View source for Adding a new drive from the command line

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{{!}}+ Proven on:
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{{!}} style="text-align: center; width: 40px;" {{!}} 11 (bullseye)
{{!}} (This includes LMDE5, Proxmox, OMV...)
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{{!}} style="text-align: center; width: 60px;" colspan="3" {{!}} [[typographic conventions{{!}}A little note about typographic conventions you'll see here]]
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= Connect the drive =
Either plug the drive into the machine with the power off or hot-swap it in if possible...

(Yes...&nbsp; Adding a new drive to an ESXi or Proxmox VM is just like hot-swapping.)

= Determine the device =

* <code>sudo fdisk -l</code>
[[image:Fdisk example 0.png{{!}}300px{{!}}thumb{{!}}'''fdisk -l''' example]]

'''fdisk''' is a dialog-driven program for creation and manipulation of partition tables.
* <code>man fdisk</code>
** for details...
You'll see a fair bit of output.
* Blocks starting with '''Disk /dev/sd_:''' indicate drives and provide details about them.
* Blocks starting with '''Device Boot Start...''' indicate partitions on those drives.
* In the case of an unformatted new drive, you'll see a '''Disk''' block that's not followed by a '''Device''' block. Make note of it's name (/dev/sd_)
* In our example, it's '''/dev/sdb'''

= If your drive is previously used =
* <code>sudo fdisk /dev/'''sdb'''</code>
** <code>g</code>
*** To create a new empty GPT partition table
** <code>w</code>
*** To write the partition table to the drive.

= Partition the drive =
For now, we'll just make the new drive one partition.

[[File:Fdisk example 1.png{{!}}300px{{!}}thumb]]
* <code>sudo fdisk /dev/'''sdb'''</code>
** <code>n</code>
*** To create a new partition
** <code>p</code>
*** To make it a primary partition
** Hit <code>Enter</code>
*** 3 times to pick the default values.
** <code>w</code>
*** To write the partition table to the drive.

= Format the drive =
Of course, the drive needs to be formatted before you can use it.

[[File:Mkfs example 0.png{{!}}300px{{!}}thumb]]

We'll go with Ext4 for now.

* <code>sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/'''sdb1'''</code>
<span style="color: rgb(132, 63, 161);" >'''A Little Note:''' You can actually format the whole drive without partitioning it.</span>

= Label the drive =
In order to make handling drives a little easier, it is often useful to give partitions human-readable names.

* <code>sudo e2label /dev/sdb1 '''VOLUME-LABEL'''</code>

Will label the partition we've been working with as '''VOLUME-LABEL'''.  Now, any time you want to work with it using utilities that support labels, it'll be easier to keep track of which drive you're referring to.

= Mount the drive =
Create a mount point for the drive:
* <code>sudo mkdir /'''MOUNTPOINT'''</code>
& mount it for use:
* <code>sudo mount /dev/'''sdb1''' /'''MOUNTPOINT'''</code>

If you labelled it, you can mount by label:
* <code>sudo mount -L '''VOLUME-LABEL''' /'''MOUNTPOINT'''</code>

= Make the mounting automatic =
* <code>sudo vi /etc/fstab</code>
& add the line:

 '''/dev/sdb1'''      '''/MOUNTPOINT'''      ext4   defaults      0      0

or, by label:

 LABEL='''VOLUME-LABEL'''      '''/MOUNTPOINT'''      ext4   defaults      0      0

= Some Links =

[[Category:Linux]]

* [https://www.tecmint.com/add-new-disk-to-an-existing-linux/ Tecmint tutorial: How to Add a New Disk to an Existing Linux Server]
* [https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-name-label-a-partition-or-volume-on-linux LinuxConfig: How to label a partition or volume on Linux with e2label]
* [https://www.tecmint.com/change-modify-linux-disk-partition-label-names/ How to Change Linux Partition Label Names on EXT4 / EXT3 / EXT2 and Swap]
* [https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-remove-all-partitions-data-empty-disk/ Linux Remove All Partitions / Data And Create Empty Disk]