Disk administration starts by identifying devices, partitions, mount points and available capacity. Always verify the target device before destructive operations such as formatting.

Inspection commands

lsblk -f
df -hT
sudo blkid
findmnt
sudo fdisk -l

lsblk lists block devices, df reports mounted filesystem capacity and findmnt shows the mount tree.

Mounting concept

When a filesystem is mounted on a directory, its contents become accessible through that path. /etc/fstab defines persistent mounts; UUIDs reduce the risk of device-name changes.

lsblk -f
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/data
sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/data
findmnt /mnt/data

Practice

Attach a virtual disk, identify it with lsblk, create a partition and filesystem in a lab, then mount it temporarily. Do not test formatting commands on real data disks.