1EJECT(1) User Commands EJECT(1)
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6 eject - eject removable media
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9 eject [options] device|mountpoint
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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.
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18 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.
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23 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.
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27 If a device partition is specified, the whole-disk device is used.
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29 If the device or a device partition is currently mounted, it is
30 unmounted before ejecting. The eject is processed on exclusive open
31 block device file descriptor if --no-unmount or --force are not speci‐
32 fied.
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36 -a, --auto on|off
37 This option controls the auto-eject mode, supported by some
38 devices. When enabled, the drive automatically ejects when the
39 device is closed.
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41 -c, --changerslot slot
42 With this option a CD slot can be selected from an ATAPI/IDE CD-
43 ROM changer. The CD-ROM drive cannot be in use (mounted data CD
44 or playing a music CD) for a change request to work. Please also
45 note that the first slot of the changer is referred to as 0, not
46 1.
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48 -d, --default
49 List the default device name.
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51 -F, --force
52 Force eject, don't check device type, don't open device with
53 exclusive lock. The successful result may be false positive on
54 non hot-pluggable devices.
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56 -f, --floppy
57 This option specifies that the drive should be ejected using a
58 removable floppy disk eject command.
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60 -h, --help
61 Display help text and exit.
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63 -i, --manualeject on|off
64 This option controls locking of the hardware eject button. When
65 enabled, the drive will not be ejected when the button is
66 pressed. This is useful when you are carrying a laptop in a bag
67 or case and don't want it to eject if the button is inadver‐
68 tently pressed.
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70 -M, --no-partitions-unmount
71 The option tells eject to not try to unmount other partitions on
72 partitioned devices. If another partition is still mounted, the
73 program will not attempt to eject the media. It will attempt to
74 unmount only the device or mountpoint given on the command line.
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76 -m, --no-unmount
77 The option tells eject to not try to unmount at all. If this
78 option is not specified than eject opens the device with O_EXCL
79 flag to be sure that the device is not used (since v2.35).
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81 -n, --noop
82 With this option the selected device is displayed but no action
83 is performed.
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85 -p, --proc
86 This option allows you to use /proc/mounts instead /etc/mtab.
87 It also passes the -n option to umount(8).
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89 -q, --tape
90 This option specifies that the drive should be ejected using a
91 tape drive offline command.
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93 -r, --cdrom
94 This option specifies that the drive should be ejected using a
95 CDROM eject command.
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97 -s, --scsi
98 This option specifies that the drive should be ejected using
99 SCSI commands.
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101 -T, --traytoggle
102 With this option the drive is given a CD-ROM tray close command
103 if it's opened, and a CD-ROM tray eject command if it's closed.
104 Not all devices support this command, because it uses the above
105 CD-ROM tray close command.
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107 -t, --trayclose
108 With this option the drive is given a CD-ROM tray close command.
109 Not all devices support this command.
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111 -V, --version
112 Display version information and exit.
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114 -v, --verbose
115 Run in verbose mode; more information is displayed about what
116 the command is doing.
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118 -X, --listspeed
119 With this option the CD-ROM drive will be probed to detect the
120 available speeds. The output is a list of speeds which can be
121 used as an argument of the -x option. This only works with
122 Linux 2.6.13 or higher, on previous versions solely the maximum
123 speed will be reported. Also note that some drives may not cor‐
124 rectly report the speed and therefore this option does not work
125 with them.
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127 -x, --cdspeed speed
128 With this option the drive is given a CD-ROM select speed com‐
129 mand. The speed argument is a number indicating the desired
130 speed (e.g., 8 for 8X speed), or 0 for maximum data rate. Not
131 all devices support this command and you can only specify speeds
132 that the drive is capable of. Every time the media is changed
133 this option is cleared. This option can be used alone, or with
134 the -t and -c options.
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137 Returns 0 if operation was successful, 1 if operation failed or command
138 syntax was not valid.
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141 eject only works with devices that support one or more of the four
142 methods of ejecting. This includes most CD-ROM drives (IDE, SCSI, and
143 proprietary), some SCSI tape drives, JAZ drives, ZIP drives (parallel
144 port, SCSI, and IDE versions), and LS120 removable floppies. Users
145 have also reported success with floppy drives on Sun SPARC and Apple
146 Macintosh systems. If eject does not work, it is most likely a limita‐
147 tion of the kernel driver for the device and not the eject program
148 itself.
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150 The -r, -s, -f, and -q options allow controlling which methods are used
151 to eject. More than one method can be specified. If none of these
152 options are specified, it tries all four (this works fine in most
153 cases).
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155 eject may not always be able to determine if the device is mounted
156 (e.g., if it has several names). If the device name is a symbolic
157 link, eject will follow the link and use the device that it points to.
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159 If eject determines that the device can have multiple partitions, it
160 will attempt to unmount all mounted partitions of the device before
161 ejecting (see also --no-partitions-unmount). If an unmount fails, the
162 program will not attempt to eject the media.
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164 You can eject an audio CD. Some CD-ROM drives will refuse to open the
165 tray if the drive is empty. Some devices do not support the tray close
166 command.
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168 If the auto-eject feature is enabled, then the drive will always be
169 ejected after running this command. Not all Linux kernel CD-ROM driv‐
170 ers support the auto-eject mode. There is no way to find out the state
171 of the auto-eject mode.
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173 You need appropriate privileges to access the device files. Running as
174 root is required to eject some devices (e.g., SCSI devices).
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177 Jeff Tranter ⟨tranter@pobox.com⟩ - original author.
178 Karel Zak ⟨kzak@redhat.com⟩ and Michal Luscon ⟨mluscon@redhat.com⟩ -
179 util-linux version.
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182 findmnt(8), lsblk(8), mount(8), umount(8)
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185 The eject command is part of the util-linux package and is available
186 from Linux Kernel Archive ⟨https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-
187 linux/⟩.
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191Linux April 2012 EJECT(1)