Text User Interface for fdisk?

Question

Is there a TUI for fdisk ?

Where can I get it from and how can I use it?

I would like one which is in the ubuntu repos

Solution 1

Yes, There is such a tool

Cfdisk

It is a curses based partition editor. It is based on fdisk

It is preinstalled on ubuntu, If not just use the following command to install it

sudo apt-get install util-linux

run it using

sudo cfdisk

You will get this screen

Using cfdisk

The user interface

After you have started cfdisk you'll get an interface where the current partition table is listed with the names and some data about each partition, and some command buttons on the bottom of the screen. To change between partitions, use the up and down arrow keys. To change between commands, use the left and right arrow keys.

Deleting a partition To delete an existing partition, highlight it with the up and down keys, select the Delete command with the left and right arrow keys, and press Enter.

Making a new partition

To make a new partition, select the New command with the left and right arrow keys, and press enter. You'll get the choice between a primary and a logical partition. If you want a logical partition, the program will automatically make an extended partition for you. Then you must choose the size of the partition (in MB). If you can't enter a value in MB, return to the main screen with the Esc key, and select MB with the Units command.

Set the type of a partition

To set the type of a partition, for bootable PReP, Linux swap or Linux ext2, highlight the actual partition, and select the Type command. You'll get a list over different types. Press space, and you'll get even more. Find what type you need, and enter the number at the prompt.

Make a partition bootable

To be able to boot from a primary partition, you need to make it bootable. Highlight the actual partition and select the Bootable command.

Write the result to disk and quit

When you are content with the layout of the disk, select the Write command. The partition table will be written to disk. Remember that this will destroy all data on partitions you have deleted or changed. You should therefore be very sure that you want to do this before actually press the Return key.

For more deeper information, see here: http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/precise/man8/cfdisk.8.html

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Taken From: http://www.absolutelinux.org/installing/cfdisk.shtml

Solution 2

gdisk is a much better tool, which supports pretty much any kind of disk formats (like MBR, GPT, APM or BSD) and allows you to operate on disks (resize, convert...) without losing data. Life fdisk/cfdisk, it has a TUI counterpart named cgdisk

GPT fdisk consists of three programs:

• gdisk—An interactive text-mode program similar to fdisk
• sgdisk—A command-line program intended for use in scripts or by experts who need quick and direct access to a specific feature
• cgdisk—A curses-based interactive text-mode program similar to cfdisk

http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/walkthrough.html

For more information about usage read cgdisk walkthrough

Comments

[0fnt]

The website clearly states that this family of tools manipulate only GPT style hard drives, see the "g"

[phuclv]

@0fnt not only does it understand MBR, it even supports APM or BSD disklabel formats. If not how can it convert those things to GPT? rodsbooks.com/gdisk/gdisk.html