[frameworks-kio] [Bug 377253] Show option to format USB drive in context menu

toolforger bugzilla_noreply at kde.org
Fri Aug 9 13:41:52 BST 2024


https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=377253

toolforger <toolforger at durchholz.org> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
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                 CC|                            |toolforger at durchholz.org

--- Comment #31 from toolforger <toolforger at durchholz.org> ---
Repeating the points made before:

* Yes, it is a destructive action. Just as with file deletion (not moving it to
the trash bin); a confirmation dialog is warranted, but not necessarily more
(bootable media might be an exception, dunno).
* All alternative actions like GPartEd or command-line tools are MUCH riskier.
You can't argue "destructive action" and "use the system tools" from the same
book, that's self-contradictory.
* It is a common operation, particularly under Linux where you're forced to
alternate between extfs and fatXX on a pretty regular basis.

Any non-tech users that to format a USB stick will have to go into root mode
and lose the wrong data if they make any mistake when identifying the drive.
There's no safe recipe for them to be sure that they chose the right device.
The name could be /dev/sda, or /dev/sdb if they pulled the stick out and put it
back in, or possibly /dev/sdc if they have a setup where /dev/sda is a fixed
disk. I wouldn't even want to give a recipe, in case some naming scheme gives
them something totally different if, say, the stick sits behind some insane USB
bridge or something with Bluetooth; I know somebody will come and tell me "ah,
but USB will always be some /dev/sdX device" but how do I know that this will
remain true, or that the advice is even correct enough that I'll confidently
bet their data on that information?

This is actually the one reason why I have been staying away from recommending
KDE to any non-tech user.
I don't want to be the person who put them on the path to data loss, and I
cannot and will not force them to become device name experts; these people
identify disks by their labels.

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