Getting the extra GPT info; a "fdisk -l" equivalent

Question

What is the equivalent for GPT using HDDs of:

# fdisk -l /dev/hda > /mnt/sda1/hda_fdisk.info

I got this from https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/disk_cloning (under "Create disk image") for getting the extra hdd info which may be important for restoring or extracting from multi-partition images.

When I do this I get an error similar to:

"WARNING: GPT (GUID Partition Table) detected on '/dev/sda'! The util fdisk doesn't support GPT. Use GNU Parted."

Solution 1

some unix partitioner, are deperecated and GPT partition table is new and some tools doesn't work GPT. GNU parted is new and gparted is GNOME Parted

for example:

root@debian:/home/mohsen# parted -l /dev/sda
Model: ATA WDC WD7500BPVT-7 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 750GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    Type      File system     Flags
 1      32.3kB  41.1MB  41.1MB  primary   fat16           diag
 2      41.9MB  2139MB  2097MB  primary   fat32           boot
 3      2139MB  52.1GB  50.0GB  primary   ext4
 4      52.1GB  749GB   697GB   extended
 5      52.1GB  737GB   685GB   logical   ext4
 6      737GB   749GB   12.0GB  logical   linux-swap(v1)

NOTE: GPT is abbrivation of GUID Partition Table and much new. GPT

Solution 2

The fdisk equivalent is gdisk, which is commonly available in the gptfdisk package via package manager. You'd do much better to use it, in my opinion. I don't trust anything *parted, personally - any partition tool that simultaneously partitions and formats is not a partition tool.

Solution 3

Recent versions of fdisk do support GPT, see here.

For example, on a disk with GPT, I get the following:

fdisk from util-linux 2.23.2 in RedHat / CentOS 7.2 says:

# fdisk -l /dev/sdb
WARNING: fdisk GPT support is currently new, and therefore in an experimental phase. Use at your own discretion.

Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.0 GB, 999989182464 bytes, 1953103872 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk label type: gpt

#         Start          End    Size  Type            Name
 1         2048   1953103838  931,3G  Linux filesyste Linux filesystem

fdisk from util-linux 2.27.1 in Linux Mint 18 / Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) says:

# fdisk -l /dev/sda
Disk /dev/sda: 223,6 GiB, 240057409536 bytes, 468862128 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 36CB5C9A-A274-43A0-9EBF-A4C457FFC56F

Device      Start       End   Sectors   Size Type
/dev/sda1    2048    526335    524288   256M EFI System
/dev/sda2  526336 468862094 468335759 223,3G Linux filesystem

and does not complain whatsoever.

But still, I would use gdisk as mikeserv suggested.

Comments

[PersianGulf]

@CamiloMartin You say true, But when i put # in my shell , it mean i'm root.

[Camilo Martin]

Yes, just mentioning because it's one of a few commands that won't give an error/warning message when not root and just fail silently.

[PersianGulf]

Yes, it's high risk.

[Pavel Tankov]

The package name is gdisk at least in Ubuntu and CentOS/RedHat.