The “-f” command stands for “filesystems” and displays information about filesystems that may already be written to a disk. In order to list non formatted partitions on Linux, use the “lsblk” command with the “-f” option. Note : if you have a disk but it does not contain any partitions yet, make sure to read our guide on how to create disk partitions on Linux. On the other hand, the sda drive contains a partition that is not already mounted : this partition would be a great candidate for formatting. The sdb drive is already partitioned and contains the sdb1 partition mounted on the root mountpoint. $ lsblkĪs you can see here, we own two disks named sda and sdb. To identify existing partitions on Linux, use the “lsblk” command that lists block devices (hard drives, USB drives) on your system. List Existing Partitions on Linuxįirst of all, in order to format partitions, you obviously need to identify the different partitions available on your system.

When you are ready, you can jump to the next section. If you are looking for resources in order to be sudo on Debian/Ubuntu or on RHEL/CentOS, make sure to take a look at our dedicated guides. In order to verify that you are sudo, run the “sudo” command with the “-l” option to see your rights listings. In order to format disk partitions on Linux, you need to be a sudo user on your host.

How to format usb drive on linux