Formating and mouting a disk

Formating and mouting a new disk in Linux system.

In cPanel server we can take backups in /backup folder. For this we can purchase a new disk and formate and mount to your existing system. So the backup space will be added in the new disk.


Step 1: We need to find out the new disk attached to our system.

# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 1999.9 GB, 1999978364928 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243150 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1          13      104391   83  Linux
/dev/sda2              14        6387    51199155   83  Linux
/dev/sda3            6388        6897     4096575   83  Linux
/dev/sda4            6898      243150  1897702222+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5            6898       10084    25599546   83  Linux
/dev/sda6           10085       10594     4096543+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7           10595       10849     2048256   83  Linux
/dev/sda8           10850      243150  1865957751   83  Linux

 Disk /dev/sdb: 500 GB, 16139354112 bytes

/dev/sdb new partition will not have a partition. 

Step 2:

Check new disk is already mounted

# df

If the new device is mounted you can unmounted this
# umount /dev/sdb

Step 3:

Create a new partition in" /dev/sdb"

A) # fdisk /dev/sdb

A console will be prompted and

Press "n"  make new partition
Press Enter Button
Preess P button to create a new partition(primary)
Press 1
Press Enter Button
Press Enter Button for First and last cylinder. This will make the entire disk as a single partition.
Press t button   To change the file system typr
Press  Enter Button
Press L  button to see all list
type 83 for Linux
Press Enter Button
press w  Button
Press  Enter Button

This will create a new partition on your /dev/sdb disk.

Step 4:
Formate the new partition
# mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb1

Step 5:
Mount the partition.

# mkdir /backup
# mount /dev/sdb1 /backup

# vi /etc/fstab

/dev/sdb1 /backup ext4 defaults 1 2

Another Issue.
My test server which is created in VMWare EXSI server. After upgrading the disk space we need to mount the extra hard disk space on it.


root@puppetmaster:/# df -h
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1       6.8G  6.0G  501M  93% /
none            4.0K     0  4.0K   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
udev            1.1G  4.0K  1.1G   1% /dev
tmpfs           208M  512K  207M   1% /run
none            5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
none            1.1G  208K  1.1G   1% /run/shm
none            100M     0  100M   0% /run/user
overflow        100M     0  100M   0% /tmp
overflow        100M     0  100M   0% /tmp
root@puppetmaster:/# mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda2



root@puppetmaster:/# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 19.3 GB, 19327352832 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2349 cylinders, total 37748736 sectors

So I have created a new partition /dev/sda2
root@puppetmaster:/# fdisk /dev/sda

Command (m for help): n
Partition type:
   p   primary (1 primary, 0 extended, 3 free)
   e   extended
Select (default p):
Using default response p
Partition number (1-4, default 2):
Using default value 2
First sector (14680064-37748735, default 14680064):
Using default value 14680064
Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (14680064-37748735, default 37748735):
Using default value 37748735

Command (m for help): p

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00047f2a

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *        2048    14680063     7339008   83  Linux
/dev/sda2        14680064    37748735    11534336   83  Linux


Command (m for help): t
Partition number (1-4): 2
Hex code (type L to list codes): 83

Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.

WARNING: Re-reading the partition table failed with error 16: Device or resource busy.
The kernel still uses the old table. The new table will be used at
the next reboot or after you run partprobe(8) or kpartx(8)
Syncing disks.
root@puppetmaster:/#

while formating the new partition,

root@puppetmaster:/# mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda2
mke2fs 1.42.9 (4-Feb-2014)
mkfs.ext3: inode_size (128) * inodes_count (0) too big for a
    filesystem with 0 blocks, specify higher inode_ratio (-i)
    or lower inode count (-N).
So I have rebooted the server and executed the command.

The system is going down for reboot NOW!
root@puppetmaster:/#

ubuntu@puppetmaster:~$ sudo mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda2
mke2fs 1.42.9 (4-Feb-2014)
Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=4096 (log=2)
Fragment size=4096 (log=2)
Stride=0 blocks, Stripe width=0 blocks
655360 inodes, 2621440 blocks
131072 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=0
Maximum filesystem blocks=2684354560
80 block groups
32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group
8192 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
    32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632

Allocating group tables: done                           
Writing inode tables: done                           
Creating journal (32768 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done

ubuntu@puppetmaster:~$
ubuntu@puppetmaster:~$ sudo mount /dev/sda2 /backup
ubuntu@puppetmaster:~$ df -h
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1       6.8G  6.0G  506M  93% /
none            4.0K     0  4.0K   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
udev            1.1G   12K  1.1G   1% /dev
tmpfs           208M  500K  207M   1% /run
none            5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
none            1.1G  208K  1.1G   1% /run/shm
none            100M     0  100M   0% /run/user
/dev/sda2       9.8G   23M  9.2G   1% /backup