Master Linux Disk Partitioning with fdisk and parted: A Step‑by‑Step Guide

Linux provides dedicated partitioning tools fdisk and parted . fdisk is widely used but cannot handle partitions larger than 2 TB, while parted supports larger disks and GPT partitioning.

Traditional MBR partitioning allows up to four primary partitions per disk; additional space requires creating extended partitions with logical volumes.

fdisk Command

Basic usage:

[root@localhost ~]# fdisk -l   # list system partitions
[root@localhost ~]# fdisk /dev/sdX   # partition a disk

Do not run fdisk on the active system disk, as it can erase the entire system; use a separate disk or a virtual machine.

The partition table output contains seven columns:

Device : partition device name.

Boot : indicates if it is a bootable partition.

Start : starting cylinder.

End : ending cylinder.

Blocks : size in KB.

Id : filesystem ID (viewable with the i command).

System : installed operating system.

Interactive commands example: [root@localhost omc]# fdisk /dev/sda2 Use p to list current partitions, then n to create new primary partitions, followed by w to write changes.

parted Command

The partprobe command forces the kernel to reread the partition table without rebooting.

parted works with GPT, which overcomes the four‑primary‑partition limit of MBR and provides redundant partition tables for safety.

Command syntax:

[root@localhost omc]# parted [options] /dev/sdX [command]

1. View partition table

[root@localhost omc]# parted /dev/sdc print

2. Create a partition

[root@localhost omc]# parted /dev/sdc mkpart primary ext3 1 2G

This creates a primary ext3 partition from 1 MB to 2 GB (size 2 GB).

[root@localhost omc]# parted /dev/sdc mkpart primary ext3 2G 4G

Creates another 2 GB partition starting at 2 GB and ending at 4 GB.

3. Change partition table type

[root@localhost omc]# parted /dev/sdc mklabel gpt

4. Delete a partition

[root@localhost omc]# parted /dev/sdc rm 2

Beyond basic creation and deletion, parted can check partitions, resize them, and recover deleted partitions.

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