linHDD 0.4

linHDD is a hard drive utility. Frontend to several functions of basic Linux drive utilities: hdparm, cfdisk, df, and mkfs.

Nice to add a second drive from the GUI. Or use it to display free space, extended drive information and test read-speed. A convenience app, it can save a user time, avoid problems from typos and presents a friendly interface to newcomers and those who would rather not memorize console-based commands.

The initial release only deals with ide hard drives, no scsi/sata -- only because I dont have the board/drive(s) to test them with. Should be a simple matter of adding cat /proc/scsi/scsi stuff. But if I cant test it then I cannot, in good conscious, write it.

linHDD acts as a fontend for some basic Linux tools, which should all be on your machine already. hdparm gives the detailed drive information shown in the large textbox. Also enables testing the HDD read speed in MB/s. df, (which lists mounted devices), mkfs and its relatives for formatting (supporting ext2, ext3, reiserfs, xfs, jfs -- if they are supported on your machine.) And cfdisk pops up if you choose to partition a drive.

For safety and sanity I designed linHDD so that it will not allow any partitioning on a mounted Hard Drive. Nor will it allow formatting on a mounted partition. And lastly, ANY partitioning or formatting must be done as root. Below is a shot of the response when trying to partition a drive when one of its partitions was already mounted.

You can run linHDD as user (as opposed to root) and check out your drive space, all the detailed drive information in the textbox and even run the speed tests. You simply wont be able to format or partition.