Packages and Binaries:
gdisk
GPT fdisk (aka gdisk) is a text-mode partitioning tool that provides utilities for Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) Partition Table (GPT) disks.
Features:
- Edit GUID partition table definitions
- In place conversion of BSD disklabels to GPT
- In place conversion of MBR to GPT
- In place conversion of GPT to MBR
- Create hybrid MBR/GPT layouts
- Repair damaged GPT data structures
- Repair damaged MBR structures
- Back up GPT data to a file (and restore from file)
Installed size: 940 KB
How to install: sudo apt install gdisk
Dependencies:
- libc6
- libgcc-s1
- libncursesw6
- libpopt0
- libstdc++6
- libtinfo6
- libuuid1
cgdisk
Curses-based GUID partition table (GPT) manipulator
root@kali:~# man cgdisk
CGDISK(8) GPT fdisk Manual CGDISK(8)
NAME
cgdisk - Curses-based GUID partition table (GPT) manipulator
SYNOPSIS
cgdisk [ -a ] device
DESCRIPTION
GPT fdisk is a text-mode family of programs for creation and manipula-
tion of partition tables. The cgdisk member of this family employs a
curses-based user interface for interaction using a text-mode menuing
system. It will automatically convert an old-style Master Boot Record
(MBR) partition table or BSD disklabel stored without an MBR carrier
partition to the newer Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) Partition Table
(GPT) format, or will load a GUID partition table. Other members of this
program family are gdisk (the most feature-rich program of the group,
with a non-curses-based interactive user interface) and sgdisk (which is
driven via command-line options for use by experts or in scripts). Fix-
Parts is a related program for fixing a limited set of problems with MBR
disks.
For information on MBR vs. GPT, as well as GPT terminology and struc-
ture, see the extended GPT fdisk documentation at https://www.rods-
books.com/gdisk/ or consult Wikipedia.
The cgdisk program employs a user interface similar to that of Linux's
cfdisk, but cgdisk modifies GPT partitions. It also has the capability
of transforming MBR partitions or BSD disklabels into GPT partitions.
Like the original cfdisk program, cgdisk does not modify disk structures
until you explicitly write them to disk, so if you make a mistake, you
can exit from the program with the Quit option to leave your partitions
unmodified.
Ordinarily, cgdisk operates on disk device files, such as /dev/sda or
/dev/hda under Linux, /dev/disk0 under Mac OS X, or /dev/ad0 or /dev/da0
under FreeBSD. The program can also operate on disk image files, which
can be either copies of whole disks (made with dd, for instance) or raw
disk images used by emulators such as QEMU or VMWare. Note that only raw
disk images are supported; cgdisk cannot work on compressed or other ad-
vanced disk image formats.
Upon start, cgdisk attempts to identify the partition type in use on the
disk. If it finds valid GPT data, cgdisk will use it. If cgdisk finds a
valid MBR or BSD disklabel but no GPT data, it will attempt to convert
the MBR or disklabel into GPT form. (BSD disklabels are likely to have
unusable first and/or final partitions because they overlap with the GPT
data structures, though.) Upon exiting with the 'w' option, cgdisk re-
places the MBR or disklabel with a GPT. This action is potentially dan-
gerous! Your system may become unbootable, and partition type codes may
become corrupted if the disk uses unrecognized type codes. Boot prob-
lems are particularly likely if you're multi-booting with any GPT-un-
aware OS. If you mistakenly launch cgdisk on an MBR disk, you can safely
exit the program without making any changes by using the Quit option.
When creating a fresh partition table, certain considerations may be in
order:
* For data (non-boot) disks, and for boot disks used on BIOS-based
computers with GRUB as the boot loader, partitions may be created
in whatever order and in whatever sizes are desired.
* Boot disks for EFI-based systems require an EFI System Partition
(GPT fdisk internal code 0xEF00) formatted as FAT-32. The recom-
mended size of this partition is between 100 and 300 MiB.
Boot-related files are stored here. (Note that GNU Parted identi-
fies such partitions as having the "boot flag" set.)
* The GRUB 2 boot loader for BIOS-based systems makes use of a BIOS
Boot Partition (GPT fdisk internal code 0xEF02), in which the
secondary boot loader is stored, without the benefit of a
filesystem. This partition can typically be quite small (roughly
32 KiB to 1 MiB), but you should consult your boot loader docu-
mentation for details.
