How to find Linux filesystem by Label or UUID using findfs, lsblk, blkid

Linux includes by default a bunch of useful filesystem tools that can be used to locate filesystems or partitions with specified tags or display the whole list of block devices along with their labels, universally unique identifiers (UUIDs) or default mount points.

Below we present common tools to locate filesystem, block device or list all block devices in Linux.

1. findfs – used to search the block devices in the system for a filesystem or partition with specified tag, supported tags: LABEL, UUID, PARTUUID, PARTLABEL.

Examples:

• search block devices by filesystem label:

[root@tuxfixer ~]# findfs LABEL=swap
/dev/sdb4

• search block devices by filesystem UUID:

[root@tuxfixer ~]# findfs UUID=ae344cef-02bd-41a0-9ae5-a65ca9b473a8
/dev/sda1

• search block devices by partition UUID (GPT partition table only):

[root@tuxfixer ~]# findfs PARTUUID=00006b3e-03
/dev/sdb3

2. lsblk – displays information about all or specified block devices (reads the sysfs filesystem and udev db to gather information).

Examples:

• list all block devices:

[root@tuxfixer ~]# lsblk -a
NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda      8:0    0 931.5G  0 disk 
└─sda1   8:1    0 931.5G  0 part /var/lib/libvirt/images
sdb      8:16   0 465.8G  0 disk 
├─sdb1   8:17   0  61.5G  0 part /
├─sdb2   8:18   0 147.3G  0 part 
├─sdb3   8:19   0 253.1G  0 part /home
└─sdb4   8:20   0   3.9G  0 part [SWAP]
sr0     11:0    1  1024M  0 rom  

• list all block devices along with filesystem details:

[root@tuxfixer ~]# lsblk -f
NAME   FSTYPE LABEL UUID                                 MOUNTPOINT
sda                                                      
└─sda1 ext4   kvm   ae344cef-02bd-41a0-9ae5-a65ca9b473a8 /var/lib/libvirt/images
sdb                                                      
├─sdb1 ext4   linux ef15b875-ee2a-4def-8e16-a3ccdb41ff36 /
├─sdb2 ntfs   win7  56FCCA5FFCCA394F                     
├─sdb3 ext4   home  5279bdb7-aecb-4bb2-9a54-d7d042f70e6c /home
└─sdb4 swap   swap  087470ac-4819-44cb-81df-9980fd601a73 [SWAP]
sr0 

• list all block devices in raw format:

[root@tuxfixer ~]# lsblk -r
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda 8:0 0 931.5G 0 disk 
sda1 8:1 0 931.5G 0 part /var/lib/libvirt/images
sdb 8:16 0 465.8G 0 disk 
sdb1 8:17 0 61.5G 0 part /
sdb2 8:18 0 147.3G 0 part 
sdb3 8:19 0 253.1G 0 part /home
sdb4 8:20 0 3.9G 0 part [SWAP]
sr0 11:0 1 1024M 0 rom

• displays topology of all block devices:

[root@tuxfixer ~]# lsblk -t
NAME   ALIGNMENT MIN-IO OPT-IO PHY-SEC LOG-SEC ROTA SCHED RQ-SIZE  RA WSAME
sda            0    512      0     512     512    1 cfq       128 128    0B
└─sda1         0    512      0     512     512    1 cfq       128 128    0B
sdb            0   4096      0    4096     512    1 cfq       128 128    0B
├─sdb1         0   4096      0    4096     512    1 cfq       128 128    0B
├─sdb2         0   4096      0    4096     512    1 cfq       128 128    0B
├─sdb3         0   4096      0    4096     512    1 cfq       128 128    0B
└─sdb4         0   4096      0    4096     512    1 cfq       128 128    0B
sr0            0    512      0     512     512    1 cfq       128 128    0B

• displays specified columns only:

[root@tuxfixer ~]# lsblk -o NAME,LABEL
NAME   LABEL
sda    
└─sda1 kvm
sdb    
├─sdb1 linux
├─sdb2 win7
├─sdb3 home
└─sdb4 swap
sr0

3. blkid – locates or displays block device attributes (similar to lsblk, but provides less information and worse formatting).

Examples:

• list all block devices:

[root@tuxfixer ~]# blkid
/dev/sda1: LABEL="kvm" UUID="ae344cef-02bd-41a0-9ae5-a65ca9b473a8" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="5802aed2-01"
/dev/sdb1: LABEL="linux" UUID="ef15b875-ee2a-4def-8e16-a3ccdb41ff36" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="00006b3e-01"
/dev/sdb2: LABEL="win7" UUID="56FCCA5FFCCA394F" TYPE="ntfs" PARTUUID="00006b3e-02"
/dev/sdb3: LABEL="home" UUID="5279bdb7-aecb-4bb2-9a54-d7d042f70e6c" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="00006b3e-03"
/dev/sdb4: LABEL="swap" UUID="087470ac-4819-44cb-81df-9980fd601a73" TYPE="swap" PARTUUID="00006b3e-04"

• locate block device by filesystem label:

[root@tuxfixer ~]# blkid -L win7
/dev/sdb2

• displays information about I/O limits for specified block device:

[root@tuxfixer ~]# blkid -i /dev/sdb1
DEVNAME=/dev/sdb1
MINIMUM_IO_SIZE=4096
PHYSICAL_SECTOR_SIZE=4096
LOGICAL_SECTOR_SIZE=512

• list all block devices with specified output format (display values only):

[root@tuxfixer ~]# blkid -o value
kvm
ae344cef-02bd-41a0-9ae5-a65ca9b473a8
ext4
5802aed2-01
linux
ef15b875-ee2a-4def-8e16-a3ccdb41ff36
ext4
00006b3e-01
win7
56FCCA5FFCCA394F
ntfs
00006b3e-02
home
5279bdb7-aecb-4bb2-9a54-d7d042f70e6c
ext4
00006b3e-03
swap
087470ac-4819-44cb-81df-9980fd601a73
swap
00006b3e-04