Umount command - unmounting file system

Mounting file systems that aren't part of the standard Linux system is considered a temporary condition in Linux. Now that we know how to mount these outside file systems in Linux, the important thing now is to learn how to unmount it when we're finished using it.

In the early days of Linux, you could do serious damage to your system if you didn't unmount manually after you were finished. Nowadays if you have mounted a system and you shut down the computer without unmounting, the chances are pretty slim that you're going to trash a file system. Slim, however, isn't good enough for me. I'd rather not take a chance. I always take the time to unmount these external file systems when I'm finished with them.

The command for this is:

umount [/mount point]

In the examples I used in this lesson, the mount points were:

• floppy: /floppy - therefore umount /floppy
• CD: /cdrom - umount /cdrom
• Windows partition - umount /mnt

Remember also to NOT be accessing the floppy etc. when you use umount or it will give you a drive busy message. If you get this, you may have left a terminal open where you were using to copy or write to the particular drive. Check your terminals if you get this error.

I just wanted to point out another thing too. You are 'unmounting' but the command is umount (that is, without the N of un) Being u(n)familiar with the mount concept when I started with Linux, I typed unmount instead of umount and much to my surprise, I got the message: command not found. U(n)deniably, I had done something wrong. It took me a while to figure out that the command didn't include an N. I haven't really done a survey on how many people have actually done this. For all I know, I may be the only person who has, but I just thought it best to warn you.

Well, now you can use the standard devices that most PC users need. Later in our advanced class we'll talk about installing and using other devices like scanners, CD writers, Zip drives and matter/anti-matter flow inducers. (well, maybe we'll save that last one for the super-advanced classes!)

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