$ Linux Command

Disk

pvcreate

Initialize a disk or partition for use with LVM.

lvmphysical volumeinitializepvdisk management

Additional Notes

pvcreate initializes a physical volume (PV) for use with the Linux Logical Volume Manager (LVM). It writes an LVM label and metadata to the device, marking it as available for inclusion in an LVM volume group.

This is the first step in creating LVM-based storage: pvcreate initializes the disk, vgcreate creates a volume group from one or more PVs, and lvcreate creates logical volumes within the volume group. pvcreate can be used on whole disks (e.g., /dev/sdb), partitions (e.g., /dev/sdb1), or other block devices.

Syntax

pvcreate [options] [physical-volume...]

Parameters

  • physical-volume: Device path(s) to initialize, such as /dev/sdb, /dev/sdc1, /dev/nvme0n1.

Common Options

  • -f, --force: Force initialization even if the device appears to contain a filesystem or other data.
  • -ff: Force without confirmation prompts.
  • -u uuid: Specify a specific UUID for the PV.
  • -y, --yes: Answer yes to all prompts.
  • -Z, --zero y|n: Control whether the first 4 MiB of the device are zeroed (default yes).
  • --labelsector sector: Write the LVM label at a specific sector (default 1). Not recommended for normal use.
  • --metadatasize size: Set the size of the metadata area.
  • --metadataignore y|n: Ignore this PV in metadata scans.
  • --restorefile file: Restore PV metadata from a backup file.
  • -v, --verbose: Verbose output.
  • -qq: Suppress all non-error output.
  • --reportformat basic|json: Output format.

Examples

pvcreate /dev/sdb

Initialize /dev/sdb as an LVM physical volume.

pvcreate /dev/sdb1 /dev/sdc1

Initialize two partitions as physical volumes.

pvcreate -f /dev/sdb

Force initialization even if the disk appears to contain data.

pvcreate --metadatasize 2M /dev/sdb

Create the PV with a 2 MiB metadata area (useful for large or thin provisioning setups).

pvcreate --uuid a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890 /dev/sdd

Create the PV with a specific UUID.

pvcreate /dev/nvme0n1 /dev/nvme1n1

Initialize NVMe devices as physical volumes.

pvcreate -y /dev/sdb

Initialize without any confirmation prompts.

Practical Notes

  • pvcreate overwrites the data at the start of the device. Any existing filesystem or data will be destroyed.
  • Use pvdisplay after creation to verify the PV was created correctly.
  • For data recovery, use pvcreate --restorefile with a backup of the metadata to recreate a PV with the exact same UUID and configuration.
  • LVM physical volumes can be created on RAID devices, hardware RAID volumes, iSCSI targets, multipath devices, and loopback devices.
  • After pvcreate, run pvscan or pvs to update the LVM cache and confirm the PV is recognized.
  • Thin pool metadata volumes may need specific metadata sizing. Use --metadatasize appropriately.
  • The --labelsector option (default 1) places the LVM label in sector 1 (byte 512). Changing this is rare and only needed for compatibility with other software that uses sector 0.