Parted: Basic operations

Launch parted and select disk

Launch parted by typing parted from the bash prompt:

[root@localhost ~]# parted
GNU Parted 2.1
Using /dev/sda
Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.
(parted)

Select disk by entering the device name, eg. /dev/sdb:

(parted) select /dev/sdb

giving the following output:

GNU Parted 2.3
Using /dev/sdb
Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.
(parted)

Changing the partition table to GPT to support partitions >2TB

(parted) mklabel gpt
Warning: The existing disk label on /dev/sdb will be destroyed and all data on this disk will be lost. Do you want to continue?
Yes/No? yes
(parted)

Set units to TB and create partition

(parted) unit TB
(parted) mkpart primary 0.00TB 3.00TB

The syntax for the above is mkpart <label> <start position> <end position>

Display partition table

(parted) print
Model: ATA ST33000651AS (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 3.00TB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Number  Start   End     Size    File system  Name     Flags
 1      0.00TB  3.00TB  3.00TB  ext4         primary

Exit parted

(parted) quit

Partition Alignment

Ensure the partitions are optimally aligned for performance tests
Being lazy will result in misaligned partitions regardless of what numbers you use

(parted) mklabel gpt
(parted) mkpart primary 0 100%
Warning: The resulting partition is not properly aligned for best performance.
Ignore/Cancel?

Use the following (in this example we are creating 3 partition on the volume)

[root@localhost ~]# parted -a optimal /dev/sda
GNU Parted 2.1
Using /dev/sda
Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.
(parted) unit % mkpart primary 0% 33%                                     
(parted) unit % mkpart primary 33% 66%                                    
(parted) unit % mkpart primary 66% 100%                                   
(parted) print                                                            
Model: LSI MR9261-8i (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 100%
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt

Number  Start  End    Size   File system  Name     Flags
 1      0.00%  33.0%  33.0%               primary
 2      33.0%  66.0%  33.0%               primary
 3      66.0%  100%   34.0%               primary

(parted) align-check optimal 1                                            
(parted) align-check optimal 2                                            
(parted) align-check optimal 3