* If Windows is to boot from a GPT disk, a partition of type Mi-
crosoft Reserved (GPT fdisk internal code 0x0C01) is recommended.
This partition should be about 128 MiB in size. It ordinarily
follows the EFI System Partition and immediately precedes the
Windows data partitions. (Note that old versions of GNU Parted
create all FAT partitions as this type, which actually makes the
partition unusable for normal file storage in both Windows and
Mac OS X.)
* Some OSes' GPT utilities create some blank space (typically 128
MiB) after each partition. The intent is to enable future disk
utilities to use this space. Such free space is not required of
GPT disks, but creating it may help in future disk maintenance.
You can use GPT fdisk's relative partition positioning option
(specifying the starting sector as '+128M', for instance) to sim-
plify creating such gaps.
OPTIONS
Only one command-line option is accepted, aside from the device file-
name: -a. This option alters the highlighting of partitions and blocks
of free space: Instead of using ncurses, when -a is used cgdisk uses a
">" symbol to the left of the selected partition or free space. This
option is intended for use on limited display devices such as teletypes
and screen readers.
Interactions with cgdisk occur with its interactive text-mode menus.
The display is broken into two interactive parts:
* The partition display area, in which partitions and gaps between
them (marked as "free space") are summarized.
* The option selection area, in which buttons for the main options
appear.
In addition, the top of the display shows the program's name and version
number, the device filename associated with the disk, and the disk's
size in both sectors and IEEE-1541 units (GiB, TiB, and so on).
You can use the following keys to move among the various options and to
select among them:
up arrow
This key moves the partition selection up by one partition.
down arrow
This key moves the partition selection down by one partition.
Page Up
This key moves the partition selection up by one screen.
Page Down
This key moves the partition selection down by one screen.
right arrow
This key moves the option selection to the right by one item.
left arrow
This key moves the option selection to the left by one item.
Enter This key activates the currently selected option. You can also
activate an option by typing the capitalized letter in the op-
tion's name on the keyboard, such as a to activate the Align op-
tion.
If more partitions exist than can be displayed in one screen, you can
scroll between screens using the partition selection keys, much as in a
text editor.
Available options are as described below. (Note that cgdisk provides a
much more limited set of options than its sibling gdisk. If you need to
perform partition table recovery, hybrid MBR modification, or other ad-
vanced operations, you should consult the gdisk documentation.)
Align Change the sector alignment value. Disks with more logical sec-
tors than physical sectors (such as modern Advanced Format dri-
ves), some RAID configurations, and many SSD devices, can suffer
performance problems if partitions are not aligned properly for
their internal data structures. On new disks, GPT fdisk attempts
to align partitions on 1 MiB boundaries (2048-sectors on disks
with 512-byte sectors) by default, which optimizes performance
for all of these disk types. On pre-partitioned disks, GPT fdisk
attempts to identify the alignment value used on that disk, but
will set 8-sector alignment on disks larger than 300 GB even if
lesser alignment values are detected. In either case, it can be
changed by using this option. The alignment value also affects
the default end sector value when creating a new partition; it
will be aligned to one less than a multiple of the alignment
value, when possible. This should keep partitions a multiple of
the alignment value in size. Some disk encryption tools require
partitions to be sized to some value, typically 4096 bytes, so
the default alignment of 1 MiB works well for them.
Backup Save partition data to a backup file. You can back up your cur-
rent in-memory partition table to a disk file using this option.
The resulting file is a binary file consisting of the protective
MBR, the main GPT header, the backup GPT header, and one copy of
the partition table, in that order. Note that the backup is of
the current in-memory data structures, so if you launch the pro-
gram, make changes, and then use this option, the backup will re-
flect your changes.
Delete Delete a partition. This action deletes the entry from the parti-
tion table but does not disturb the data within the sectors orig-
inally allocated to the partition on the disk. If a corresponding
hybrid MBR partition exists, gdisk deletes it, as well, and ex-
pands any adjacent 0xEE (EFI GPT) MBR protective partition to
fill the new free space.
Help Print brief descriptions of all the options.
