exfatlabel

Display the current filesystem label

$ exfatlabel [/dev/sda]

$ exfatlabel [/dev/sda] [new_label]

exfatlabel device [new_label]

device
    The block device containing the exFAT file system (e.g., /dev/sdb1).

new_label
    An optional string specifying the new volume label. If omitted, the current label is displayed. Limited to 11 characters. An empty string ("") clears the label.

exfatlabel is a command-line utility used to interact with the volume label of an exFAT file system. It allows users to either display the current label of an exFAT partition or modify it. When invoked with only a device path, it prints the existing label. If a new label is provided as a second argument, the command attempts to set this new label on the specified exFAT device. The label can be a maximum of 11 characters long and is case-sensitive. This utility is crucial for identifying exFAT volumes, especially when multiple storage devices are connected, as labels provide a human-readable identifier distinct from device paths. It requires administrative privileges to change a label.

Requires root privileges (or sudo) to modify the volume label. The new_label is limited to 11 characters in length. Only works with exFAT file systems; using it on other file system types may lead to errors or data corruption.

The volume label is stored directly within the exFAT file system's metadata on the device itself, making it persistent across reboots and different operating systems that support exFAT.

To remove an existing label, provide an empty string as the new_label argument, e.g., sudo exfatlabel /dev/sdb1 "".

exfatlabel is part of the exfatprogs suite of utilities, which provides essential user-space tools for managing exFAT file systems on Linux. These tools were developed to offer comprehensive support for Microsoft's exFAT file system, crucial for interoperability with various devices like USB drives and SD cards commonly formatted with exFAT.

mkfs.exfat(8), fsck.exfat(8), exfatprogs(8), e2label(8), fatlabel(8)