Disk Management (disk-mgmt)⚓︎

• Package: master/make/pkgs/disk-mgmt-cgi/
• CGI: /usr/lib/cgi-bin/disk-mgmt.cgi
• Init script: /etc/init.d/rc.disk-mgmt
• Configuration URL: http://fritz.box:81/cgi-bin/conf/disk-mgmt

Disk Management is a comprehensive, browser-based disk, partition, filesystem, cloning, and diagnostics console that runs entirely on the FRITZ!Box. It is integrated into the Freetz web server (httpd) as a shell CGI (ash/sh) and provides capabilities comparable to desktop tools such as GParted and Clonezilla — directly from a web browser, with no additional client software required. The current implementation also covers partition-table backup and restore, disk and partition UUID management, direct low-level moves via sfdisk --move-data, SMART self-tests, badblocks scans, and recovery-oriented imaging workflows.

Overview⚓︎

Disk Management turns the FRITZ!Box into a fully featured storage workstation. USB drives, SD cards, and loop devices attached to the router can be partitioned, formatted, cloned, imaged, migrated, diagnosed, monitored, and repaired from any device with a web browser.

All destructive operations are queued first, reviewed through editable operation parameters and an auto-generated command preview, then applied in order — providing a safety workflow similar to GParted's "apply pending operations" model. A real-time streaming output panel shows every command invoked, its full argument list, and its exit status as it runs.

Feature reference⚓︎

Partition operations⚓︎

Filesystem operations⚓︎

Partition-table and identity operations⚓︎

Disk cloning and imaging (Clonezilla-class features)⚓︎

These features use the partition_image.sh and disk_migration.sh helper scripts, which orchestrate partclone, ddrescue, dd, and compression tools.

Diagnostics and metadata⚓︎

User interface⚓︎

Companion disk tools⚓︎

Disk Management relies on a rich set of command-line tools available under make menuconfig → Disk Tools. Together they provide a complete storage management stack:

Architecture⚓︎

Backend⚓︎

The CGI backend is a single POSIX shell script (disk-mgmt.cgi, ~17 000 lines) that:

1. Validates all inputs (device paths, partition numbers, sectors, labels, flags) against strict whitelists
2. Builds a live device inventory from parted, lsblk, blkid, and sfdisk -J, including disk UUIDs, partition UUIDs, type IDs, and sector-size metadata
3. Resolves available tools at runtime with -ng suffix fallback (e.g., e2fsck-ng before e2fsck)
4. Executes operations through exec_cmd (true streaming) or exec_cmd_c (captured + streaming) wrappers
5. Supports background execution via start_job/poll_job for long-running operations
6. Returns JSON responses wrapped in the standard Freetz AJAX format

Frontend⚓︎

The frontend is embedded JavaScript providing:

• Interactive SVG-like partition map with selectable and draggable elements
• Queue management with parameter editing and read-only command preview regeneration
• Dedicated modal flows for advanced jobs such as sfdisk --move-data, ddrescue, network cloning, and disk migration
• Real-time streaming output panel via polling
• Responsive layout with confirmations, diagnostics panels, built-in help, and translations

Streaming execution model⚓︎

When the frontend applies queued operations:

1. callApiStreaming() sends a start_job request with job_action=<action>
2. The backend spawns a background subshell that executes the action
3. Output is written to /tmp/disk-mgmt-job-<token>.log in real time
4. The frontend polls poll_job every 500 ms, appending new output to the display
5. Each command is decorated with Unicode separators: ══════, ▶ label, ── cmd:, ── exit: N (OK/FAILED)
6. When the job completes, a .done file signals final status (success/failure, return code, message)

Operational safety⚓︎

• Queue-before-apply model: all changes are queued, reviewed, then applied — nothing runs immediately
• Explicit safety token: YES_I_UNDERSTAND must be typed before any destructive operation
• Per-operation confirmation: each operation shows a confirmation modal with description
• Dry-run mode: toggle to preview every command that would execute, without side effects
• Command preview: read-only preview of exact shell commands, regenerated automatically from the queued operation parameters
• Input validation: device paths, sectors, labels, and options are validated with strict pattern matching
• Stale job cleanup: abandoned streaming job files are automatically cleaned after 1 hour

Quick start⚓︎

1. In make menuconfig, enable Disk Management CGI under Packages → Web tools and the desired disk tools under Packages → Disk Tools.
2. Build and flash the firmware image.
3. Navigate to http://fritz.box:81/cgi-bin/conf/disk-mgmt.
4. Click Refresh devices to scan attached storage.
5. Click a disk in the device strip to load its partition map.
6. Queue operations via drag-and-drop, context menu, or the toolbar form.
7. Review the operation queue and command preview.
8. Type YES_I_UNDERSTAND in the safety field.
9. Click Apply to execute all queued operations with live streaming output.