Cannot write to SD card

[Dotan Cohen]

I have a 2 GB Sandisk SD card that I often write to. Just today, it
has started to be mounted read-only:
cp: cannot create regular file `bg.jpg2': Read-only file system

The read-write switch on  the side of the card is set to write, and
I've never had trouble with it before. So I figured that I'll be smart
and man mount, in where I discovered the -w flag, but I get this
error:
[root@localhost ~]# mount -w /media/disk
mount: /dev/sda1 already mounted or /media/disk busy
mount: according to mtab, /dev/sda1 is already mounted on /media/disk

So I tried unmounting it, but the device seems to be busy:
[root@localhost ~]# umount /media/disk
umount: /media/disk: device is busy
umount: /media/disk: device is busy

There are no open konqueror windows, or anything else that might be
accessing the card, so far as I can tell. What must one do to either:
1) determine what is accessing the disk
or
2) Force umount anyway

Thanks in advance.

Dotan Cohen

http://lyricslist.com/
http://what-is-what.com/

[Karl Larsen]

Dotan Cohen wrote:
> I have a 2 GB Sandisk SD card that I often write to. Just today, it
> has started to be mounted read-only:
> cp: cannot create regular file `bg.jpg2': Read-only file system
>
> The read-write switch on  the side of the card is set to write, and
> I've never had trouble with it before. So I figured that I'll be smart
> and man mount, in where I discovered the -w flag, but I get this
> error:
> [root@localhost ~]# mount -w /media/disk
> mount: /dev/sda1 already mounted or /media/disk busy
> mount: according to mtab, /dev/sda1 is already mounted on /media/disk
>
> So I tried unmounting it, but the device seems to be busy:
> [root@localhost ~]# umount /media/disk
> umount: /media/disk: device is busy
> umount: /media/disk: device is busy

I always get this because I'm logged in on /media/disk/ and then ask 
for it to unmount it's busy. Try it after you are logged into your home.
> There are no open konqueror windows, or anything else that might be
> accessing the card, so far as I can tell. What must one do to either:
> determine what is accessing the disk
>
> or
> 2) Force umount anyway
>
> Thanks in advance.

I use Gnome and when I put a card in it shows up on the desktop and 
there you can select to unmount the card. I have watched my 2 GB card 
when I select umount and it flashes some times and I pull it out.
> Dotan Cohen
>
> http://lyricslist.com/
> http://what-is-what.com/

[Andy Green]

Somebody in the thread at some point said:
> I have a 2 GB Sandisk SD card that I often write to. Just today, it
> has started to be mounted read-only:
> cp: cannot create regular file `bg.jpg2': Read-only file system

Have a look in

dmesg

to see if the ro filesystem is the reaction to IO errors.
> So I tried unmounting it, but the device seems to be busy:
> [root@localhost ~]# umount /media/disk
> umount: /media/disk: device is busy
> umount: /media/disk: device is busy

lsof -n | grep media/disk

should give a clue about the process that holds an open handle to
something on the device.

-Andy

[Pasha R]

On 7/26/07, Dotan Cohen  wrote:
> I have a 2 GB Sandisk SD card that I often write to. Just today, it
> has started to be mounted read-only:
> cp: cannot create regular file `bg.jpg2': Read-only file system
>
> The read-write switch on  the side of the card is set to write, and
> I've never had trouble with it before. So I figured that I'll be smart
> and man mount, in where I discovered the -w flag, but I get this
> error:
> [root@localhost ~]# mount -w /media/disk
> mount: /dev/sda1 already mounted or /media/disk busy
> mount: according to mtab, /dev/sda1 is already mounted on /media/disk
>
> So I tried unmounting it, but the device seems to be busy:
> [root@localhost ~]# umount /media/disk
> umount: /media/disk: device is busy
> umount: /media/disk: device is busy
>
> There are no open konqueror windows, or anything else that might be
> accessing the card, so far as I can tell. What must one do to either:
> determine what is accessing the disk
>
> or
> 2) Force umount anyway
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Dotan Cohen

Try /sbin/fuser -m /media/disk. This will show all processes using device.

[Tim]

On Thu, 2007-07-26 at 15:06 +0300, Dotan Cohen wrote:
> The read-write switch on  the side of the card is set to write, and
> I've never had trouble with it before. So I figured that I'll be smart
> and man mount, in where I discovered the -w flag, but I get this
> error:
> [root@localhost ~]# mount -w /media/disk
> mount: /dev/sda1 already mounted or /media/disk busy
> mount: according to mtab, /dev/sda1 is already mounted on /media/disk
>
> So I tried unmounting it, but the device seems to be busy:
> [root@localhost ~]# umount /media/disk
> umount: /media/disk: device is busy
> umount: /media/disk: device is busy

Just to state the obvious:  Did you try to mount it (as writeable) while
it was already mounted (as read only)?

[Mikkel]

Tim wrote:
> On Thu, 2007-07-26 at 15:06 +0300, Dotan Cohen wrote:
> > The read-write switch on  the side of the card is set to write, and
> > I've never had trouble with it before. So I figured that I'll be smart
> > and man mount, in where I discovered the -w flag, but I get this
> > error:
> > [root@localhost ~]# mount -w /media/disk
> > mount: /dev/sda1 already mounted or /media/disk busy
> > mount: according to mtab, /dev/sda1 is already mounted on /media/disk
> >
> > So I tried unmounting it, but the device seems to be busy:
> > [root@localhost ~]# umount /media/disk
> > umount: /media/disk: device is busy
> > umount: /media/disk: device is busy
>
> Just to state the obvious:  Did you try to mount it (as writeable) while
> it was already mounted (as read only)?

To mount it rw while it is already mounted, the remount option comes
in handy. Something like:

mount /media/disk -o rw,remount

or

mount /dev/sda1 /media/disk -o rw,remount

would probably do the job.

Mikkel

[Dotan Cohen]

On 27/07/07, Mikkel L. Ellertson  wrote:
> To mount it rw while it is already mounted, the remount option comes
> in handy. Something like:
>
> mount /media/disk -o rw,remount
>
> or
>
> mount /dev/sda1 /media/disk -o rw,remount
>
> would probably do the job.
>
> Mikkel

After weeks of struggling with this thing, I formated the card as
FAT32 (which is already was) in Windows XP Home. Now it mounts fine.
Seems that the problem was with the card.

Dotan Cohen

http://what-is-what.com
http://gibberish.co.il

--

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