Reading a Foreign File System in Linux

Linux can read many different file systems, but support depends on the kernel, installed packages and whether the file system was cleanly unmounted.

Identify the device and file system

lsblk -f

This shows block devices, mount points and detected file system types.

Create a mount point

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/external

Mount read-only first

sudo mount -o ro /dev/sdb1 /mnt/external

Mounting read-only is safer when checking an unknown, damaged or foreign file system. Replace /dev/sdb1 with the correct device from lsblk.

Unmount when finished

sudo umount /mnt/external