI device, removable floppy, or tape. By default
25 eject tries all four methods in order until it succeeds.
26 If a device partition is specified, the whole-disk device is used. If
28 the device or a device partition is currently mounted, it is unmounted
29 before ejecting.
30
32 -a, --auto on|off
33 This option controls the auto-eject mode, supported by some
34 devices. When enabled, the drive automatically ejects when the
35 device is closed.
36 -c, --changerslot slot
38 With this option a CD slot can be selected from an ATAPI/IDE CD-
39 ROM changer. The CD-ROM drive cannot be in use (mounted data CD
40 or playing a music CD) for a change request to work. Please also
41 note that the first slot of the changer is referred to as 0, not
42 1.
43 -d, --default
45 List the default device name.
46 -F, --force
48 Force eject, don't check device type.
49 -f, --floppy
51 This option specifies that the drive should be ejected using a
52 removable floppy disk eject command.
53 -h, --help
55 Display help text and exit.
56 -i, --manualeject on|off
58 This option controls locking of the hardware eject button. When
59 enabled, the drive will not be ejected when the button is
60 pressed. This is useful when you are carrying a laptop in a bag
61 or case and don't want it to eject if the button is inadver‐
62 tently pressed.
63 -M, --no-partitions-unmount
65 The option tells eject to not try to unmount other partitions on
66 partitioned devices. If another partition is still mounted, the
67 program will not attempt to eject the media. It will attempt to
68 unmount only the device or mountpoint given on the command line.
69 -m, --no-unmount
71 The option tells eject to not try to unmount at all.
72 -n, --noop
74 With this option the selected device is displayed but no action
75 is performed.
76 -p, --proc
78 This option allows you to use /proc/mounts instead /etc/mtab.
79 It also passes the -n option to umount(8).
80 -q, --tape
82 This option specifies that the drive should be ejected using a
83 tape drive offline command.
84 -r, --cdrom
86 This option specifies that the drive should be ejected using a
87 CDROM eject command.
88 -s, --scsi
90 This option specifies that the drive should be ejected using
91 SCSI commands.
92 -T, --traytoggle
94 With this option the drive is given a CD-ROM tray close command
95 if it's opened, and a CD-ROM tray eject command if it's closed.
96 Not all devices support this command, because it uses the above
97 CD-ROM tray close command.
98 -t, --trayclose
100 With this option the drive is given a CD-ROM tray close command.
101 Not all devices support this command.
102 -V, --version
104 Display version information and exit.
105 -v, --verbose
107 Run in verbose mode; more information is displayed about what
108 the command is doing.
109 -X, --listspeed
111 With this option the CD-ROM drive will be probed to detect the
112 available speeds. The output is a list of speeds which can be
113 used as an argument of the -x option. This only works with
114 Linux 2.6.13 or higher, on previous versions solely the maximum
115 speed will be reported. Also note that some drives may not cor‐
116 rectly report the speed and therefore this option does not work
117 with them.
118 -x, --cdspeed speed
120 With this option the drive is given a CD-ROM select speed com‐
121 mand. The speed argument is a number indicating the desired
122 speed (e.g. 8 for 8X speed), or 0 for maximum data rate. Not
123 all devices support this command and you can only specify speeds
124 that the drive is capable of. Every time the media is changed
125 this option is cleared. This option can be used alone, or with
126 the -t and -c options.
127
129 Returns 0 if operation was successful, 1 if operation failed or command
130 syntax was not valid.
131
133 eject only works with devices that support one or more of the four
134 methods of ejecting. This includes most CD-ROM drives (IDE, SCSI, and
135 proprietary), some SCSI tape drives, JAZ drives, ZIP drives (parallel
136 port, SCSI, and IDE versions), and LS120 removable floppies. Users
137 have also reported success with floppy drives on Sun SPARC and Apple
138 Macintosh systems. If eject does not work, it is most likely a limita‐
139 tion of the kernel driver for the device and not the eject program
140 itself.
141 The -r, -s, -f, and -q options allow controlling which methods are used
143 to eject. More than one method can be specified. If none of these
144 options are specified, it tries all four (this works fine in most
145 cases).
146 eject may not always be able to determine if the device is mounted
148 (e.g. if it has several names). If the device name is a symbolic link,
149 eject will follow the link and use the device that it points to.
150 If eject determines that the device can have multiple partitions, it
152 will attempt to unmount all mounted partitions of the device before
153 ejecting (see also --no-partitions-unmount). If an unmount fails, the
154 program will not attempt to eject the media.
155 You can eject an audio CD. Some CD-ROM drives will refuse to open the
157 tray if the drive is empty. Some devices do not support the tray close
158 command.
159 If the auto-eject feature is enabled, then the drive will always be
161 ejected after running this command. Not all Linux kernel CD-ROM driv‐
162 ers support the auto-eject mode. There is no way to find out the state
163 of the auto-eject mode.
164 You need appropriate privileges to access the device files. Running as
166 root is required to eject some devices (e.g. SCSI devices).
167
169 Jeff Tranter ⟨tranter@pobox.com⟩ - original author.
170 Karel Zak ⟨kzak@redhat.com⟩ and Michal Luscon ⟨mluscon@redhat.com⟩ -
171 util-linux version.
172
174 findmnt(8), lsblk(8), mount(8), umount(8)
175
177 The eject command is part of the util-linux package and is available
178 from Linux Kernel Archive ⟨https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-
179 linux/⟩.
180Linux April 2012 EJECT(1)