Node.js: fs-filesystem

fs-filesystem allows you to read the state of the filesystem of the host on which it is run. It returns information about both the devices and the partitions (volumes) of the system.

Why?

Because sometimes your desktop applications need information about the filesystem (~~*cough* like on Windows *cough*~~)

Installation

npm install --save fs-filesystem

Native Dependencies

Bear in mind that this utility shells out to the machine, and thus requires the host to be able to run such commands. If any of the commands listed below are missing from your OS, the utility will throw a Command Failed: ... error. This shouldn't be a problem however since these are standard, core commands generally available on their respective distros (well, except maybe minimal Linux distros like Arch and Alpine), so you should be fine :)

• Linux: df, fdisk, lsblk
• MacOS: diskutil
• Windows: wmic

API

Async

import filesystem from 'fs-filesystem';

filesystem(filter, (err, result) => {
  console.log('devices', result);
});

filesystem( [ filter , ], callback )

// filesystem :: string|RegExp|function|undefined|null, function -> void

• filter {string|RegExp|function|undefined|null}: A filter for which devices should be returned. If the filter is a string or RegExp, fs-filesystem will match the device keys against it. If the filter is left undefined or null, fs-filesystem will return all of the devices. If the filter is a function, it will receive (device, key, devices) as arguments.
  • device {Object}: The device to filter
  • key {string}: The key of the device (also known as id)
  • devices {Object}: The hash of all devices
• callback {function}: Function following the common Node.js callback style, i.e. taking a (err, value) => ...

If only a function is provided to filesystem, the utility will assume that it is the callback function.

Wanna get rid of the callback? Try util.promisify for Node >=8, bluebird's Promise.promisify or universalify ;)

Sync

import { filesystemSync } from 'fs-filesystem';

const result = filesystemSync(filter);
console.log('devices', result);

filesystemSync( [ filter ] )

Remember, it's usually discouraged to use sync functions except when doing early setup!

// filesystemSync :: string|RegExp|function|undefined|null -> Object

• filter {string|RegExp|function|undefined|null}: A filter for which devices should be returned. If the filter is a string or RegExp, fs-filesystem will match the device keys against it. If the filter is left undefined or null, fs-filesystem will return all of the devices. If the filter is a function, it will receive (device, key, devices) as arguments.
  • device {Object}: The device to filter
  • key {string}: The key of the device (also known as id)
  • devices {Object}: The hash of all devices

What Data Can I Expect?

fs-filesystem will return a hash object of all the devices available on the computer, whether networked, internal or external/removable. Their respective volumes are available as an array of volumes under the device.volumes property. Linux and MacOS users will be pleased with the amount of detail available - block size, partition type, filesystem, mounted, mount point, blocks, and more is available. Windows users fall on the short straw however with a much less rich output. This is because (a) the main maintainer of fs-filesystem has very little knowledge of DOS/PowerShell utilities and (b) there seems to be very little filesystem utilities available on Windows that do not require elevated privileges. So if you are a Windows DemiGod, feel free to enlighten us :rocket:

Sample Outputs

MacOS

{
  "disk1": {
    "id": "disk1",
    "node": "/dev/disk1",
    "whole": true,
    "parent": "disk1",
    "name": null,
    "size": 2000398934016,
    "description": "APPLE HDD ST2000DM001",
    "protocol": "SATA",
    "blockSize": 512,
    "removable": true,
    "mounted": false,
    "volumes": [
      {
        "id": "disk1s1",
        "node": "/dev/disk1s1",
        "whole": false,
        "parent": "disk1",
        "name": "EFI",
        "description": null,
        "blockSize": null,
        "blocks": null,
        "readOnly": null,
        "mounted": true,
        "mountPoint": null,
        "partitionType": "EFI",
        "fs": "FAT32",
        "space": {
          "total": 0,
          "available": 0,
          "used": 0
        }
      },
      {
        "id": "disk1s2",
        "node": "/dev/disk1s2",
        "whole": false,
        "parent": "disk1",
        "name": "Recovery HD",
        "description": null,
        "blockSize": null,
        "blocks": null,
        "readOnly": null,
        "mounted": true,
        "mountPoint": null,
        "partitionType": "Apple_Boot",
        "fs": "HFS+",
        "space": {
          "total": 0,
          "available": 0,
          "used": 0
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Linux

{
  "sda": {
    "id": "sda",
    "node": "/dev/sda",
    "whole": true,
    "parent": "sda",
    "name": "sda",
    "size": 250059350016,
    "description": null,
    "protocol": null,
    "blockSize": 512,
    "readOnly": false,
    "removable": false,
    "blocks": 488397168,
    "volumes": [
      {
        "id": "sda2",
        "node": "/dev/sda2",
        "whole": false,
        "parent": "sda",
        "name": "sda2",
        "description": "Linux filesystem",
        "blockSize": 512,
        "blocks": 455499776,
        "readOnly": false,
        "mounted": true,
        "mountPoint": "/",
        "partitionType": null,
        "fs": "ext4",
        "space": {
          "total": 229421658112,
          "available": 21887852544,
          "used": 195856236544
        },
        "removable": false
      },
      {
        "id": "sda1",
        "node": "/dev/sda1",
        "whole": false,
        "parent": "sda",
        "name": "sda1",
        "description": "BIOS boot",
        "blockSize": 512,
        "blocks": 2048,
        "readOnly": false,
        "mounted": false,
        "mountPoint": null,
        "partitionType": null,
        "fs": null,
        "space": {
          "total": null,
          "available": null,
          "used": null
        },
        "removable": false
      }
    ]
  }
}

Windows

{
  "C:": {
    "id": "C:",
    "node": "C:",
    "whole": true,
    "parent": "C:",
    "name": "C:",
    "size": 22288527360,
    "description": "Local Fixed Disk",
    "protocol": null,
    "blockSize": null,
    "readOnly": null,
    "removable": null,
    "volumes": [
      {
        "id": "C:",
        "node": "C:",
        "whole": false,
        "parent": "C:",
        "name": null,
        "description": null,
        "blockSize": null,
        "blocks": null,
        "readOnly": null,
        "mounted": true,
        "mountPoint": "C:",
        "partitionType": null,
        "fs": "NTFS",
        "space": {
          "total": 22288527360,
          "available": 4928057344,
          "used": 17360470016
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Data Types

You can find a list of the types of each field below. Keep in mind that all fields besides whole are null by default, and that integers are all in bytes.

Devices

id: string,
node: string,
whole: boolean,
parent: string,
name: string,
size: integer,
description: string,
protocol: string,
blockSize: integer,
readOnly: boolean,
removable: boolean

Volumes

id: string,
node: string,
whole: boolean,
parent: string,
name: string,
description: string,
blockSize: number,
blocks: number,
readOnly: boolean,
mounted: boolean,
mountPoint: boolean,
partitionType: string,
fs: string,
space: {
  total: number,
  available: number,
  used: number
}