Info Show detailed partition information. The summary information
shown in the partition display area necessarily omits many de-
tails, such as the partitions' unique GUIDs and the partitions'
sector-exact start and end points. The Info option displays this
information for a single partition.
Load Load partition data from a backup file. This option is the re-
verse of the Backup option. Note that restoring partition data
from anything but the original disk is not recommended.
naMe Change the GPT name of a partition. This name is encoded as a
UTF-16 string, but proper entry and display of anything beyond
basic ASCII values requires suitable locale and font support. For
the most part, Linux ignores the partition name, but it may be
important in some OSes. GPT fdisk sets a default name based on
the partition type code. Note that the GPT partition name is dif-
ferent from the filesystem name, which is encoded in the filesys-
tem's data structures. Note also that to activate this item by
typing its alphabetic equivalent, you must use M, not the more
obvious N, because the latter is used by the next option....
New Create a new partition. You enter a starting sector, a size, a
type code, and a name. The start sector can be specified in ab-
solute terms as a sector number or as a position measured in
kibibytes (K), mebibytes (M), gibibytes (G), tebibytes (T), or
pebibytes (P); for instance, 40M specifies a position 40MiB from
the start of the disk. You can specify locations relative to the
start or end of the specified default range by preceding the num-
ber by a '+' symbol, as in +2G to specify a point 2GiB after the
default start sector. The size value can use the K, M, G, T, and
P suffixes, too. Pressing the Enter key with no input specifies
the default value, which is the start of the largest available
block for the start sector and the full available size for the
size.
Quit Quit from the program without saving your changes. Use this op-
tion if you just wanted to view information or if you make a mis-
take and want to back out of all your changes.
Type Change a single partition's type code. You enter the type code
using a two-byte hexadecimal number. You may also enter a GUID
directly, if you have one and cgdisk doesn't know it. If you
don't know the type code for your partition, you can type L to
see a list of known type codes. The type code list may option-
ally be filtered by a search string; for instance, entering linux
shows only partition type codes with descriptions that include
the string Linux. This search is performed case-insensitively.
Verify Verify disk. This option checks for a variety of problems, such
as incorrect CRCs and mismatched main and backup data. This op-
tion does not automatically correct most problems, though; for
that, you must use gdisk. If no problems are found, this command
displays a summary of unallocated disk space.
Write Write data. Use this command to save your changes.
BUGS
Known bugs and limitations include:
* The program compiles correctly only on Linux, FreeBSD, and Mac OS
X. In theory, it should compile under Windows if the Ncurses li-
brary for Windows is installed, but I have not tested this capa-
bility. Linux versions for x86-64 (64-bit), x86 (32-bit), and
PowerPC (32-bit) have been tested, with the x86-64 version having
seen the most testing. Under FreeBSD, 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit
(x86-64) versions have been tested. Only 32-bit versions for Mac
OS X has been tested by the author.
* The FreeBSD version of the program can't write changes to the
partition table to a disk when existing partitions on that disk
are mounted. (The same problem exists with many other FreeBSD
utilities, such as gpt, fdisk, and dd.) This limitation can be
overcome by typing sysctl kern.geom.debugflags=16 at a shell
prompt.
* The program can load only up to 128 partitions (4 primary parti-
tions and 124 logical partitions) when converting from MBR for-
mat. This limit can be raised by changing the #define
MAX_MBR_PARTS line in the basicmbr.h source code file and recom-
piling; however, such a change will require using a
larger-than-normal partition table. (The limit of 128 partitions
was chosen because that number equals the 128 partitions sup-
ported by the most common partition table size.)
* Converting from MBR format sometimes fails because of insuffi-
cient space at the start or (more commonly) the end of the disk.
Resizing the partition table (using the 's' option in the ex-
perts' menu in gdisk) can sometimes overcome this problem; how-
ever, in extreme cases it may be necessary to resize a partition
using GNU Parted or a similar tool prior to conversion with GPT
fdisk.
* MBR conversions work only if the disk has correct LBA partition
descriptors. These descriptors should be present on any disk over
8 GiB in size or on smaller disks partitioned with any but very
ancient software.
* BSD disklabel support can create first and/or last partitions
that overlap with the GPT data structures. This can sometimes be
compensated by adjusting the partition table size, but in extreme
cases the affected partition(s) may need to be deleted.
