# Command Reference

## Overview

This chapter gives detailed explanations of all commands available in &partman;. It is intended as a reference to accompany the information given in usermanual.

### The File Menu

&Ctrl;Q File Quit

- Quits &partman; without applying any pending operations. The application will however ask you to confirm your choice to quit if there are pending operations.

### The Edit Menu

&Ctrl;Z Edit Undo

- Undoes the last operation that has been added to the operation stack.

  This command is only enabled if the list of operations is not empty.

Edit Clear

- Clears the list of operations without applying any of them.

  This command is only enabled if the list of operations is not empty.

Edit Apply

- Applies the list of operations. This command will apply all operations in the list so that all changes are permanently written to your disks. After the operations have been applied, the list is cleared and there will be no way to undo any operation.

  This command is only enabled if the list of operations is not empty.

### The Device Menu

Device Select Current Device

- Allows you to select a device from a submenu with all available devices of the system.

F5 Device Refresh Devices

- Refreshes the devices: This command forces &partman; to scan and read the devices on your computer again. This may for example be useful if you plugged in an external USB hard disk after you started &partman;.

&Ctrl;&Shift;N Device New Partition Table

- Creates a new partition table: This command creates a new and empty GPT or MSDOS partition table on the currently selected device. This will delete all partitions on the device and all data on them, so you will want to be careful with this command.

  This command is only enabled if a device is selected and no partition on this device is currently mounted.

Device Export Partition Table

- Allows you to export a list of all partitions on the selected device into a file.

Device Import Partition Table

- Allows you to import partition table from a previously exported file.

  This will delete all partitions on the device and all data on them, so you will want to be careful with this command.

  This command is only enabled if a device is selected and no partition on this device is currently mounted. Importing into logical devices such as LVM Volume Groups is currently not supported.

Device SMART Status

- Shows a SMART report. SMART is a monitoring system included in hard disk and solid-state drives that detects and reports on various indicators of drive reliability, with the intent of enabling the anticipation of hardware failures.

Device Properties

- Shows information about currently selected devices. In this dialog you can find capacity, sector sizes, partition table type as well as used and maximum number of primary partitions.

### The Partition Menu

&Ctrl;N Partition New

- Creates a new partition: Opens the dialog to create a new partition where you will be able to set type, size, position and file system of the partition to create.

  Please note that the partition table on a device may impose restrictions on how many partitions can be created. MS-DOS partition tables, for example, allow only four primary partitions.

  This command is only enabled if an unallocated area on a device is selected.

&Ctrl;R Partition Resize/Move

- Resizes or moves a partition: Opens the dialog to resize or move an existing partition. Depending on the partition's file system and the external tools installed on your computer, not all three possible resize-related actions -- that is, moving the partition, making it smaller (shrinking it) or making it larger (growing it) -- may be available in this dialog. See menu-tools-filesystemsupport.

  This command is only enabled if a partition is selected that is not currently mounted and whose file system can be shrunk, grown or moved. For an extended partition, it is only enabled if none of the logicals in the extended partition are mounted.

∇ Partition Delete

- Deletes a partition: This command deletes the currently selected partition.

  This command is only enabled if a partition is selected that is not currently mounted. For an extended partition, it is only enabled if it does not contain any logical partitions.

  #### Warning: Possible loss of data

  Deleting a partition means that all data on the partition is destroyed.

&Ctrl;∇ Partition Shred

- Shreds a partition: This command shreds the currently selected partition.

  This command is only enabled if a partition is selected that is not currently mounted. For an extended partition, it is only enabled if it does not contain any logical partitions.

  #### Warning: Loss of data

  Shredding a partition means that all data on the partition is destroyed.

&Ctrl;C Partition Copy

- Copies a partition: This command copies the currently selected partition to &partman;'s clipboard.

  This command is only enabled if a partition is selected that is not currently mounted and whose file system can be copied. Extended partitions can not be copied.

