Displayed progress not correct due to kernel fs cache. Need O_SYNC when copying files.

Are you using, in media:/, "safely remove" (approx translation), to sync files on the key ?

No, I don't use it, when I use it it seems to work. But shouldn't files being copied directly? I think that this makes more sense..

I just added Nautilus to the package list because it appears in Gnome, too but I do not really know which package causes this.

I'm inclined to close this bug. You have to be sure sync has to be called before you unplug it. Unmount usually does this (either via GUI or in the terminal). Please try this and report back.

The problem is that there is no progress bar while syncing, you don't know when Ubuntu is done syncing the files, thus there may be a loss of data when you unplug your usb device too early while it syncs in the background.

In the operating system of a company headquartered in Redmond they automatically sync while copying the files and show a correct progress bar. Maybe something similar to that would be better in Ubuntu.

Since this is not a real bugeport anymore I will change the severity to "Wishlist".

Rejecting the nautilus task, we already have bug #32643 about that

Copying files on the command line behaves similarly. The operation is not complete until well after you've been returned to the command line. I know the moment it's done by umounting the device and waiting for *that* to complete. I believe this to be a kernel issue, not a desktop interface issue.

That does seem to be the case - the copy operation considers itself to be finished once the data has been successfully copied to the filesystem buffer. We could leave the progress indicator up until a successful 'sync', I suppose.

I am closing this. You need to unmount (Safely Remove) your USB drive properly. In Gutsy and Hardy there is a progressbar when unmounting to make sure everything gets synced before the drive is unplugged.

Well the progress bar does not show any progre, it just bounces left and right. Ultimately, the kernel should be changed so that when cp finishes, all data has been copied I think. Not invalid I think.

I think you can get that effect by mounting with the sync option, but there are good reasons for not doing so.

The Ubuntu Kernel Team is planning to move to the 2.6.27 kernel for the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. As a result, the kernel team would appreciate it if you could please test this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. There are one of two ways you should be able to test:

1) If you are comfortable installing packages on your own, the linux-image-2.6.27-* package is currently available for you to install and test.

--or--

2) The upcoming Alpha5 for Intrepid Ibex 8.10 will contain this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. Alpha5 is set to be released Thursday Sept 4. Please watch http://www.ubuntu.com/testing for Alpha5 to be announced. You should then be able to test via a LiveCD.

Please let us know immediately if this newer 2.6.27 kernel resolves the bug reported here or if the issue remains. More importantly, please open a new bug report for each new bug/regression introduced by the 2.6.27 kernel and tag the bug report with 'linux-2.6.27'. Also, please specifically note if the issue does or does not appear in the 2.6.26 kernel. Thanks again, we really appreicate your help and feedback.

Per a decision made by the Ubuntu Kernel Team, bugs will longer be assigned to the ubuntu-kernel-team in Launchpad as part of the bug triage process. The ubuntu-kernel-team is being unassigned from this bug report. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies for more information. Thanks.

This effect appears not only when copying any data to or from an USB stick. I observe this behaviour also when I zip an archive. For me this is very annoying because the progress bar gives no information about when any operation is finished. For what is such a progress bar useful? Where can I get the information about finishing the copy or archiving process? At the moment I press F5 in Dolphin every few seconds to see if the filesize is still changing...

Florian

please report a bug against dolphin..

This bug report was marked as Triaged a while ago but has not had any updated comments for quite some time. Please let us know if this issue remains in the current Ubuntu release, http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download . If the issue remains, click on the current status under the Status column and change the status back to "New". Thanks.

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This bug is still occuring (Ubuntu 9.10, 64bits). The progress bar reaches 100% while there are still write access to the device, no matter the usb key brand and write speed.

Actually now in Maverick when I try this, the copy reaches 100% then sits there for several seconds while it appears that an fsync is done to flush the cache. I think that solves the original problem, though it would be nice if the progress did not reach 100% prematurely and then wait for the sync.

Still seeing this on 12.10 and 12.04.

This is very annoying, I just tried copying a 800MB ISO file to my Cruzer Fit 16GB USB stick. It does like 10MB/s max and despite that Nautilus indicated average transfer speed ~40MB/s, the progress bar went up to 99% in a couple of seconds and then just stalled while waiting for the buffer to be written. This is wrong and misleading at best. Having a progress indicator that behaves like this is just pointless IMO. Any fixes, guys?

This does not affect the kernel.

what does it affect then? as it also happens when doing this in the shell (cp...... is done even though data is not completely copied) I am wondering which package should be affected by this bug, too.

It affects nautilus, which is why it is tasked there.

so, shall i also file a bug against cp? dont you think that there is a underlying issue there?

No.