Linux Disk Management with parted command

The parted is a disk management utility. It allows us to create, manage, and delete standard partitions on Linux. There are two types of standard partition schemes: MBR and GPT.

MBR is a classical partitioning scheme. By default, it supports only four partitions. These partitions are known as primary partitions. If you need more partitions, you must convert the last primary partition into the extended partition. In the extended partition, you can create 11 logical partitions.

GPT is a modern partitioning scheme. It supports a maximum of 128 partitions. Since it supports a lot of partitions by default, it does not classify them into types.

We have three tools to create and manage standard partitions: fdisk, gdisk, and parted. The fdisk creates only MBR partitions. The gdisk creates only GPT partitions. The parted creates both.

We can create partitions only on the disk having free unparted space. We can use the lsblk command to list all attached hard disks and their partitions.

This system has three hard disks. The second disk contains the operating system. Since disk management involves risks of data loss, we should not use a disk containing an operating system or user data for practice. The first and third disks are blank. We can use any disk from these disks to practice the parted command. I will use the first disk.

Starting the parted utility

The parted command needs the disk path as an argument. To manage the first disk, we will specify its absolute path as an argument to the parted command. The parted command starts in a sub-shell. It takes control of the command prompt until we exit it.

Viewing partitions information

To view the current partitions' information, we use the print command. It provides information about the disk manufacturer, model, size, label, flag, and partitions. The label describes the type of partition we can create on it.

Currently, this disk contains the GPT partition table. We can create GPT partitions on it. If we want to create MBR partitions on it, we have to change the label to the msdos.

Changing disk label

To change or set the label, we use the mklabel command. The disk displays the following warning message if it contains a different label.

If we confirm the action, it erases the existing label and creates a new label.

Creating MBR partitions

To create a new partition, we use the mkpart command. It needs four arguments: partition type, file system type, starting point, and ending point. By default, it creates a primary partition for the ext2 file system.

If we want to create an extended partition or a partition for a different file system type, we need to specify both values manually. We can use standard sizes to select starting and ending points.

Create the first primary partition of 500 MB.

Create another primary partition of the same size. Start the partition size from where the last partition's size ends. In our example, the previous partition's size ends at 500 MB. So, we will start this partition's size from 501 MB.

We have created the first and second partitions for the default ext2 file system. If we want to create a partition for another file system, we need to specify the new file system's name as an argument. Let us create the third primary partition for the ext3 file system.

We have created three primary partitions. We can create the fourth primary partition if we need only one more partition. However, we cannot make the fourth primary partition if we need more than one partition. In that case, we need to create an extended partition.

In the extended partition, we can create logical partitions. The prompt automatically selects the partition type to the logical if an extended partition is available.

Let us create a logical partition.

While specifying the partition size, if we select a partition size that overlaps the existing partition, the prompt will display a warning message and ask us to confirm the action. It will corrupt the existing partition.

Unlike the fdisk and gdisk commands, it does not keep the change in the memory. It immediately applies them to the disk. To quit the parted, we use the quit command.

To verify new partitions, we can use the lsblk command.

Creating GPT partitions

To create GPT partitions, we need to delete the MBR partitions and change the disk label to GPT. To delete partitions, we use the rm command. Delete all MBR partitions.

Changing the label is like formatting the disk. When we change the disk label, it removes the old partition table and creates the new one. Change the disk label to GPT.

Since GPT does not categorize partitions into primary, extended, and logical partitions, the mkpart command does not ask for the partition type. Instead of the partition type, it asks for the partition name. You can use any descriptive name for the partition.

Let us create one more GPT partition and quit the parted utility.

Use the lsblk command to verify new partitions.

File systems and mount points

The parted command only creates partitions. It does not make a file system on the partition. To use a partition, you must create a file system on it. After creating a file system, you must mount the partition on the Linux file system. The following tutorials in this series explain this process.

Conclusion

The parted is the lightweight and fast disk management utility on Linux. It can create, update, and delete standard partitions. In this tutorial, we learned how to use it for disk management through examples.