Linux Commands - File System Operations

Check file integrity

Use fsck to check and repair errors on file systems.

fsck /dev/hda1
fsck.ext2 /dev/hda1
fsck.ext3 /dev/hda1
fsck.vfat /dev/hda1
fsck.msdos /dev/hda1

Check for bad sectors

Detect bad sectors on a device.

badblocks -v /dev/hda1

Format a device

Prepare a device for use with a specific file system.

mkfs /dev/hda1  # Linux
mkfs -t vfat 32 -F /dev/hda1  # FAT32
mke2fs /dev/hda1  # ext2
mke2fs -j /dev/hda1  # ext3

Other formatting options

• Format a device to ext4:

mkfs.ext4 /dev/hda1  # ext4

• Format with specific options:

mkfs.ext4 -O ^metadata_csum /dev/hda1  # Format disabling metadata checksum

Mount devices

Associate a file system with a mount point.

mount /dev/hda2 /mnt/hda2  # Hard drive
mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy  # Floppy drive
mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom  # CD/DVD
mount /dev/hdc /mnt/cdrecorder  # Rewritable CD/DVD
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/usbdisk  # USB pen-drive
mount -o loop file.iso /mnt/cdrom  # ISO image

Unmount devices

Detach a file system from the mount point.

umount /dev/hda2
fuser -km /mnt/hda2  # Force unmount

Additional mounting options

• Mount with specific permissions:

mount -o rw /dev/hda2 /mnt/hda2  # Mount in read-write mode

• Mount NTFS file systems:

mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sda1 /mnt/ntfs  # NTFS

Work with ISO images

Manage CD/DVD images and burning.

mount -o loop cd.iso /mnt/iso  # Mount ISO image
mkisofs /dev/cdrom > cd.iso  # Create ISO image from CD
mkisofs -J -allow-leading-dots -R -V "Label CD" -iso-level 4 -o ./cd.iso data_cd  # From a directory
cdrecord -v dev=/dev/cdrom cd.iso  # Burn ISO image
cdrecord -v gracetime=2 dev=/dev/cdrom -eject blank=fast -force  # Clean rewritable CD

Verify the content of an ISO image

• List files in an ISO image without mounting it:

isoinfo -l -i cd.iso

Manage swap space

Create and activate swap partitions.

mkswap /dev/hda3  # Create swap file
swapon /dev/hda3  # Activate swap

Deactivate swap

swapoff /dev/hda3  # Deactivate swap