Eject Command - Safely Remove Media | Online Free DevTools by Hexmos

Safely eject removable media like CD-ROMs, floppy disks, and USB drives using the eject command. Learn options for closing trays, locking, and unlocking eject buttons.

Eject Command

Eject Removable Media

The eject command in Linux and Unix-like systems is a utility used to safely remove or eject removable media from a device. This includes devices such as CD-ROM drives, floppy disk drives, tape drives, and even USB drives or SD cards, depending on system configuration and hardware support. Proper use of the eject command ensures that data is not lost or corrupted during the removal process, as it signals to the operating system that the device is no longer in use and can be safely detached.

Basic Eject Usage

The simplest form of the command, eject, will attempt to eject any available removable media. This is often sufficient for common devices like CD/DVD drives.

# Eject any available device
# CD-ROM, floppy disk, tape, or JAZ or ZIP disk
eject

Ejecting a Specific Device

You can specify the device you wish to eject by providing its path as an argument to the eject command. This is useful when you have multiple removable devices connected.

# Eject a device by its name
eject /dev/cdrom

Controlling Device Trays

The eject command also provides options to control the physical tray of optical drives. The -t option is used to close the tray.

# Close the tray using eject command
eject -t

Managing Hardware Eject Buttons

For devices with physical eject buttons, the eject command can be used to enable or disable their functionality. This can prevent accidental ejections.

# Lock the hardware eject button
eject -i on

# Unlock the hardware eject button
eject -i off

Further Reading: