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List All Connected Disks with diskutil list

See every internal and external disk, its partitions, and its /Volumes name from the terminal with one command.

macOSTerminaldiskdiskutilMedium risk
Run diskutil list to print every connected disk with its device identifier (like /dev/disk3) and partitions.

01Command

Command
$ diskutil list

02What it does

diskutil list reads the disk arbitration database and prints each physical disk, its total size, and every volume or partition with identifiers like disk3s1. Use the identifier shown here as the target for diskutil info, verifyVolume, or eject, so you never guess which disk is which. External drives appear as separate disks at the bottom of the output, and APFS containers show their volumes indented under the container.

03Risk

RiskMedium risk
!Warning: Note the identifier carefully before using it in an erase or format command — diskutil eraseDisk on the wrong disk number destroys all data on that disk.

04Undo

✓No undo needed — this command does not change persistent state.

05Sources

  • DISKUTIL(8) - macOS manual page
    Apple (Xcode man pages mirror) · vendor-doc · 2026-09-17
    Evidence: The manual page text contains 'diskutil list' describing it as listing disks with their partitions and identifiers such as disk0s1.
  • diskutil - Modify, verify and repair local disks
    SS64 · technical · 2026-09-17
    Evidence: Documents the diskutil command with 'list' as its first documented verb for listing disks, including the 'diskutil list' syntax shown on the page.

Last verified: 2026-09-19 · Category: System & Settings

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