finding out filesystem unmounted disk

indexer · 05-20-2009, 07:23 AM

Hello,

I have a hard drive that is unmounted, and i am not sure which filesystem it uses, how can i find out which filesystem is being used so i can mount it?

Indexer

druuna · 05-20-2009, 07:32 AM

Hi,

As root user: fdisk -l /dev/<HD>

HD should be something like sda, sdb, hda depending on the disk(s) that are present in your system.

PS: The number (like sdb3) should be omitted!!

Hope this helps.

pixellany · 05-20-2009, 07:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by druuna

As root user: fdisk -l /dev/<HD>

That does not tell you the filesystem.....

"lshw" works (you might have to install it)

Also try "vol_id"

druuna · 05-20-2009, 07:50 AM

@pixellany: You are right, of course. My command shows the system (linux, swap, hpfs etc.), not the filesystem (ext2/ext3/reiserfs etc).

I stand corrected! And sorry for the mix-up.

ilikejam · 05-20-2009, 08:43 AM

Also:

# file -s /dev/XXX

Dave

farslayer · 05-20-2009, 08:52 AM

Just for more variety..

blkid -L

or

blkid /dev/sdbX

******* · 05-20-2009, 09:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pixellany

That does not tell you the filesystem.

How so? It does display the FS Id, doesn't it?:

Code:

Disk /dev/sda: 18.3 GB, 18389272576 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2235 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               1          10       80293+  16  Hidden FAT16
/dev/sda2              11          11        8032+  11  Hidden FAT12
/dev/sda3   *          12          24      104422+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda4              25        2235    17759857+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5              25          34       80293+  83  Linux
/dev/sda6              35          83      393561   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7              84         695     4915858+  83  Linux
/dev/sda8             696        1852     9293571   83  Linux
/dev/sda9            1853        2235     3076416    7  HPFS/NTFS

ilikejam · 05-20-2009, 09:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by *******

How so? It does display the FS Id, doesn't it?:

You can't tell if those 'Linux' filesystems are EXTx/ReiserFS/XFS/whatever.

******* · 05-20-2009, 09:49 AM

Ah, OK. Thanks.

i92guboj · 05-20-2009, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by *******

Ah, OK. Thanks.

And even more: this ID is not necessarily in sync with the true contents of the disk. These ID's can be set manually from within fdisk, and changing them doesn't affect the contents or the type of partition or fs at all.

The file command works ok, but you need to add -s to it knows it's a special file. Otherwise it will just tell you that it's a device node.

H_TeXMeX_H · 05-20-2009, 11:19 AM

another option:

Code:

blkid /dev/hdX