While running Linux, if you want to list the contents of a folder in a vertical list format, just use the ls command with these switches.
ls -hula --color=auto |
then you get the directory listing with human readable file sizes instead of being listed in bytes.
To list the partitions on a disk, just type this command.
fdisk -l /dev/sdb |
for example and it will list the partitions on the device. You need superuser priviledges to run this command. Then you get the output below.
linux-3d5u:/home/shoggoth # fdisk -l /dev/sdb Disk /dev/sdb: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk identifier: 0x000bd059 Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdb1 * 1 7858 63118336 83 Linux /dev/sdb2 7859 19457 93168937 5 Extended /dev/sdb5 7859 15580 62026933+ 83 Linux /dev/sdb6 15581 17228 13237528+ 83 Linux /dev/sdb7 17229 19083 14900256 83 Linux /dev/sdb8 19084 19457 3004123+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris |
A very useful command. This is useful when I am double checking which partition to install Linux to on my hard drive so I do not overwrite the wrong partition.