Linux Ext2fs Undeletion mini-HOWTO: Unmounting the file system

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## 5. Unmounting the file system

Regardless of which method you choose, the first step is to unmount the file system containing the deleted files. I strongly discourage any urges you may have to mess around on a mounted file system. This step should be performed as soon as possible after you realise that the files have been deleted; the sooner you can unmount, the smaller the chance that your data will be overwritten.

The simplest method is as follows: assuming the deleted files were in the `/usr` file system, say:

> `

>     # umount /usr

> `

You may, however, want to keep some things in `/usr` available. So remount it read-only:

> `

>     # mount -o ro,remount /usr

> `

If the deleted files were on the root partition, you'll need to add a `-n` option to prevent mount from trying to write to `/etc/mtab`:

> `

>     # mount -n -o ro,remount /

> `

Regardless of all this, it is possible that there will be another process using that file system (which will cause the unmount to fail with an error such as `Resource busy'). There is a program which will send a signal to any process using a given file or mount point: `fuser`. Try this for the `/usr` partition:

> `

>     # fuser -v -m /usr

> `

This lists the processes involved. Assuming none of them are vital, you can say

> `

>     # fuser -k -v -m /usr

> `

to send each process a `SIGKILL` (which is guaranteed to kill it), or for example,

> `

>     # fuser -k -TERM -v -m /usr

> `

to give each one a `SIGTERM` (which will normally make the process exit cleanly).

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