* Because of the highly variable nature of BSD disklabel struc-
tures, conversions from this form may be unreliable -- partitions
may be dropped, converted in a way that creates overlaps with
other partitions, or converted with incorrect start or end val-
ues. Use this feature with caution!
* Booting after converting an MBR or BSD disklabel disk is likely
to be disrupted. Sometimes re-installing a boot loader will fix
the problem, but other times you may need to switch boot loaders.
Except on EFI-based platforms, Windows through at least Windows 7
doesn't support booting from GPT disks. Creating a hybrid MBR
(using the 'h' option on the recovery & transformation menu in
gdisk) or abandoning GPT in favor of MBR may be your only options
in this case.
* The cgdisk Verify function and the partition type listing obtain-
able by typing L in the Type function (or when specifying a par-
tition type while creating a new partition) both currently exit
ncurses mode. This limitation is a minor cosmetic blemish that
does not affect functionality.
AUTHORS
Primary author: Roderick W. Smith ([email protected])
Contributors:
* Yves Blusseau ([email protected])
* David Hubbard ([email protected])
* Justin Maggard ([email protected])
* Dwight Schauer ([email protected])
* Florian Zumbiehl ([email protected])
SEE ALSO
cfdisk(8), fdisk(8), gdisk(8), mkfs(8), parted(8), sfdisk(8), sgdisk(8),
fixparts(8).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table
https://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn2006/tn2166.html
https://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/
AVAILABILITY
The cgdisk command is part of the GPT fdisk package and is available
from Rod Smith.
Roderick W. Smith 1.0.10 CGDISK(8)
fixparts
MBR partition table repair utility
root@kali:~# man fixparts
FIXPARTS(8) FixParts Manual FIXPARTS(8)
NAME
fixparts - MBR partition table repair utility
SYNOPSIS
fixparts device
DESCRIPTION
FixParts (aka fixparts) is a text-mode menu-driven program for repairing
certain types of problems with Master Boot Record (MBR) partition ta-
bles. The program has three design goals, although a few additional fea-
tures are supported, as well:
* It can remove stray GUID Partition Table (GPT) data, which can be
left behind on a disk that was once used as a GPT disk but then
incompletely converted to the more common (as of 2011) MBR form.
* It can repair mis-sized extended partitions -- either partitions
that extend beyond the physical end of the disk or that overlap
with nearby primary partitions. FixParts is designed in such a
way that this type of repair occurs automatically, so if it's the
only problem with your disk, you can launch the program and then
immediately save the partition table, making no manual changes,
and the program will fix the problem.
* You can change primary partitions into logical partitions or
vice-versa, within constraints imposed by the MBR data struc-
tures.
Additional features include the ability to change partition type codes
or boot/active flags, to delete partitions, and to recompute CHS values.
With the possible exception of recomputing CHS values, these secondary
features are better performed with fdisk, because fixparts' design means
that it's likely to alter partition numbering even when such changes are
not requested.
The fixparts program employs a user interface similar to that of Linux's
fdisk, but fixparts is much more specialized. Most importantly, you
can't create new partitions with fixparts, although you can change pri-
mary/logical assignment.
In the MBR scheme, partitions come in three varieties:
primary
These partitions are defined in the first sector of the hard disk
and are limited in number to four. Some OSes, such as Windows and
FreeBSD, must boot from a primary partition.
extended
Extended partitions are specialized primary partitions. They
serve as holding areas for logical partitions.
logical
A disk can contain an arbitrary number of logical partitions
(fixparts, however, imposes a limit of 124 logical partitions).
All the logical partitions reside inside a single extended parti-
tion, and are defined using a linked-list data structure. This
fact means that every logical partition must be preceded by at
least one sector of unallocated space to hold its defining data
structure (an Extended Boot Record, or EBR).
These distinctions mean that primary and logical partitions cannot be
arbitrarily interspersed. A disk can contain one to three primary parti-
tions, a block of one or more logical partitions, and one to three more
primary partitions (for a total of three primary partitions, not count-
ing the extended partition). Primary partitions may not be sandwiched
between logical partitions, since this would mean placing a primary par-
tition within an extended partition (which is just a specific type of
primary partition).