&Ctrl;V Partition Paste

- Paste a partition: This command pastes the partition from &partman;'s clipboard to the currently selected partition or unallocated area.

  When pasting to an unallocated area, a dialog will open allowing you to move or grow the inserted copy. When overwriting an existing partition this dialog will not be shown.

  This command is only enabled if a partition is currently in the clipboard and a valid target (either a partition or an unallocated area) is selected. The target must also be large enough to hold the source and can not be mounted. You can not copy a partition onto itself.

  #### Warning: Possible loss of data

  Pasting a partition on an existing one means that all data on the existing partition is destroyed and replaced with the data from the pasted partition.

Partition Edit Mount Point

- Opens a dialog to edit the mount point and the mount options.

  This command is only enabled if a partition is unmounted.

Partition Mount/Unmount

- Mounts or unmounts a partition: This command mounts or unmounts the selected partition, depending on its current state.

  This command is only enabled if a partition is selected that can be mounted or unmounted. If the operating system does not know a mount point for the partition you can not mount it from &partman;.

Partition Check

- Checks a partition: This command checks the selected partition and its file system for errors and tries to correct any problems it finds. During this process the file system on the partition will also be resized to fill the partition completely.

  This command is only enabled if a partition is selected that can be checked and is not currently mounted.

Partition Backup

- Backs up a partition: This command backs up the file system on the selected partition to a file. You will be asked where to store the image file after activating this command.

  The created image file is a sector-for-sector copy of the file system on the partition. It is not compressed and does not have any additional meta information or header added to it, thus it can be directly mounted using a loop device outside of &partman; if the operating system supports that.

  This command is only enabled if a partition is selected and the file system on it can be backed up. The partition must also not be mounted.

Partition Restore

- Restores a partition: This command restores a file system from an image file to a partition. You will be asked for the name of the image file to restore after activating this command. The target to restore to must be large enough for the image file.

  The command is only enabled if either an unallocated area is selected or a partition that is not currently mounted.

  #### Warning: Possible loss of data

  Restoring a partition on an existing one means that all data on the existing partition is destroyed and replaced with the data from the restored image file.

Partition Properties

- Shows a partition's properties: This command shows a dialog with information about the currently selected partition or unallocated space.

  What is displayed and what can be modified in this dialog depends on the type of partition, the type of the file system on the partition and on the partition being currently mounted or not.

  Not all file systems, for example, support setting a label. It is also generally not possible to modify any properties if the partition is mounted.

  This is a list of all partition and file system properties that can in general be modified in this dialog:

  - Set or modify a file system's label

  - Change the partition's file system.

    #### Warning: Possible loss of data

    Changing the file system for a partition always means that all data on the partition is destroyed.

  - Recreate the file system on the partition

    #### Warning: Possible loss of data

    Recreating a file system on a partition always means that all data on the partition is destroyed. Recreating a file system should only be used as a last resort if the file system on a partition cannot be repaired anymore.

  - Change a partition's flags

    Depending on the type of partition table used, there will be several flags available for each partition on the partition table. In most cases, modifying the flags is not necessary and should be considered an advanced feature.

  The command is only enabled if either an unallocated area or a partition is selected.

### The Tools Menu

&Ctrl;&Shift;L Tools New Volume Group

- Create a new logical device such as LVM Volume Group.

Tools File System Support

- Shows the file system support dialog. This dialog shows in detail which operations can be performed for which of the supported file systems.

  Here is an example how the dialog might look like with most external tools installed:

  File system support dialog with most external tools installed

  The blue check marks mean supported, the red crosses mean not supported. Some combinations are never supported, for example checking a linuxswap file system, because they are inherently impossible. Others cannot be supported because the external tools lack the functionality.

  If you have installed new tools while &partman; is running click on Rescan Support to force a recheck of installed file system support tools.

### The Settings and Help Menu

&partman; has the common &kde; Settings and Help menu described in the &kde; Fundamentals with an additional submenu Panels Shown, where you can toggle the display of the Devices, Pending Operations, Information and panels Log Output on and off.