How to List Mounted Disks and Volumes in Terminal on a Mac

Quick Answer

To list every mounted disk and volume on your Mac, open Terminal and run:

df -h

This shows mounted file systems, their total size, used space, available space, and mount points. For a more detailed view of physical disks, containers, partitions, and volumes, run:

diskutil list

Use df -h to see what is currently mounted and using space. Use diskutil list to understand how the storage devices are organized.

What “Mounted” Means on a Mac

A mounted volume is storage that macOS has made available for reading and writing. Your internal startup volume, external drives, USB flash drives, disk images, and some network locations can appear as mounted file systems.

A disk is the physical or virtual storage device. A volume is a formatted storage area that macOS can mount. One disk can contain multiple partitions, containers, or volumes.

Terminal gives you several ways to inspect this information:

• df -h shows mounted file systems and their space usage.
• diskutil list shows disks, partitions, containers, and volumes.
• mount shows the active mount relationship between devices and folders.
• diskutil info provides detailed information about one selected volume.

These commands are read-only when used as shown. They do not erase, reformat, eject, or modify your storage.

List Mounted Volumes With df

The simplest way to list mounted volumes is with df, which means “disk free.” The -h option displays sizes in a human-readable format such as gigabytes or terabytes.

1. Open Terminal. You can find it in Applications > Utilities, or search for it with Spotlight.
2. Enter the following command:

df -h

3. Press Return.

The output includes columns similar to these:

• Filesystem: The device or file system being reported.
• Size: The total capacity visible to that file system.
• Used: The amount currently in use.
• Avail: The available space.
• Capacity: The percentage of space in use.
• Mounted on: The folder where macOS makes the volume accessible.

The most important column for locating a mounted volume is Mounted on. Your startup volume is commonly mounted at /, while removable volumes are commonly mounted below /Volumes.

The exact names and values depend on the disks connected to your Mac, the macOS configuration, and the applications currently using mounted disk images.

df -h reports mounted file systems, not every physical storage detail. For example, it may show individual mounted volumes without explaining the partitions or containers that hold them.

List Disks, Partitions, and Volumes With diskutil

For a complete storage layout, use diskutil list. This is Apple’s built-in command-line storage utility.

Before running it, make sure you understand that this command only displays information. It does not change partitioning or erase anything.

diskutil list

The result generally groups storage by device identifier, such as an internal disk or an attached external disk. Within each device, you may see:

• A physical disk
• A partition map
• Partitions
• An APFS container
• APFS volumes
• A recovery or system-related volume
• External disks and USB devices

The identifiers are important if you later need to inspect one particular disk. They often look like disk0, disk1, or a related identifier shown in the command’s output.

Do not copy an identifier into a destructive command unless you have verified exactly which disk it represents. Commands that erase, partition, or reformat a disk can permanently destroy data.

Show Only APFS Containers and Volumes

If your Mac uses APFS storage, the following command displays APFS containers and their volumes:

diskutil apfs list

This can help you understand the relationship between an APFS container and the volumes inside it. A container is a storage pool that can hold multiple APFS volumes.

Use this command for inspection only. It does not alter the APFS layout.

Show How Volumes Are Mounted

The mount command lists active mount points and the devices associated with them.

mount

This output is more technical than df -h. It can show the file-system type, device identifier, mount options, and the directory where each file system is attached.

Use mount when you specifically need to answer questions such as:

• Which device is attached to a particular mount point?
• Is a volume mounted read-only?
• What file-system type is in use?
• Is a network or special file system mounted?

The output may include system-managed file systems that are not visible as ordinary disks in Finder. That is normal.

To make the output easier to search for mounted volumes under /Volumes, you can filter it with grep:

mount | grep '/Volumes'

This does not change the mount state. It only passes the output from mount to grep, which displays lines containing /Volumes.

If the command returns no lines, the mounted volume may use a different mount point, or no matching volume may currently be mounted.

Get Detailed Information About One Volume

After diskutil list identifies a volume, you can inspect it with diskutil info. Replace diskXsY with the identifier shown on your Mac.

diskutil info diskXsY

For example, the identifier might refer to a volume rather than an entire physical disk. Do not guess the identifier. First run diskutil list, then use the exact identifier from your own output.

Depending on the volume, diskutil info can show details such as:

• Volume name
• File-system personality
• Disk or volume identifier
• Mount point
• Whether the volume is mounted
• Whether it is internal or external
• Whether it is read-only
• Capacity information
• Ownership or encryption-related status

This command is also read-only as written. If you are unsure which identifier to use, run diskutil list again and compare the names and hierarchy carefully.

List Volumes With Their Mount Points

For a concise list of mounted volumes and their mount locations, use:

diskutil info /Volumes/*

This passes each item directly below /Volumes to diskutil info. It can provide useful details for removable volumes and other volumes mounted there.

