$ Linux Command

Disk

parted

Partition table editor for disk devices.

partitionsdiskgptmbrfilesystemstoragefdisk

Additional Notes

parted is a command-line utility for creating, resizing, destroying, and managing disk partitions. It supports both MBR (DOS) and GPT partition tables, as well as various filesystem types. Unlike fdisk, parted can resize partitions and supports disks larger than 2TB through GPT.

System administrators use parted when preparing new storage devices, resizing partitions to expand or shrink filesystems, converting between MBR and GPT partition tables, and repairing damaged partition structures. It works interactively and in scripted single-command mode. parted is available on all major Linux distributions and is a standard tool in the system administrator's toolkit.

parted operates on the partition table of a block device (like /dev/sda or /dev/nvme0n1). Changes can be made destructively or non-destructively, and parted typically writes changes immediately (unlike fdisk which requires a separate w command). For this reason, careful attention to the target device is critical.

Syntax

parted [options] [device] [command [parameters]]

Parameters

  • device: Block device path such as /dev/sda, /dev/nvme0n1, or /dev/mmcblk0.
  • command: Instruction to execute, such as print, mklabel, mkpart, resizepart, rm, rescue, or unit.

Common Options

  • -l, --list: List partition tables on all available block devices.
  • -s, --script: Run in script mode without prompting for confirmation.
  • -a alignment-type: Set alignment type: none, cylinder, min, or optimal.
  • -m: Machine-parseable output for scripts.
  • -v, --version: Show version information.
  • --help: Show help message.

Interactive Commands

  • print: Display the current partition table.
  • mklabel label-type: Create a new partition table (e.g., gpt or msdos).
  • mkpart part-type [fs-type] start end: Create a new partition.
  • resizepart number end: Resize the specified partition.
  • rm number: Delete the specified partition.
  • rescue start end: Rescue a lost partition between start and end.
  • unit unit: Set display unit (s sectors, B bytes, MB, GB, MiB, GiB, %).
  • select device: Switch to a different device.
  • align-check type N: Check if partition N is aligned.
  • quit: Exit parted.
  • toggle N flag: Toggle a flag (e.g., boot, esp, lvm, raid).

Examples

parted -l

List partition tables on all block devices.

parted /dev/sda print

Display the partition table on /dev/sda.

parted /dev/sda mklabel gpt

Create a new GPT partition table, erasing all existing partitions.

parted /dev/sda mkpart primary ext4 1MiB 100%

Create a single partition using all available space, starting 1 MiB in (for alignment).

parted /dev/sda mkpart primary ext4 1MiB 10GiB

Create a 10 GiB partition.

parted /dev/sda mkpart primary linux-swap 10GiB 14GiB

Create a 4 GiB swap partition after the first partition.

parted /dev/sda resizepart 1 20GiB

Resize partition 1 to end at 20 GiB.

parted /dev/sda rm 2

Delete partition 2 from the disk.

parted -s /dev/sda -- mklabel gpt mkpart primary ext4 0% 100%

Scripted single-command to repartition a disk completely.

parted /dev/sda rescue 0 100GiB

Attempt to recover a lost partition between the start of the disk and 100 GiB.

parted /dev/sda set 1 boot on

Set the boot flag on partition 1 (for MBR) or set the legacy BIOS bootable flag on GPT.

parted /dev/sda set 1 esp on

Set the EFI System Partition (ESP) flag for UEFI boot.

parted /dev/sda align-check optimal 1

Check whether partition 1 is optimally aligned for the device geometry.

Practical Notes

  • Unlike fdisk, parted writes changes to disk immediately. There is no interactive confirmation step before writing. Double-check the device and command before executing.
  • Always specify -s or --script when running parted in automation scripts to prevent interactive prompts.
  • Use unit MiB or unit GiB for human-friendly sizes. Use unit s for sector-level precision.
  • Modern disks require alignment to physical sector boundaries. Use optimal alignment with mkpart and start at 1 MiB (2048 sectors) for best compatibility.
  • After creating or resizing partitions with parted, you must create a filesystem on the partition with mkfs.ext4, mkfs.xfs, etc.
  • Run partprobe or udevadm settle after partition changes to ensure the kernel re-reads the partition table.
  • For disks 2 TB or larger, GPT partition tables are required. MBR cannot address beyond 2 TB (or 2 TiB with 512-byte sectors).
  • parted can handle both MBR (msdos) and GPT partition tables. Conversion is destructive: save data first, then use mklabel to switch between them.
  • The graphical tool gparted provides the same functionality with a GTK interface.