Always mount USB storage media with sync option?

mjc7806

I have tried to research this but I am admittedly unfamiliar with how to configure mount options outside fstab or the mount command. Is there a way to configure removable media to always mount with the sync option when auto-mounting? I occasionally copy files to removable USB drives and more often than not I find my writes sit in the buffer for a long time unless I manually invoke sync. If I insert a USB drive, the vast majority of the time I am looking to write something specific to it and then immediately unmount/eject, so I would prefer to just always have the sync option on.

Bonus points if there is a way to configure this so drives only auto-mount this way if they are attached via USB, but I have my internal storage set up exactly how I want it in fstab already so I wouldn't mind applying it globally.

BuzzPCSOS

mjc7806 Probably before getting too technical it is worth a look at hardware. USB 3.0 ports on your PC (blue tang in the socket/plug) talking to a USB 3.0 storage device do not often have prolonged write times. Any other combination will be slower and in some cases will cause the issues you describe. On Plasma with old or cheap USB devices I often have to wait beyond the indicated copy/paste time until the system allows me to unmount. This is especially noticeable for large files like ISOs or folders with lots of small files.
Last time I looked there were tweaks available for this issue but they generally cause more trouble than they were worth imo.

mjc7806

BuzzPCSOS You are correct that it happens most with many small files or with large files but it is not exclusive to those cases. But I actually have had problems more consistently with decent USB 3.0 drives (several different ones) in USB 3.0/3.2 Gen 2 ports than I have with some old USB 2.0 drives in the same ports. I have this problem on both my desktop PC and my laptop (both Solus Budgie with Nautilus as file manager) but I have not had the problem under Windows on the same hardware. I have also not had the problem on macOS, although I have not tried to use Solus on the Mac so I can't compare apples to apples (no pun intended) there.

I have tried on a few occasions to just unmount it and then manually re-mount it with sync and in those cases I have not noticed this issue, granted that is annoying to do every time so I've only done that half a dozen times. But when I haven't, I have had had it stuck still "writing" for several minutes even when I manually invoke sync. If I don't manually sync I have had cases where it simply never finishes writing (at least, not before I give up). I have never let it sit more than 30 minutes when it's stuck like that but the amount of data does not justify those times. We're talking speeds comparable to USB 1.0 without sync.

BuzzPCSOS

mjc7806 I have not had these sort of issues for a long while now. Also I use Plasma so do not use Nautilus which has it's own settings for USB file handling as I remember. I will suggest a few more things that might help but after that we will have to hope someone else can make a good suggestion.
The next thing to look at is what file system is being used. NTFS has varying levels of read/write success in Linux depending on the OS that formatted the drive. I tend to format drives to EXFAT which has reasonable compatibility in both (does not support long path names in Windows I think). FAT32 will not support big drives or huge files and most others just do not work in Windows without additional tweaks to the OS. If you are only working with Linux then EX4 should be a good choice.
It is well worth making a note of which drives cause regular issues. If it is a random occurrence on all your drives then it could be a driver issue on your USB ports although I would doubt that.
Check your USB drives S.M.A.R.T. data are healthy in Disks. Check USB file system for corruption too.
I moved from Budgie to Plasma some time ago and much preferred the way that KDE and Dolphin managed USB drives, I found moving files to be much more reliable for my usage. It might be an interesting experiment to run Solus Plasma in it's live environment and see how reliably you can move files to and from a USB drive.
There might be adjustments that can be made to Nautilus settings that will lower your wait times but generally Dolphin seems to return better handling of USB files imo.

mjc7806

BuzzPCSOS I had been using exFAT for my external media back when I was still using Windows and macOS, but now that I no longer use either I have mostly switched to ext4. But I couldn't say at the moment whether the issue is exclusive to exFAT; I think the last time I had this problem was on an ext4 drive but I am not 100% certain. It definitely has mostly been present on exFAT just because that's what I'd been using for USB storage for so long.

I do suspect this may have something to do with Nautilus that that the sync mount option might just be mitigating, but perhaps this is just bias as I have had some major issues with Nautilus in the past (particularly with its file indexing). I have considered trying to experiment and get another file manager going, because there's nothing I particularly love about Nautilus, but I have the inertia of familiarity working against me. 🙂

BuzzPCSOS

mjc7806 there's nothing I particularly love about Nautilus, but I have the inertia of familiarity working against me.

I think you should be able to install Dolphin onto your existing edition of Solus directly from the repository which would allow you try it and see how you get on. I have a memory of doing similar things on Budgie in an attempt to achieve better handling of USB drives.

Axios

I to had this similar issues with budgie but since switching to plasma it works fine.
Just have to watch it on Budgie (which still use on laptop) or I get corrupted FS especially with Ntfs havent noticed it much with ext4. (Just external Usb drives)
(Just info)

mjc7806

BuzzPCSOS I think I may try this later in the month when I have time to clean up my own mess if I screw it up. I have some experience with Dolphin from Steam Deck, and there are some things I dislike but others I like more than Nautilus, so it's worth giving a shot.