Storage Management with Linux November 2025

Data is stored on disks that are logically divided into partitions.

A partition can exist on a portion of a disk, an entire disk, or it may span multiple disks.
Each partition is managed independent of other partitions.
A partition may contain a file system or swap space.
Partitioning information is stored at special disk locations that the system references at boot time.

Partitions

Master Boot Record

For use with BIOS-based systems
Three partition types: primary, logical, extended
Supports up to 14 partitions per disk (3 primary, 11 logical)
Cannot support disks larger than 2TB
512-byte sector size, 32-bit
Non-redundant; stores a single copy of the partition information on the first sector of the disk

GUID Partition Table

For use with UEFI-based systems
Supports up to 128 partitions per disk
Supports disks larger than 2TB
4KB sector size, 64-bit
Redundant; stores a second copy of the partition information before the end of the disk
Works also with BIOS-based systems

Management Tools

parted

parted (partition editor) can be used to partition disks interactively or directly from the command prompt.

It understands and supports both MBR and GUID partition schemes.

print		Displays the partition table that includes disk geometry and partition number, start and end, size, type, file system type, and relevant flags.
mklabel		Applies a label to the disk. Common labels are msdos and gpt.
mkpart		Makes a new partition.
name		Assigns a name to a partition.
rm		Removes the specified partition.

gdisk

The gdisk (GPT disk) utility is a text-based, menu-driven program that partitions disks using the GPT format. The main interface of gdisk can be invoked by specifying a disk device name with the command (such as /dev/sdc).