On Wed, 2008-12-31 at 11:09 -0800, MHR wrote: > On Wed, Dec 31, 2008 at 10:37 AM, William L. Maltby > <CentOS4Bill at triad.rr.com> wrote: > > > > As to the "in use" part, I'll make a SWAG (Scientific Wild-Ass Guess). > > > > With a normal desktop, when you insert a CD/DVD that has something > > recognizable on it, an "automount" occurs that gives you access to the > > thing from your desktop. I know notthing about the k3*, so I don't know > > if the following is possible. > > > > Is it possible that it is mounted as another user? If it is mounted at > > all, does k3* allow you to erase, write, etc? I would think that it > > would need to be un-mounted for that to occur. > > > > Actually, I did think of that. I tried running the cdrecord erase > command with sudo (as root) and it made no difference - still couldn't > "lock" the device. > > Should I unmount the disk and then try the erase command? That seems > kind of odd, but I'll try it tonight anyway.... Yes. AFAIK, no mounted FS can be easily (I'm not sure about impossible) "reformatted" or "erased" (both are effectively removing the file system). One of the nice things an OS does (or should do) if prevent destruction of "active" file systems. If mounted, it is active. Try the umount and then working on it. BTW, for DVD if IIRC, you _might_ need to "format". Unsure of that though. I know a "virgin" needs formatting. Maybe the desktop ICON can be right-clicked and cause an unmount without ejecting and making the icon disappear? If so, then that would let you continue to operate on it via the desktop tools. I've not tried that, but it _seems_ it should work. I mean, if the desktop can recognize a "blank" media and allow you to format, burn, etc., even though there is no file system there, it should not (IMO) remove the icon just because it is unmounted. Once unmounted, the media is not "active" and could (s/b IMO) be treated just like a blank media. > > Thanks. > > mhr > <snip sig stuff> -- Bill