How to create large partition size on 4TB HDD

Dec 20, 2011 00:00 · 104 words · 1 minute read Linux

If you decide to create large (greater than 2TB) partition under your Linux box, you will figure out fdisk tool does not help you with it. The problem is the MBR (used by fdisk) has 2 TB addressable limit. The GUID partition table (GPT) is the solution for this issue. So, you need a) support of the GPT in Linux kernel (CONFIG_EFI_PARTITION should be defined and should be ‘y’) and b) GNU tool called parted.

Example how to use GPT and create large partition.

# parted /dev/sde
(parted) mklabel gpt
(parted) unit s
(parted) mkpart primary 2048 -1
(parted) quit

Links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_boot_record http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parted