Chapter 7. Partition operations with parted
Chapter 7. Partition operations with parted parted is a program to manipulate disk partitions. It supports multiple partition table formats, including MS-DOS and GPT. It is useful for creating space for new operating systems, reorganizing disk usage, and copying data to new hard disks. 7.1. Viewing the partition table with parted Display the partition table of a block device to see the partition layout and details about individual partitions. You can view the partition table on a block device using the parted utility. Procedure Start the parted utility. For example, the following output lists the device /dev/sda : View the partition table: Optional: Switch to the device you want to examine : For a detailed description of the print command output, see the following: Model: ATA SAMSUNG MZNLN256 (scsi) The disk type, manufacturer, model number, and interface. Disk /dev/sda: 256GB The file path to the block device and the storage capacity. Partition Table: msdos The disk label type. Number The partition number. For example, the partition with minor number 1 corresponds to /dev/sda1 . Start and End The location on the device where the partition starts and ends. Type Valid types are metadata, free, primary, extended, or logical. File system The file system type. If the File system field of a device shows no value, this means that its file system type is unknown. The parted utility cannot recognize the file system on encrypted devices. Flags Lists the flags set for the partition. Available flags are boot , root , swap , hidden , raid , lvm , or lba . Additional resources parted(8) man page on your system 7.2. Creating a partition table on a disk with parted Use the parted utility to format a block device with a partition table more easily. Warning Formatting a block device with a partition table deletes all data stored on the device. Procedure Start the interactive parted shell: Determine if there already is a partition table on the device: If the device already contains partitions, they will be deleted in the following steps. Create the new partition table: Replace table-type with with the intended partition table type: msdos for MBR gpt for GPT Example 7.1. Creating a GUID Partition Table (GPT) table To create a GPT table on the disk, use: The changes start applying after you enter this command. View the partition table to confirm that it is created: Exit the parted shell: Additional resources parted(8) man page on your system 7.3. Creating a partition with parted As a system administrator, you can create new partitions on a disk by using the parted utility. Note The required partitions are swap , /boot/ , and / (root) . Prerequisites A partition table on the disk. If the partition you want to create is larger than 2TiB, format the disk with the GUID Partition Table (GPT) . Procedure Start the parted utility: View the current partition table to determine if there is enough free space: 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. Create the new partition: 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 7.2. Creating a small primary partition To create a primary partition from 1024MiB until 2048MiB on an MBR table, use: The changes start applying after you enter the command. 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: Exit the parted shell: Register the new device node: Verify that the kernel recognizes the new partition: Additional resources parted(8) man page on your system Creating a partition table on a disk with parted Resizing a partition with parted 7.4. Removing a partition with parted Using the parted utility, you can remove a disk partition to free up disk space. Warning Removing a partition deletes all data stored on the partition. Procedure Start the interactive parted shell: Replace block-device with the path to the device where you want to remove a partition: for example, /dev/sda . View the current partition table to determine the minor number of the partition to remove: Remove the partition: 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. Verify that you have removed the partition from the partition table: Exit the parted shell: Verify that the kernel registers that the partition is removed: 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. Regenerate mount units so that your system registers the new /etc/fstab configuration: If you have deleted a swap partition or removed pieces of LVM, remove all references to the partition from the kernel command line: List active kernel options and see if any option references the removed partition: Remove the kernel options that reference the removed partition: To register the changes in the early boot system, rebuild the initramfs file system: Additional resources parted(8) man page on your system 7.5. Resizing a partition with parted Using the parted utility, extend a partition to use unused disk space, or shrink a partition to use its capacity for different purposes. Prerequisites Back up the data before shrinking a partition. If the partition you want to create is larger than 2TiB, format the disk with the GUID Partition Table (GPT) . If you want to shrink the partition, first shrink the file system so that it is not larger than the resized partition. Note XFS does not support shrinking. Procedure Start the parted utility: View the current partition table: From the partition table, determine: The minor number of the partition. The location of the existing partition and its new ending point after resizing. Resize the partition: 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. View the partition table to confirm that the resized partition is in the partition table with the correct size: Exit the parted shell: Verify that the kernel registers the new partition: Optional: If you extended the partition, extend the file system on it as well. Additional resources parted(8) man page on your system
parted /dev/sda (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 (parted) select block-device parted block-device (parted) print (parted) mklabel table-type (parted) mklabel gpt (parted) print (parted) quit parted block-device (parted) print (parted) mkpart part-type name fs-type start end (parted) mkpart primary 1024MiB 2048MiB (parted) print (parted) quit udevadm settle cat /proc/partitions parted block-device (parted) print (parted) rm minor-number (parted) print (parted) quit cat /proc/partitions systemctl daemon-reload grubby --info=ALL grubby --update-kernel=ALL --remove-args=" option " dracut --force --verbose parted block-device (parted) print (parted) resizepart 1 2GiB (parted) print (parted) quit cat /proc/partitions