From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org ([208.92.234.80] helo=lists.gentoo.org)
	by finch.gentoo.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60)
	(envelope-from <gentoo-server+bounces-3411-garchives=archives.gentoo.org@lists.gentoo.org>)
	id 1Ogblj-0004K6-7Q
	for garchives@archives.gentoo.org; Wed, 04 Aug 2010 11:04:19 +0000
Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1])
	by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id D16E1E0B15
	for <garchives@archives.gentoo.org>; Wed,  4 Aug 2010 11:04:18 +0000 (UTC)
Received: from mail-bw0-f53.google.com (mail-bw0-f53.google.com [209.85.214.53])
	by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4A07BE0AC0
	for <gentoo-server@lists.gentoo.org>; Wed,  4 Aug 2010 10:19:14 +0000 (UTC)
Received: by bwz6 with SMTP id 6so4415094bwz.40
        for <gentoo-server@lists.gentoo.org>; Wed, 04 Aug 2010 03:19:13 -0700 (PDT)
DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed;
        d=gmail.com; s=gamma;
        h=domainkey-signature:received:received:sender:date:message-id:from
         :to:subject:in-reply-to:references:user-agent:organization
         :mime-version:content-type;
        bh=70mJ9yiZnU7zAkiZBmWQHkI5XQvvRBnHvX76pa6kqAI=;
        b=wVRHU9hNiCDa8VAbqd9VjIiyzDgnJl4rBPElmQeP3XIaPbSpwtUqARn5toPS7XapzC
         LXEK2KIyLqKVLojHS7W4FRSp5RiAQ6jCKf39fsn0ch+kaCyy8BPNm0X7J3YnnswPwcou
         fOGyfeBPCEbOxPAlKFA6MyJbxJ59pOyYgnNZM=
DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws;
        d=gmail.com; s=gamma;
        h=sender:date:message-id:from:to:subject:in-reply-to:references
         :user-agent:organization:mime-version:content-type;
        b=jS51P1tUulRs7l7guo+gIdjqc4q7S5kGO00hmGskshsd/KIfroBouNFqyO9otq71w9
         31vwdouu82pvAciEElA08wKR76GVnw4KqKJmx39fM1ZmVEsAEIdJy2kYSY9TeqNyPTaC
         urWzR9sUrkpE8aMJGnTX4u8KVBDJxw5ZUgtFU=
Received: by 10.204.51.77 with SMTP id c13mr6123141bkg.98.1280917153296;
        Wed, 04 Aug 2010 03:19:13 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from kaos.gmail.com (p5DC2B1A7.dip0.t-ipconnect.de [93.194.177.167])
        by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id x19sm5815958bkv.21.2010.08.04.03.19.12
        (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=RC4-MD5);
        Wed, 04 Aug 2010 03:19:12 -0700 (PDT)
Sender: Tim Schumacher <tim.daniel.schumacher@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 04 Aug 2010 12:19:11 +0200
Message-ID: <87d3tysmsg.wl%tim@we-are-teh-b.org>
From: Tim Schumacher <tim@we-are-teh-b.org>
To: gentoo-server@lists.gentoo.org
Subject: Re: [gentoo-server] Checking a block device
In-Reply-To: <4C5912AC.4000908@snakesoftruth.com>
References: <AANLkTi=C9L27cy9hkPsR0=dMW12F93v+GPzEq3d2hWZP@mail.gmail.com>
	<4C5912AC.4000908@snakesoftruth.com>
User-Agent: Wanderlust/2.15.6 (Almost Unreal) EMIKO/1.14.1
 (Choanoflagellata) FLIM/1.14.9 (=?UTF-8?B?R29qxY0=?=) APEL/10.7
 EasyPG/1.0.0 Emacs/23.1.50 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu) MULE/6.0 (HANACHIRUSATO)
Organization: Secret Conspiracy
Precedence: bulk
List-Post: <mailto:gentoo-server@lists.gentoo.org>
List-Help: <mailto:gentoo-server+help@lists.gentoo.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:gentoo-server+unsubscribe@lists.gentoo.org>
List-Subscribe: <mailto:gentoo-server+subscribe@lists.gentoo.org>
List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail <gentoo-server.gentoo.org>
X-BeenThere: gentoo-server@lists.gentoo.org
Reply-to: gentoo-server@lists.gentoo.org
MIME-Version: 1.0 (generated by EMIKO 1.14.1 - "Choanoflagellata")
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
X-Archives-Salt: d4381e38-2c11-498a-8205-7e5d4f0b9b87
X-Archives-Hash: 50767f0654b9335b4b0d1237036c4312

At Wed, 04 Aug 2010 08:11:40 +0100,
Tom Grace wrote:
> On 08/04/2010 01:13 AM, GNUbie wrote:
> > How can I check if a block device (partition) has one or any of the
> > following characteristics:
> >
> > [1] raw
> >
> > [2] has content
> >
> > [3] formatted
> >
> > but without actually mounting it?
>
> testdisk (http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk) will tell you that.

This works also as root:

file -s /dev/sda1

greetings

Tim