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13.2. Creating a Partition

Warning

Do not attempt to create a partition on a device that is in use.

Procedure 13.1. Creating a Partition

  1. Before creating a partition, boot into rescue mode, or unmount any partitions on the device and turn off any swap space on the device.
  2. Start parted: 
    # parted /dev/sda
    Replace /dev/sda with the device name on which you want to create the partition.
  3. View the current partition table to determine if there is enough free space: 
    (parted) print
    If there is not enough free space, you can resize an existing partition. For more information, see Section 13.5, “Resizing a Partition with fdisk”.
    From the partition table, determine the start and end points of the new partition and what partition type it should be. You can only have four primary partitions, with no extended partition, on a device. If you need more than four partitions, you can have three primary partitions, one extended partition, and multiple logical partitions within the extended. For an overview of disk partitions, see the appendix An Introduction to Disk Partitions in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Installation Guide.
  4. To create partition: 
    (parted) mkpart part-type name fs-type start end
    Replace part-type with with primary, logical, or extended as per your requirement.
    Replace name with partition-name; name is required for GPT partition tables.
    Replace fs-type with any one of btrfs, ext2, ext3, ext4, fat16, fat32, hfs, hfs+, linux-swap, ntfs, reiserfs, or xfs; fs-type is optional.
    Replace start end with the size in megabytes as per your requirement.
    For example, to create a primary partition with an ext3 file system from 1024 megabytes until 2048 megabytes on a hard drive, type the following command: 
    (parted) mkpart primary 1024 2048

    Note

    If you use the mkpartfs command instead, the file system is created after the partition is created. However, parted does not support creating an ext3 file system. Thus, if you wish to create an ext3 file system, use mkpart and create the file system with the mkfs command as described later.
    The changes start taking place as soon as you press Enter, so review the command before executing to it.
  5. 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 using the following command: 
    (parted) print
    Also remember the minor number of the new partition so that you can label any file systems on it.
  6. Exit the parted shell: 
    (parted) quit
  7. Use the following command after parted is closed to make sure the kernel recognizes the new partition: 
    # cat /proc/partitions
The maximum number of partitions parted can create is 128. While the GUID Partition Table (GPT) specification allows for more partitions by growing the area reserved for the partition table, common practice used by parted is to limit it to enough area for 128 partitions.

13.2.1. Formatting and Labeling the Partition

To format and label the partition use the following procedure:

Procedure 13.2. Format and Label the Partition

  1. The partition does not have a file system. To create the ext4 file system, use: 
    # mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda6

    Warning

    Formatting the partition permanently destroys any data that currently exists on the partition.
  2. Label the file system on the partition. For example, if the file system on the new partition is /dev/sda6 and you want to label it Work, use: 
    # e2label /dev/sda6 "Work"
    By default, the installation program uses the mount point of the partition as the label to make sure the label is unique. You can use any label you want.
  3. Create a mount point (e.g. /work) as root.

13.2.2. Add the Partition to /etc/fstab

  1. As root, edit the /etc/fstab file to include the new partition using the partition's UUID.
    Use the command blkid -o list for a complete list of the partition's UUID, or blkid device for individual device details.
    In /etc/fstab:
    • The first column should contain UUID= followed by the file system's UUID.
    • The second column should contain the mount point for the new partition.
    • The third column should be the file system type: for example, ext4 or swap.
    • The fourth column lists mount options for the file system. The word defaults here means that the partition is mounted at boot time with default options.
    • The fifth and sixth field specify backup and check options. Example values for a non-root partition are 0 2.
  2. Regenerate mount units so that your system registers the new configuration: 
    # systemctl daemon-reload
  3. Try mounting the file system to verify that the configuration works: 
    # mount /work

Additional Information

  • If you need more information about the format of /etc/fstab, see the fstab(5) man page.