The Linux command line allows a user to get good information about filesystems using the shell prompt. Here are some examples.
Print a list of all filesystems and their sizes in megabytes.
ubuntu ~ $ df -Hla -BMB Filesystem 1MB-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on sysfs 0MB 0MB 0MB - /sys proc 0MB 0MB 0MB - /proc udev 516MB 1MB 516MB 1% /dev devpts 0MB 0MB 0MB - /dev/pts tmpfs 105MB 1MB 104MB 1% /run /dev/xvda1 31563MB 25670MB 4504MB 86% / none 1MB 0MB 1MB 0% /sys/fs/cgroup none 0MB 0MB 0MB - /sys/fs/fuse/connections none 0MB 0MB 0MB - /sys/kernel/debug none 0MB 0MB 0MB - /sys/kernel/security none 6MB 0MB 6MB 0% /run/lock none 521MB 0MB 521MB 0% /run/shm none 105MB 0MB 105MB 0% /run/user none 0MB 0MB 0MB - /sys/fs/pstore systemd 0MB 0MB 0MB - /sys/fs/cgroup/systemd |
List all block devices in your Linux machine and their mountpoint.
ubuntu ~ $ lsblk NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT xvda 202:0 0 30G 0 disk └─xvda1 202:1 0 30G 0 part / |
The parted utility allows a superuser to list all filesystems in a Linux system.
Just run sudo parted
and then the print all
command.
sudo parted GNU Parted 2.3 Using /dev/xvda Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands. (parted) print all Model: Xen Virtual Block Device (xvd) Disk /dev/xvda: 32.2GB Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B Partition Table: msdos Number Start End Size Type File system Flags 1 8225kB 32.2GB 32.2GB primary ext4 boot (parted) |
The fdisk command will also list all filesystems.
ubuntu ~ $ sudo fdisk -l Disk /dev/xvda: 32.2 GB, 32212254720 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 3916 cylinders, total 62914560 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk identifier: 0x00000000 Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/xvda1 * 16065 62910539 31447237+ 83 Linux |
Sfdisk is a good alternative, this will display partition sizes in megabytes.
ubuntu ~ $ sudo sfdisk -l -uM Disk /dev/xvda: 3916 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track Units = mebibytes of 1048576 bytes, blocks of 1024 bytes, counting from 0 Device Boot Start End MiB #blocks Id System /dev/xvda1 * 7+ 30718- 30711- 31447237+ 83 Linux /dev/xvda2 0 - 0 0 0 Empty /dev/xvda3 0 - 0 0 0 Empty /dev/xvda4 0 - 0 0 0 Empty |
There is also a Python script, pydf, this will list all partitions on your hard drive.
Firstly, install this script.
sudo apt-get install pydf |
Then run this script to get an idea of how much space is left on your filesystems.
ubuntu ~ $ pydf Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/xvda1 29G 24G 4294M 81.3 [########################......] /\ |
To get the UUID of a Linux filesystem, run this command and get the UUID that matches the name, such as /dev/sda1.
ubuntu ~ $ blkid /dev/xvda1: LABEL="cloudimg-rootfs" UUID="ee515a1e-7735-4529-822f-4cc9e7632cd3" TYPE="ext4" |
The output of the pydf script is the best, using a simple graph to show how much disk space is taken up. This means that it is the quickest to interpret. The output of the df -Hla -BMB
command can be the hardest to interpret as it outputs so much, but I will leave it up to you which you choose to use. Linux has so many options right now it can be quite overwhelming. Just choose the option that suits you.