File system magic numbers

bgbranko · 09-21-2006, 01:16 PM

Hi,

Can anyone please tell me where to find resources (technical if need be) on File system Magic Numbers and some info on how to decipher the MBR contents?

Brian1 · 09-21-2006, 06:03 PM

This might be of help for MBR. http://www.cpqlinux.com/mbr.html
As far as the Magic Number I did a google search and found many links on it. Might check start there.

Brian1

primo · 09-22-2006, 02:05 AM

Check http://www.nondot.org/sabre/os/articles

The MBR uses partition magic numbers. Linux's fdisk(8) understands some of them. Filesystem magic numbers are a different thing.

bgbranko · 09-22-2006, 03:30 AM

Thanks, folks, for clearing things up.

Bah, I've googled around for days, but since I'm no geek, it is quite difficult to get to the right pages.

EDIT: Hmmm, I'm no geek? Since when does an average home user read papers on MBR? I've gotta further investigate my inner geekness.

))

B

Brian1 · 09-22-2006, 06:03 PM

For future linux googling use http://www.google.com/linux

Brian1

bgbranko · 09-23-2006, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian1

For future linux googling use http://www.google.com/linux

Brian1

Thanks.

Man, I've found some great stuff in the links mentioned in previous posts by primo and Brian1. Thanks a lot, guys!

Here's something for an odd passer-by's viewing pleasure:

1. The Minimal Partition Table Specification:
http://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/partition...on_tables.html
Great description of what's inside partition tables.

2. Partition Types:
http://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/partition...ion_types.html
The first section contains a formidable list of various partition types and coresponding "magic numbers".