How to Check File System Type in Ubuntu

Identifying the file system format of your storage devices is essential for system maintenance and troubleshooting. This article outlines the specific terminal commands required to view the file system type of mounted partitions on an Ubuntu machine.

The Primary Command

The most standard command to display the file system type of a mounted partition is df with the -T option. Execute the following in your terminal:

df -T

The output includes a column labeled “Type,” which lists the file system format for each mounted partition, such as ext4, vfat, or nfs.

Alternative Block Device List

You can also use the lsblk command with the -f flag to view file system types alongside device names and mount points. Run this command:

lsblk -f

This displays a tree structure of all block devices, clearly indicating the file system type under the “FSTYPE” column for any mounted partition.

Verifying Specific Mounts

To check the file system type of a specific mounted directory, use the mount command combined with grep. Replace /path/to/mount with your target directory:

mount | grep /path/to/mount

The resulting line shows the device and the file system type within parentheses, confirming the specific configuration of that mount point.