how to find out where a file is stored

[billmckinstry]

Hi Forum, I have a problem that the same files appear to be on two different devices. How can I see what device a file is on??
/dev/hdc1 has /data
/dev/hdb1 has /home

yet when I ls -la the same files are on both /data & /home

[devils casper]

Post the output of df -h and fdisk -l commands.

df -h
su -
fdisk -l

[Rubberman]

You might have a directory on one that is linked to the other. If you are using the desktop file manager to look at them, you might not be able to easily tell that one actually is on the other device. You can tell which physical device a file is stored on by going to a command-line window, cd to the directory in question on one device, then execute the command: df filename ---- that will show you where the file is physically located. Then, go to the directory on the other device and execute the same: df filename ---- If they are on the same device, then one is a link. If they aren't, then you have a copy of the file.

[Lazydog]

Rubberman:
Are you sure about that 'df' command?

df - report file system disk space usage


Bill McKinstry:
When you do the ls -la you should see a link like in the folowing if the files are linked:

lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root      22 Apr  1 10:37 grub.conf -> ../boot/grub/grub.conf
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root       7 Apr  1 10:26 rc -> rc.d/rc
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root      10 Apr  1 10:26 rc0.d -> rc.d/rc0.d
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root      10 Apr  1 10:26 rc1.d -> rc.d/rc1.d
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root      10 Apr  1 10:26 rc2.d -> rc.d/rc2.d
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root      10 Apr  1 10:26 rc3.d -> rc.d/rc3.d
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root      10 Apr  1 10:26 rc4.d -> rc.d/rc4.d
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root      10 Apr  1 10:26 rc5.d -> rc.d/rc5.d
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root      10 Apr  1 10:26 rc6.d -> rc.d/rc6.d

The above files are all linked to another place and this can be seen by the '->' on the line telling you where they are linked to with full paths. Take note you will only see this on the directory that holds the linked files. The directory with the files will not have links. If you are not seeing something like above then the files are located in both places.

[Rubberman]

Rubberman:
Are you sure about that 'df' command?

df - report file system disk space usage

Yes. When applied to a file, it will show where the file is actually located. The ls -l command will show that the file is linked and where to, but in this case I suspect that the directory the file is in is what is linked, in which case, if you cd to that directory (via link or not), then ls -l will not show a link. That's why I suggested using df. In this case, even if the file is a link, df <filename> will display the device it REALLY lives on. Example (I have two log files in my /root directory. One is local and the other is a link to a file on another device):

[root@cos1 ~]# df a.log b.log
Filesystem           1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda3            276603584  24029052 238297168  10% /
/dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol00
                     1892322104 874101844 920545408  49% /home

As you can see, it displays the actual device where the file lives. In this case b.log is on /home and a.log is on /.

[Lazydog]

Thnx for the reply. One learns something new every day.

[billmckinstry]

Hi devils casper - outputs as requested. Thanks, Bill
[root@mailserver ~]# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda3 72G 7.6G 60G 12% /
/dev/hda1 244M 12M 220M 5% /boot
/dev/hdb2 37G 12G 24G 33% /music
none 473M 0 473M 0% /dev/shm
/dev/hdb1 111G 14G 92G 13% /home
/dev/hdc1 111G 14G 92G 13% /data
[root@mailserver ~]#
[root@mailserver ~]# su -
[root@mailserver ~]# fdisk -1
fdisk: invalid option -- 1

Usage: fdisk [-b SSZ] [-u] DISK Change partition table
fdisk -l [-b SSZ] [-u] DISK List partition table(s)
fdisk -s PARTITION Give partition size(s) in blocks
fdisk -v Give fdisk version
Here DISK is something like /dev/hdb or /dev/sda
and PARTITION is something like /dev/hda7
-u: give Start and End in sector (instead of cylinder) units
-b 2048: (for certain MO disks) use 2048-byte sectors
[root@mailserver ~]#
fdisk does not work on our system????

[yancek]

Did you type fdisk -l (with a lower case letter L) or a number one, should be lower case letter L.

[billmckinstry]

Hi Rubberman, Here is output of "ls" & "df bill" for both /home & /data.

[root@mailserver /]# cd home/
[root@mailserver home]# ls
bill henao hmileng jackie julanne lost+found margaret putty.exe PUTTY.RND wendy winscp.RND
[root@mailserver home]# df bill/
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/hdb1 115377640 13981280 95535448 13% /home
[root@mailserver home]# cd /
[root@mailserver /]# cd data/
[root@mailserver data]# ls
bill henao hmileng jackie julanne lost+found margaret putty.exe PUTTY.RND wendy winscp.RND
[root@mailserver data]# df bill
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/hdc1 115377640 13981280 95535448 13% /data
[root@mailserver data]#
They appear to be copies.. but when I delete one it is deleted on the other /dev?? I will create a file on one and see if it is also created on the other.

[billmckinstry]

Here is the new file created in /home directory but also appearing in /data??
[root@mailserver data]# cd /home
[root@mailserver home]# touch filetest
[root@mailserver home]# ls
bill filetest henao hmileng jackie julanne lost+found margaret putty.exe PUTTY.RND wendy winscp.RND
[root@mailserver home]# cd /data
[root@mailserver data]# ls
bill filetest henao hmileng jackie julanne lost+found margaret putty.exe PUTTY.RND wendy winscp.RND
[root@mailserver data]#