Unlike most disk utilities, fixparts' user interface ignores extended
partitions. Internally, the program discards the information on the
original extended partition and, when you tell it to save its changes,
it generates a new extended partition to contain the then-defined logi-
cal partitions. This is done because most of the repairs and manipula-
tions the tool performs require generating a fresh extended partition,
so keeping the original in the user interface would only be a complica-
tion.
Another unusual feature of fixparts' user interface is that partition
numbers do not necessarily correlate with primary/logical status. In
most utilities, partitions 1-4 correspond to primary partitions, whereas
partitions 5 and up are logical partitions. In fixparts, any partition
number may be assigned primary or logical status, so long as the rules
for layout described earlier are obeyed. When the partition table is
saved, partitions will be assigned appropriately and then tools such as
the Linux kernel and fdisk will give them conventional numbers.
When it first starts, fixparts performs a scan for GPT data. If the disk
looks like a conventional GPT disk, fixparts refuses to run. If the disk
appears to be a conventional MBR disk but GPT signatures are present in
the GPT primary or secondary header areas, fixparts offers to delete
this extraneous data. If you tell it to do so, the program immediately
wipes the GPT header or headers. (If only one header was found, only
that one header will be erased, to minimize the risk of damaging a boot
loader or other data that might have overwritten just one of the GPT
headers.)
With the exception of optionally erasing leftover GPT data when it first
starts, fixparts keeps all changes in memory until the user writes
changes with the w command. Thus, you can adjust your partitions in the
user interface and abort those changes by typing q to quit without sav-
ing changes.
OPTIONS
The fixparts utility supports no command-line options, except for speci-
fication of the target device.
Most interactions with fixparts occur with its interactive text-mode
menu. Specific functions are:
a Toggle the active/boot flag. This flag is required by some boot
loaders and OSes.
c Recompute the cylinder/head/sector (CHS) values for all parti-
tions. CHS addressing mode is largely obsolete, but some OSes and
utilities complain if they don't like the CHS values. Note that
fixparts' CHS values are likely to be incorrect on disks smaller
than about 8 GiB except on Linux.
l Change a partition's status to logical. This option will only
work if the current partition layout supports such a change. Note
that if changing a partition's status in this way is not cur-
rently possible, making some other change may make it possible.
For instance, omitting a partition that precedes the target par-
tition may enable converting a partition to logical form if there
had been no free sectors between the two partitions.
o Omit a partition. Once omitted, the partition will still appear
in the fixparts partition list, but it will be flagged as omit-
ted. You can subsequently convert it to primary or logical form
with the r or l commands, respectively. When you save your
changes with w, though, the partition will be lost.
p Display basic partition summary data. This includes partition's
number, the boot/active flag's status, starting and ending sector
numbers, primary/logical/omitted status, whether or not the par-
tition may be converted to logical form, and the partition's MBR
types code.
q Quit from the program without saving your changes. Use this op-
tion if you just wanted to view information or if you make a mis-
take and want to back out of all your changes.
r Change a partition's status to primary. This option will only
work if the current partition layout supports such a change. Note
that every partition can theoretically become a primary parti-
tion, although in some configurations, making this change will
require omitting some partitions. If fixparts refuses to allow
changing a partition to primary, you may need to convert other
partitions to logical form or omit them entirely.
s Sort partition entries. This option orders partitions in the dis-
play to match their on-disk positions, which can make understand-
ing the disk layout easier in some cases. This option has no ef-
fect on the ultimate ordering of logical partitions, which are
sorted before being saved. The order of primary partitions in the
final saved partition table may be affected by this option. In
both cases, as already noted, the partition numbers displayed by
fixparts may not be the same as those used by the kernel or dis-
played by other partitioning tools.
t Change a partition's type code. You enter the type code using a
one-byte hexadecimal number.
w Write data. Use this command to save your changes and exit from
the program.
? Print the menu. Type this command (or any other unrecognized com-
mand) to see a summary of available options.
BUGS
Known bugs and limitations include:
* The program compiles correctly only on Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X,
and Windows. Linux versions for x86-64 (64-bit), x86 (32-bit),
and PowerPC (32-bit) have been tested, with the x86-64 version
having seen the most testing. Under FreeBSD, 32-bit (x86) and
64-bit (x86-64) versions have been tested. Only 32-bit versions
for Mac OS X and Windows have been tested.
