Unmounting un-responsive CD/DVD

Sometimes the CD/DVD refuses to take the “eject” command. Lets see how to counter it.

STEP #1 – Simulate the problem.

   # mount    /media/cdrom    # cd    /media/cdrom    # while [ 1 ]; do echo "All your drives are belong to us!"; sleep 30; done

Now open up a second terminal and try to eject the DVD drive:

# eject

You'll get a message like:

umount: /media/cdrom: device is busy

STEP #2 - Before we free it, let's see which process is using it, and then kill that process as root.

   # fuser   /media/cdrom    # fuser   -k   /media/cdrom

Boom! Just like that, freedom. Now solemnly unmount the drive:

# eject