Chapter 3. Getting started with partitions

Procedure

1. Start the interactive parted shell:

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   # parted block-device

2. Determine if there already is a partition table on the device:

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   (parted) print

   If the device already contains partitions, they will be deleted in the following steps.

3. Create the new partition table:

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   (parted) mklabel table-type

   • Replace table-type with with the intended partition table type:

     • msdos for MBR
     • gpt for GPT

   Example 3.1. Creating a GUID Partition Table (GPT) table

   To create a GPT table on the disk, use:

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   (parted) mklabel gpt

   The changes start applying after you enter this command.

4. View the partition table to confirm that it is created:

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   (parted) print

5. Exit the parted shell:

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   (parted) quit

Procedure

1. Start the parted utility. For example, the following output lists the device /dev/sda:

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   # parted /dev/sda

2. View the partition table:

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   (parted) print
   
   Model: ATA SAMSUNG MZNLN256 (scsi)
   Disk /dev/sda: 256GB
   Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
   Partition Table: msdos
   Disk Flags:
   
   Number  Start   End     Size    Type      File system  Flags
    1      1049kB  269MB   268MB   primary   xfs          boot
    2      269MB   34.6GB  34.4GB  primary
    3      34.6GB  45.4GB  10.7GB  primary
    4      45.4GB  256GB   211GB   extended
    5      45.4GB  256GB   211GB   logical

3. Optional: Switch to the device you want to examine next:

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   (parted) select block-device

Procedure

1. Start the parted utility:

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   # parted block-device

2. View the current partition table to determine if there is enough free space:

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   (parted) print

   • Resize the partition in case there is not enough free space.

   • From the partition table, determine:

     • The start and end points of the new partition.
     • On MBR, what partition type it should be.

3. Create the new partition:

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   (parted) mkpart part-type name fs-type start end

   • Replace part-type with with primary, logical, or extended. This applies only to the MBR partition table.
   • Replace name with an arbitrary partition name. This is required for GPT partition tables.
   • Replace fs-type with xfs, ext2, ext3, ext4, fat16, fat32, hfs, hfs+, linux-swap, ntfs, or reiserfs. The fs-type parameter is optional. Note that the parted utility does not create the file system on the partition.
   • Replace start and end with the sizes that determine the starting and ending points of the partition, counting from the beginning of the disk. You can use size suffixes, such as 512MiB, 20GiB, or 1.5TiB. The default size is in megabytes.

   Example 3.2. Creating a small primary partition

   To create a primary partition from 1024MiB until 2048MiB on an MBR table, use:

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   (parted) mkpart primary 1024MiB 2048MiB

   The changes start applying after you enter the command.

4. View the partition table to confirm that the created partition is in the partition table with the correct partition type, file system type, and size:

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   (parted) print

5. Exit the parted shell:

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   (parted) quit

6. Register the new device node:

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   # udevadm settle

7. Verify that the kernel recognizes the new partition:

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   # cat /proc/partitions

Procedure

1. Start the interactive fdisk shell:

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   # fdisk block-device

2. View the current partition table to determine the minor partition number:

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   Command (m for help): print

   You can see the current partition type in the Type column and its corresponding type ID in the Id column.

3. Enter the partition type command and select a partition using its minor number:

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   Command (m for help): type
   Partition number (1,2,3 default 3): 2

4. Optional: View the list in hexadecimal codes:

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   Hex code (type L to list all codes): L

5. Set the partition type:

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   Hex code (type L to list all codes): 8e

6. Write your changes and exit the fdisk shell:

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   Command (m for help): write
   The partition table has been altered.
   Syncing disks.

7. Verify your changes:

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   # fdisk --list block-device

Procedure

1. Start the parted utility:

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   # parted block-device

2. View the current partition table:

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   (parted) print

   From the partition table, determine:

   • The minor number of the partition.
   • The location of the existing partition and its new ending point after resizing.

3. Resize the partition:

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   (parted) resizepart 1 2GiB

   • Replace 1 with the minor number of the partition that you are resizing.
   • Replace 2 with the size that determines the new ending point of the resized partition, counting from the beginning of the disk. You can use size suffixes, such as 512MiB, 20GiB, or 1.5TiB. The default size is in megabytes.

4. View the partition table to confirm that the resized partition is in the partition table with the correct size:

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   (parted) print

5. Exit the parted shell:

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   (parted) quit

6. Verify that the kernel registers the new partition:

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   # cat /proc/partitions

7. Optional: If you extended the partition, extend the file system on it as well.

Procedure

1. Start the interactive parted shell:

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   # parted block-device

   • Replace block-device with the path to the device where you want to remove a partition: for example, /dev/sda.

2. View the current partition table to determine the minor number of the partition to remove:

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   (parted) print

3. Remove the partition:

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   (parted) rm minor-number

   • Replace minor-number with the minor number of the partition you want to remove.

   The changes start applying as soon as you enter this command.

4. Verify that you have removed the partition from the partition table:

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   (parted) print

5. Exit the parted shell:

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   (parted) quit

6. Verify that the kernel registers that the partition is removed:

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   # cat /proc/partitions

7. Remove the partition from the /etc/fstab file, if it is present. Find the line that declares the removed partition, and remove it from the file.

8. Regenerate mount units so that your system registers the new /etc/fstab configuration:

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   # systemctl daemon-reload

9. If you have deleted a swap partition or removed pieces of LVM, remove all references to the partition from the kernel command line:

   1. List active kernel options and see if any option references the removed partition:

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      # grubby --info=ALL

   2. Remove the kernel options that reference the removed partition:

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      # grubby --update-kernel=ALL --remove-args="option"

10. To register the changes in the early boot system, rebuild the initramfs file system:

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    # dracut --force --verbose