List block devices as a tree
Show disks, partitions, loop devices, and mountpoints.
bashANYlsblkinventoryblock-devices
bash
lsblkNotes
Show disks, partitions, loop devices, and mountpoints.
Linux Disk Storage Cheat Sheet
Disk inventory, partitions, formatting, and capacity analysis for Linux systems.
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Inventory and Capacity
Inspect block devices, filesystems, and space usage.
Show filesystems with UUIDs
Display filesystem type, label, UUID, and mountpoint.
bashANYlsblkfilesystemuuid
bash
lsblk -fNotes
Display filesystem type, label, UUID, and mountpoint.
Select custom lsblk columns
Useful when you want clean inventory output for documentation or scripts.
bashANYlsblkcolumnsinventory
bash
lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,FSTYPE,TYPE,MOUNTPOINTS,UUID,MODELNotes
Useful when you want clean inventory output for documentation or scripts.
Probe block devices for signatures
Read known filesystem, RAID, and partition metadata.
bashANYblkiduuidfilesystem
bash
blkidNotes
Read known filesystem, RAID, and partition metadata.
Show mounted filesystems
Display the live mount tree with source, target, and options.
bashANYfindmntmountinventory
bash
findmntNotes
Display the live mount tree with source, target, and options.
bash
findmnt -S /dev/sda1Notes
Filter the mount table by source device.
Show filesystem free space
Display used and available capacity in human-readable units.
bashANYdfspacecapacity
bash
df -hNotes
Display used and available capacity in human-readable units.
Show inode usage
Check inode exhaustion when space looks free but writes fail.
bashANYdfinodescapacity
bash
df -iNotes
Check inode exhaustion when space looks free but writes fail.
Summarize current directory usage
Estimate disk usage for the current directory tree.
bashANYduspacedirectory
bash
du -sh .Notes
Estimate disk usage for the current directory tree.
Find largest top-level directories
Great first pass for finding where storage is going.
bashANYdusortdisk-usage
bash
du -xh --max-depth=1 /var | sort -hNotes
Great first pass for finding where storage is going.
Show filesystem stats for a path
Inspect block size, available blocks, and filesystem ID for a mounted path.
bashANYstatfilesysteminspect
bash
stat -f /varNotes
Inspect block size, available blocks, and filesystem ID for a mounted path.
Inspect a disk image or device signature
Read magic signatures from a block device or image.
bashANYfiledevicesignature
bash
file -s /dev/sdbNotes
Read magic signatures from a block device or image.
Partitions and Labels
Create, inspect, and label partitions.
List partition tables
Show disks, sector sizes, partition tables, and partitions.
bashANYfdiskpartitioninventory
bash
sudo fdisk -lNotes
Show disks, sector sizes, partition tables, and partitions.
Edit a disk with fdisk
Interactive MBR/GPT partitioning for a specific disk.
bashANYfdiskpartitioninteractive
bash
sudo fdisk /dev/sdbNotes
Interactive MBR/GPT partitioning for a specific disk.
Print partition layout with parted
Display partition table details using parted.
bashANYpartedpartitioninventory
bash
sudo parted /dev/sdb printNotes
Display partition table details using parted.
bash
sudo parted /dev/sdb mklabel gptNotes
Initialize a disk with a GPT partition table.
bash
sudo parted -a optimal /dev/sdb mkpart primary ext4 1MiB 100%Notes
Create a partition aligned for modern disks.
Ask kernel to reread partition table
Refresh partition table changes without rebooting.
bashANYpartprobepartitionkernel
bash
sudo partprobe /dev/sdbNotes
Refresh partition table changes without rebooting.
Dump partition table to a file
Useful for backups and repeatable partition layouts.
bashANYsfdiskbackuppartition
bash
sudo sfdisk -d /dev/sdb > sdb.partitionsNotes
Useful for backups and repeatable partition layouts.
Restore a partition table dump
Replay a previously exported partition layout.
bashANYsfdiskrestorepartition
bash
sudo sfdisk /dev/sdb < sdb.partitionsNotes
Replay a previously exported partition layout.
List filesystem or RAID signatures
See what signatures exist before repurposing a disk.
bashANYwipefssignaturedisk
bash
sudo wipefs /dev/sdbNotes
See what signatures exist before repurposing a disk.
Erase old signatures
Remove existing filesystem, RAID, or partition signatures.
bashANYwipefserasesignature
bash
sudo wipefs -a /dev/sdbNotes
Remove existing filesystem, RAID, or partition signatures.
bash
blkid -o export /dev/sdb1Notes
Good for preparing stable fstab entries.
Wait for udev after partition changes
Wait until udev finishes processing newly created partitions.
bashANYudevadmudevpartition
bash
sudo udevadm settleNotes
Wait until udev finishes processing newly created partitions.
Format, Label, and Tune
Create filesystems and inspect or tune metadata.
bash
sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb1Notes
Format a partition as ext4.
bash
sudo mkfs.xfs /dev/sdb1Notes
Format a partition as XFS.
bash
sudo mkfs.vfat -F 32 /dev/sdb1Notes
Useful for EFI partitions or removable media.
bash
sudo mkswap /dev/sdb2Notes
Initialize a partition or file as swap.
Set an ext filesystem label
Assign a human-readable label to an ext filesystem.
bashANYe2labellabelext4
bash
sudo e2label /dev/sdb1 dataNotes
Assign a human-readable label to an ext filesystem.
bash
sudo xfs_admin -L data /dev/sdb1Notes
Assign a label to an XFS filesystem.
Show ext filesystem metadata
Inspect features, UUID, mount count, and reserved blocks.
bashANYtune2fsext4metadata
bash
sudo tune2fs -l /dev/sdb1Notes
Inspect features, UUID, mount count, and reserved blocks.
Change reserved blocks percentage
Lower reserved space on large non-root data volumes.
bashANYtune2fsreserved-blocksext4
bash
sudo tune2fs -m 1 /dev/sdb1Notes
Lower reserved space on large non-root data volumes.
Dump ext filesystem superblock info
Show ext superblock and journal settings.
bashANYdumpe2fssuperblockext4
bash
sudo dumpe2fs -h /dev/sdb1Notes
Show ext superblock and journal settings.
bash
sudo xfs_info /mnt/dataNotes
Display XFS geometry and feature flags.
bash
sudo swapon /dev/sdb2Notes
Turn on swap after creating it.
bash
swapon --showNotes
Inspect active swap devices and priorities.
More in Linux Disk Storage
Linux Backup and Disk Imaging Cheat Sheet
Backup, copy, imaging, clone, and storage troubleshooting workflows on Linux.
Linux LVM, RAID, and Encryption Cheat Sheet
LVM volume management, mdadm RAID, and LUKS encryption workflows.
Linux Filesystems and Mounts Cheat Sheet
Mount, unmount, fstab, filesystem check, and repair workflows on Linux.