Is /dev/hda a filesystem?

[bala1486]

Hello,
When i type the df command i see that /dev/hda1 as a filesytem that is mounted at '/'(root). Is /dev/hda1 a filesystem. I thought that it is a partition on my hard disk that contains the root file system. Can anybody please explain this?

Thanks,
Bala

[Rubberman]

Execute the command mount without arguments. It will tell you what file systems are mounted. /dev/hda1 is (on older systems) the first partition of the system drive, which may be just fine. In any case /dev/hdXN or /dev/sdXN where 'X' is the drive letter, and 'N' is the partition number, is usually the source of a file system. However, until it is mounted, it is just a partition on the drive in question.

Anyway, what Linux distribution + version are you running?

[bala1486]

Thank you for your answer. I am using Debian Lenny with kernel 2.6.26.

[Rubberman]

Please post the output of the "mount" command (no arguments), as well as the contents of /etc/fstab.

[bala1486]

I have attached the results of mount and /etc/fstab commands

[GNU-Fan]

Yes, /dev/hda1 is the first partition of the harddrive /dev/hda.
This partition is formatted as an "ext3" filesystem.
This filesystem is "mounted" at the lowest level (the root of the tree), making it the root filesystem (beginning at /).

[Rubberman]

I understand your confusion now. The df command shows the actual device the file system is mounted from and where it is mounted on. The headers df shows by default on my system are:

Filesystem           1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on

If you have network file systems mounted such as NFS or CIFS/SMB, then the "Filesystem" (first) column will contain the address, such as this one from my system:

Filesystem           1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda3            276603584  26426984 235899236  11% /
//192.168.1.90/Music 730300416 154632192 575668224  22% /home/mydir/mnt/ts01/Music