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hellodear
Asked: 2014-05-05 10:20:48 +0800 CST

In which drive my data is getting stored in Ubuntu

  • 772

I have Windows 7 on my system. On starting PC, it asks me to select Windows 7 or Ubuntu 12.04. In windows, I have 3 parts, Drive C,D,J. When I open Ubuntu, I have category named "Devices". In that, those parts(C,D,J) are there with different names. But a part named "79 GB system" seems to be C drive of Windows but it has some things which are not visible in Windows. So what is this?

Secondly, there is category in Ubuntu named "File system". In that I have all sections like boot, etc, dev, root, run... so, now what is this? What is the relation between that devices and this file system? Where is this file system stored?

When I am storing my C, C++ files in home/username--> then where is it getting stored? in which drive? like C,D or J of windows? I am getting confused with all this. Thanks in advance.

filesystem

3 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Ubuntu does not use drive letters; it sees all of its available space as one large tree. It lists your Windows drive (which is called "C:" in Windows) as one of its "Devices", as you mention, but that is just a matter of convenience: in Ubuntu terms that is probably a folder called /media/long-complicated-drive-name/.
    The fact that you can see more files in Ubuntu than in Windows is more like a Windows trick: under Ubuntu you will see all files and directories, whereas Windows hides these from you.
    The boot, etc, dev, root, run etc. are system folders where you shouldn't store anything, and in most cases, the system won't even let you. Feel free to organize your own files in the /home/username folder. That one is comparable with the folder called "username" under Windows. Ubuntu does not care how and where you store things in /home/username, except for personal settings which are typically in folders starting with a ".".
    From the Windows perspective, whether your Ubuntu system is stored in D: or J:, or somewhere else, is impossible to tell without more information.

    • 5

  2. If you know your filename you can search where the mountpoint is with:

    find / -iname <filename> 2>/dev/null

    This will show you the full path for the file IF the windows disks are mounted to begin with. With the path in posession, it'd be an easy job of getting it done. However, if you need to verify the mounts you can do the below:

    df

    It should give you the mounted devices on the system. On my Ubuntu, the output is: 

    `ubuntu:~$ df
Filesystem      1K-blocks      Used  Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/loop0       29496487   9139181   20357306  31% /
udev              7659848         4    7659844   1% /dev
tmpfs             1533884       920    1532964   1% /run
none                 5120         0       5120   0% /run/lock
none              7669416        80    7669336   1% /run/shm
/dev/sda3        51199996  13263736   37936260  26% /host
/dev/sdb2      1953382396 173874560 1779507836   9% /media/NeverDie
/dev/sdc1         3916912   1260704    2656208  33% /media/CRYPTO
/dev/sdd1        15617008        40   15616968   1% /media/E4D3-8E30
/dev/sda5       874358780 670689976  203668804  77% /media/Warehouse
ubuntu:~$ `

    So, you'd have to see if the expected windows unit is mounted. Else, you'll have to find the device (probably /dev/sd and mount it).

    • 2

  3. Linux has a nasty tendency to be very confusing regarding drives in comparison to windows. The best way to figure out what drive is what is to use a partition manager and looking a the sizes like you where already doing. Disks is nice for that. Ubuntu is probably using two "partitions" or the drives that windows sees. One is likely a small disk for storing working memory if your RAM is full. the other is where ubuntu self is.

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