* The FreeBSD version of the program can't write changes to the
partition table to a disk when existing partitions on that disk
are mounted. (The same problem exists with many other FreeBSD
utilities, such as gpt, fdisk, and dd.) This limitation can be
overcome by typing sysctl kern.geom.debugflags=16 at a shell
prompt.
* The program can load only up to 128 partitions (4 primary parti-
tions and 124 logical partitions). This limit can be raised by
changing the #define MAX_MBR_PARTS line in the basicmbr.h source
code file and recompiling.
* The program can read partitions only if the disk has correct LBA
partition descriptors. These descriptors should be present on any
disk over 8 GiB in size or on smaller disks partitioned with any
but very ancient software.
* The program makes no effort to preserve partition numbers. This
can have consequences for boot loaders and for mounting filesys-
tems via /etc/fstab. It may be necessary to edit configuration
files or even to re-install your boot loader.
*
The program may change the order of partitions in the partition
table.
AUTHORS
Primary author: Roderick W. Smith ([email protected])
Contributors:
* Yves Blusseau ([email protected])
* David Hubbard ([email protected])
* Justin Maggard ([email protected])
* Dwight Schauer ([email protected])
* Florian Zumbiehl ([email protected])
SEE ALSO
cfdisk(8), cgdisk(8), fdisk(8), mkfs(8), parted(8), sfdisk(8), gdisk(8),
sgdisk(8).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_boot_record
https://www.rodsbooks.com/fixparts/
AVAILABILITY
The fixparts command is part of the GPT fdisk package and is available
from Rod Smith.
Roderick W. Smith 1.0.10 FIXPARTS(8)
gdisk
Interactive GUID partition table (GPT) manipulator
root@kali:~# gdisk -h
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.10
sgdisk
Command-line GUID partition table (GPT) manipulator for Linux and Unix
root@kali:~# sgdisk --help
Usage: sgdisk [OPTION...] <device>
-A, --attributes=list|[partnum:show|or|nand|xor|=|set|clear|toggle|get[:bitnum|hexbitmask]] operate on partition attributes
-a, --set-alignment=value set sector alignment
-b, --backup=file backup GPT to file
-B, --byte-swap-name=partnum byte-swap partition's name
-c, --change-name=partnum:name change partition's name
-C, --recompute-chs recompute CHS values in protective/hybrid MBR
-d, --delete=partnum delete a partition
-D, --display-alignment show number of sectors per allocation block
-e, --move-second-header move second/backup header to end of disk
-E, --end-of-largest show end of largest free block
-f, --first-in-largest show start of the largest free block
-F, --first-aligned-in-largest show start of the largest free block, aligned
-g, --mbrtogpt convert MBR to GPT
-G, --randomize-guids randomize disk and partition GUIDs
-h, --hybrid=partnum[:partnum...][:EE] create hybrid MBR
-i, --info=partnum show detailed information on partition
-I, --align-end align partition end points
-j, --move-main-table=sector change the start sector of the main partition table
-k, --move-backup-table=sector change the start sector of the second/backup partition table
-l, --load-backup=file load GPT backup from file
-L, --list-types list known partition types
-m, --gpttombr=partnum[:partnum...] convert GPT to MBR
-n, --new=partnum:start:end create new partition
-N, --largest-new=partnum create largest possible new partition
-o, --clear clear partition table
-O, --print-mbr print MBR partition table
-p, --print print partition table
-P, --pretend make changes in memory, but don't write them
-r, --transpose=partnum:partnum transpose two partitions
-R, --replicate=device_filename replicate partition table
-s, --sort sort partition table entries
-S, --resize-table=numparts resize partition table
-t, --typecode=partnum:{hexcode|GUID} change partition type code
-T, --transform-bsd=partnum transform BSD disklabel partition to GPT
-u, --partition-guid=partnum:guid set partition GUID
-U, --disk-guid=guid set disk GUID
-v, --verify check partition table integrity
-V, --version display version information
-z, --zap zap (destroy) GPT (but not MBR) data structures
-Z, --zap-all zap (destroy) GPT and MBR data structures
Help options:
-?, --help Show this help message
--usage Display brief usage message
Updated on: 2024-May-23