However, shell wildcard behavior means the command may produce an error if /Volumes is empty or if an item is not a disk volume that diskutil can inspect. It also does not replace diskutil list, which provides the broader disk structure.

A simpler option is:

ls -la /Volumes

This lists the names and symbolic links located in /Volumes. It does not show capacity, file-system type, or device identifiers, so use it only when you need a quick view of volume names.

Find a Specific Mounted Volume

If you know the volume name, you can search the output from df -h:

df -h | grep -i 'volume-name'

Replace volume-name with part of the volume’s name. The -i option makes the search case-insensitive.

For example, if an external drive is named Backup, you could run:

df -h | grep -i 'Backup'

This filters the display only; it does not rename, eject, mount, or unmount anything.

You can also search the mount table:

mount | grep -i 'volume-name'

If a volume name contains spaces, searching for a distinctive part of the name is usually easier than trying to reproduce the complete path.

Check Mounted Volumes and Available Space Together

A practical workflow is to use diskutil list first and df -h second:

1. Run diskutil list to identify physical disks, partitions, containers, and volumes.
2. Run df -h to see which file systems are mounted and how much space they use.
3. Match the volume name or mount point between the two outputs.
4. Run diskutil info on the specific identifier if you need additional details.

This separates two questions that are easy to confuse:

• What storage exists? Use diskutil list.
• What storage is mounted and available to the file system? Use df -h or mount.

For a broader storage-usage check, see How to Check Disk Space and Storage Usage in Terminal on a Mac.

Troubleshooting

An external disk does not appear

Confirm that the drive is connected and powered on. If it is a bus-powered device, connect it directly to the Mac or try another cable or port.

Then run:

diskutil list

If the disk appears here but not in df -h, it may be detected but not mounted. Use Disk Utility to inspect it, or select the volume and choose Mount if that option is available.

Do not choose Erase unless you have a backup and intentionally want to remove the existing data.

The volume appears in diskutil list but has no mount point

A detected volume is not necessarily mounted. Run:

diskutil info diskXsY

Replace diskXsY with the correct identifier from your output and check whether the volume is mounted.

You can also use Disk Utility to select the volume and choose Mount. Mounting makes the volume available to macOS; it does not normally erase its contents. Before mounting, close applications that might be trying to access the same disk.

The output is too long

Use a pager so you can read the output one screen at a time:

diskutil list | less

Press the Space bar to move forward, press the arrow keys to move line by line, and press q to quit.

You can also save read-only command output to a text file in your home folder:

diskutil list > ~/Desktop/disk-list.txt

This creates a text file on the Desktop. To remove that file afterward, use Finder or run:

rm ~/Desktop/disk-list.txt

Warning: rm permanently removes the specified file without moving it to the Trash. Verify the path carefully before pressing Return.

A volume name contains spaces

Quote paths that contain spaces when using them in commands. For example:

diskutil info "/Volumes/My External Drive"

The quotation marks tell the shell to treat the complete path as one argument.

A command says “Permission denied”

Some system-managed locations are protected by macOS privacy and security controls. Listing general disk information usually does not require administrator privileges, but access to certain folders or files may be restricted.

Do not automatically use sudo to bypass an error. sudo runs a command with elevated privileges, and using it incorrectly can change or damage system data. First confirm that you are inspecting the correct path and that the command actually requires additional access.

A disk image appears as a mounted volume

Applications can mount disk images, installers, backup images, and other virtual storage. These may appear in df -h, mount, or /Volumes even though no physical drive was connected.

Close the application that opened the image, then eject it in Finder. You can also use Disk Utility. Do not delete the disk-image file while it is still in use.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best command to list mounted volumes?

Use:

df -h

It provides a readable list of mounted file systems, their capacity, and their mount points.

What command lists every disk and partition?

Use:

diskutil list

It shows the storage hierarchy, including physical disks, partitions, containers, and volumes. Some listed items may not be mounted.

How do I see where a volume is mounted?

Run:

mount

Look for the volume’s device identifier and the path shown after the mount information. You can also use df -h, where the Mounted on column provides the path.

Can these commands damage my data?

The commands in this guide are inspection commands and do not modify storage when used exactly as shown. Be careful with other diskutil commands, especially those containing words such as erase, partition, apfs deleteVolume, or unmount. Verify a disk identifier before running any command that changes state.

How do I safely remove a mounted drive?

Use Finder’s Eject button next to the drive, or Control-click the drive and choose Eject. Wait until it disappears from Finder before disconnecting it. This helps prevent interrupted writes and possible file-system problems.

How do I find what is using the most storage?

The commands in this guide identify mounted storage but do not rank files and folders by size. For that task, see How to Find the Largest Files and Folders in Terminal on a Mac.

Final Thoughts

Use df -h for a quick list of mounted file systems and available space, and diskutil list for the complete disk and volume structure. When you need more detail, mount shows active mount points and diskutil info examines one specific volume. These read-only commands provide a safe way to understand how storage is connected and presented on your Mac.