fdisk(8)

NAME

   GNU fdisk, lfdisk, gfdisk - manipulate partition tables on a hard drive

SYNOPSIS

   fdisk [options] [device]

DESCRIPTION

   fdisk  is  a  disk  partition manipulation program, which allows you to
   create, destroy, resize, move and copy partitions on a hard drive using
   a  menu-driven interface. It is useful for organising the disk space on
   a new  drive,  reorganising  an  old  drive,  creating  space  for  new
   operating  systems,  and  copying data to new hard disks. For a list of
   the supported partition types, see  the  --list-partition-types  option
   below.

   It  comes  in  two variants, gfdisk and lfdisk. Lfdisk aims to resemble
   Linux fdisk 2.12, while gfdisk supports more advanced disk  operations,
   like  resizing  the  filesystem,  moving  and  copying partitions. When
   starting fdisk, the default is to run gfdisk.

OPTIONS

   -h, --help
          displays a help message.

   -v, --version
          displays the program's version.

   -L, --linux-fdisk
          turns on Linux fdisk compatibility mode. This  is  the  same  as
          running lfdisk.

   -G, --gnu-fdisk
          turns off Linux fdisk compatibility mode.

   -i, --interactive
          where necessary, prompts for user intervention.

   -p, --script
          never prompts for user intervention.

   -l, --list
          lists  the partition table on the specified device and exits. If
          there is no device specified, lists the partition tables on  all
          detected devices.

   -r, --raw-list
          displays  a hex dump of the partition table of the disk, similar
          to the way Linux fdisk displays the raw data  in  the  partition
          table.

   -u, --sector-units
          use sectors, instead of cylinders for a default unit.

   -s, --size=DEVICE
          prints  the  size  of  the partition on DEVICE is printed on the
          standard output.

   -t, --list-partition-types
          displays a list of supported partition types and features.

   The following options are available only to lfdisk.

   -b, --sector-size=SIZE
          Specify the sector size of the disk. Valid values are 512,  1024
          and  2048.  Should  be  used  only on older kernels, which don't
          guess the correct sector size.

   -C, --cylinders=CYLINDERS
          Specify the number of cylinders  of  the  disk.  Currently  does
          nothing, it is left for Linux fdisk compatibility.

   -H, --heads=HEADS
          Specify  the  number of heads of the disk. Reasonable values are
          255 or 16.

   -S, --sectors=SECTORS
          Specify the number of sectors per track. A reasonable  value  is
          63.

BUGS

   Before editing a BSD disklabel, the partition with the disklabel should
   already exist on the disk and be  detected  by  the  OS.  If  you  have
   created  a  BSD-type  partition,  you  need to write the changes to the
   disk. If fdisk fails to notify the OS about the  changes  in  partition
   table,  you  need to restart your computer. As fdisk tries to guess the
   device holding the BSD disklabel, it might fail to edit it at all, even
   if  the OS has detected it. In this case you are adviced to simply open
   the device with fdisk directly. It is possible that it doesn't work  on
   some operating systems.

   Getting  the  size of a partition with -s might fail, if fdisk fails to
   guess the disk device, for the same reasons as with the previous bug.

SEE ALSO

   mkfs(8), cfdisk(8), parted(8) The fdisk program is fully documented  in
   the info(1) format GNU fdisk User Manual manual.

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