Display the size of a Linux block special device
Content |
Tested on |
| Debian (Lenny, Squeeze) |
| Ubuntu (Lucid, Precise, Trusty) |
Objective
To display the size of a Linux block special device
Background
A block special device typically represents a logical or physical storage device such as a hard disc drive, a disc partition or a logical volume. Unlike a regular file, the size of a block special device cannot be obtained by means such as ls -l.
Scenario
Suppose that you wish to determine the size of the block device /dev/sda.
Method
On Linux-based systems the size of a block special device can be obtained using the blockdev command provided by the util-linux package:
blockdev --getsize64 /dev/sda
This will write the size of the device in bytes to stdout.
Tags: shell