$ Linux Command

Disk

pvchange

Change attributes of an LVM physical volume.

lvmphysical volumepvmetadatadisk management

Additional Notes

pvchange modifies attributes of one or more LVM (Logical Volume Manager) physical volumes. Attributes that can be changed include allocation permissions (whether the PV can be used for new allocations), metadata tagging, and the physical volume's UUID.

System administrators use pvchange when managing LVM storage: preventing a failing disk from being allocated further (--allocatable n), adding or removing tags for automated volume management, or changing the UUID of a cloned physical volume to avoid conflicts.

Syntax

pvchange [options] [physical-volume...]

Parameters

  • physical-volume: Device path such as /dev/sda1 or /dev/nvme0n1p2.

Common Options

  • -x, --allocatable y|n: Enable or disable allocation on the physical volume.
  • -u, --uuid: Generate a new UUID for the physical volume.
  • --addtag tag: Add a tag to the physical volume metadata.
  • --deltag tag: Remove a tag from the physical volume metadata.
  • -a, --all: Apply changes to all physical volumes in the system.
  • -f, --force: Force the operation without confirmation prompts.
  • -y, --yes: Answer yes to all prompts.
  • --metadataignore y|n: Ignore or include this PV in metadata searches.
  • --metadata-cachesize bytes: Set the metadata cache size.
  • -v, --verbose: Verbose output.
  • --reportformat basic|json: Output format for reports.

Examples

pvchange -x n /dev/sdb1

Disable allocation on /dev/sdb1. No new LVM extents will be placed on this PV.

pvchange -x y /dev/sdb1

Re-enable allocation on a physical volume.

pvchange -x n --all

Disable allocation on all physical volumes. Use with caution.

pvchange -u /dev/sdc1

Generate a new UUID for /dev/sdc1. Useful after cloning a disk.

pvchange --addtag fast /dev/nvme0n1p2

Add the tag fast to the physical volume.

pvchange --deltag slow /dev/sda1

Remove the tag slow from the physical volume.

pvchange --uuid -f --yes /dev/sdb1

Change UUID forcefully without prompts (for automated scripting).

Practical Notes

  • All pvchange operations require LVM to have detected the physical volume. Run pvscan first if the PV is not visible.
  • Disabling allocation (-x n) is useful when a disk reports I/O errors but you want to preserve existing data for recovery.
  • Tags are used in LVM activation and volume group filtering. They can control which VGs activate in clustered or complex environments.
  • Changing a UUID is needed when a physical volume is cloned (e.g., via dd) and both copies appear in the same system, causing LVM to see duplicate PVs.
  • The --all flag modifies every physical volume in the system. Use with extreme caution.
  • pvchange modifies PV metadata written to the disk. Always ensure backups of important data exist before changing attributes.