Mastering Parted: From MBR/GPT Basics to Automated Disk Partitioning

Parted Overview and Purpose

Parted is a disk (or RAID) partitioning and management tool that supports disks larger than 2 TB, unlike the traditional MBR scheme which limits to four primary partitions and cannot handle disks over 2 TB. It works with various file systems such as ext2, ext3, ext4, xfs, FAT, HFS, and more.

MBR vs. GPT

MBR (Master Boot Record) supports up to four primary partitions and cannot format disks larger than 2 TB. GPT (GUID Partition Table) overcomes these limits and is recommended for large disks.

Interactive Usage of Parted

# Start Parted on /dev/sdb
(parted) mklabel gpt
(parted) mkpart p1 xfs 0% 100%
(parted) print
# Example output
Model: VMware, VMware Virtual S (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 107GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Number  Start   End    Size   File system  Name
1       1049kB 107GB  107GB  xfs          p1

Deleting a Partition

# Start Parted on /dev/sdb
(parted) rm 1
(parted) print
# Remaining partitions after deletion
Number  Start   End    Size   File system  Name
2       10.0GB 53.7GB 43.7GB  xfs          primary
3       53.7GB 107GB  53.7GB  xfs          primary

Scripted (Non‑Interactive) Mode

Use the -s or --script option to prevent prompts, enabling automation in scripts.

Defining Partition Types and Viewing Information

# Create GPT label without prompts
parted -s /dev/sdb mklabel gpt
# View partition table
parted /dev/sdb print

Creating and Deleting Partitions

The general command format is:

parted <disk> mkpart <type> [filesystem] <start> <end>

Examples:

Create a single primary partition covering the whole disk: parted /dev/sdb mkpart primary xfs 0% 100% Create multiple primary partitions: parted /dev/sdb mkpart primary xfs 1G 10G, parted /dev/sdb mkpart primary xfs 10G 50%,

parted /dev/sdb mkpart primary xfs 50% 100%

Formatting and Mounting

# Format partition 2 as XFS
mkfs.xfs /dev/sdb2
# Create mount point and mount
mkdir /data
mount /dev/sdb2 /data
# Verify
df -hT /data

Complete Example: 100 GB Disk

Goal: Use Parted to create a single partition that occupies the entire 100 GB disk and mount it to /data.

# Set GPT label
parted /dev/sdb mklabel gpt
# Create partition covering 0%–100%
parted /dev/sdb mkpart primary xfs 0% 100%
# Format and mount
mkfs.xfs /dev/sdb1
mkdir /data
mount /dev/sdb1 /data
# Add to /etc/fstab for auto‑mount
/dev/sdb1 /data xfs defaults 0 0