Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Linux Partitions >2TB

For Linux hard drive partitions larger than 2TB, fdisk just doesn't cut it. You'll have to use parted, instead. But keep in mind that since this parted method uses GPT (part of EFI) instead of the old MBR type supported by most/all BIOS, you'll need to make sure your BIOS supports it (most newer ones should).

The example I'm using in my case was for a brand-new 3TB secondary storage device (no existing partitions), with the primary drive being for boot and of the MBR type on a smaller dedicated hard drive... hence "sdb" in the example below, instead of "sda."

First, verify the size of your drive:
# fdisk -l /dev/sdb
Then, get into the GNU parted shell:
# parted /dev/sdb
Once in the parted shell, issue the following commands...
First, create a GPT partition table:
(parted) mklabel gpt
Second, tell parted you'd like to use TB as the unit:
(parted) unit TB
Then, tell parted to create the 3TB partition:
(parted) mkpart primary 0.00TB 3.00TB
You may verify the partition table and quit:
(parted) print
(parted) quit
After that, all you have to do is create your file system and mount the drive.