Comment 2 for bug 193154

While I agree that this is a serious and very annoying bug, I don't think a kernel backport is necessary to fix it. A simple udev rule is all that's needed to make sure the allow_restart flag is always set. Here's how to fix it on Gutsy:

1) Open a terminal.

2) Type [ sudo nano /etc/udev/rules.d/98-local.rules ]

3) Paste the following text into the file:

# Set the allow_restart flag for all USB mass storage devices
ACTION=="add", \
SUBSYSTEM=="scsi", DRIVER=="sd" \
SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", DRIVERS=="usb-storage", \
RUN+="/bin/sh -c 'echo 1 >/sys/class/scsi_disk/%k/allow_restart'"

4) Save the file.

5) Type [ sudo /etc/init.d/udev restart ]