> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://notes.kodekloud.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Demo Basic Storage > A hands-on Linux tutorial on partitioning, formatting, mounting disks and making filesystems persistent via /etc/fstab This hands-on demo shows how to work with disks, partitions, and filesystems on Linux. You'll learn how to: * Identify available block devices * Create a GPT partition table and partitions using `parted` * Format partitions with XFS, ext4, and VFAT (FAT32) * Mount partitions and verify mounts * Make mounts persistent by editing `/etc/fstab` Prerequisites: root (or sudo) access and an unused block device (in this demo `/dev/sdb`). ## 1 — List block devices Start by listing block devices to identify the device you'll work on: ```bash theme={null} root@control:~# lsblk NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS sda 8:0 0 20G 0 disk ├─sda1 8:1 0 1M 0 part ├─sda2 8:2 0 1G 0 part /boot └─sda3 8:3 0 19G 0 part ├─rhel-root 253:0 0 17G 0 lvm / └─rhel-swap 253:1 0 2G 0 lvm [SWAP] sdb 8:16 0 5.1G 0 disk sr0 11:0 1 1024M 0 rom ``` Before proceeding, double-check the target device (this demo uses `/dev/sdb`). Partitioning the wrong disk can cause irreversible data loss. ## 2 — Create partitions with parted Create a GPT label and three partitions on the target device. The example below creates: * Partition 1: XFS (start 2048s to 500MiB) * Partition 2: ext4 (501MiB to 1000MiB) * Partition 3: FAT32/VFAT (1001MiB to 1500MiB) Run `parted` interactively: ```bash theme={null} root@control:~# parted /dev/sdb GNU Parted 3.6 Using /dev/sdb Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands. (parted) mklabel gpt (parted) mkpart primary xfs 2048s 500MiB (parted) name 1 xfspartition (parted) mkpart primary ext4 501MiB 1000MiB (parted) name 2 ext4partition (parted) mkpart primary fat32 1001MiB 1500MiB (parted) name 3 vfatpartition (parted) print Model: (unknown) (scsi) Disk /dev/sdb: 5369MB Number Start End Size File system Name 1 2048s 500MiB 499MiB xfs xfspartition 2 501MiB 1000MiB 499MiB ext4 ext4partition 3 1001MiB 1500MiB 499MiB fat32 vfatpartition (parted) quit ``` After quitting `parted`, verify the new partition nodes: ```bash theme={null} root@control:~# lsblk NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS sda 8:0 0 20G 0 disk ├─sda1 8:1 0 1M 0 part ├─sda2 8:2 0 1G 0 part /boot └─sda3 8:3 0 19G 0 part ├─rhel-root 253:0 0 17G 0 lvm / └─rhel-swap 253:1 0 2G 0 lvm [SWAP] sdb 8:16 0 5.1G 0 disk ├─sdb1 8:17 0 499M 0 part ├─sdb2 8:18 0 499M 0 part └─sdb3 8:19 0 499M 0 part sr0 11:0 1 1024M 0 rom ``` Partition summary: | Partition | Size | Intended FS | Name (PARTLABEL) | | -: | - | - | - | | `/dev/sdb1` | 499M | XFS | `xfspartition` | | `/dev/sdb2` | 499M | ext4 | `ext4partition` | | `/dev/sdb3` | 499M | vfat (FAT32) | `vfatpartition` | References: [GNU Parted Documentation](https://www.gnu.org/software/parted/manual/parted.html) ## 3 — Create filesystems Format each partition with the desired filesystem and apply labels where helpful for `/etc/fstab`. Commands used: ```bash theme={null} # XFS on /dev/sdb1 root@control:~# mkfs.xfs /dev/sdb1 # ext4 on /dev/sdb2 and apply label "ext4fs" root@control:~# mkfs.ext4 -L ext4fs /dev/sdb2 # FAT32 on /dev/sdb3 and set label "vfatpartition" root@control:~# mkfs.vfat -F 32 -n vfatpartition /dev/sdb3 ``` Tip: Use `-L` (or `-n` for vfat) to set a label you can reference in `/etc/fstab` via `LABEL=`. For stable references across reboots and device enumerations, prefer `UUID=`. See `man mkfs.xfs`, `man mkfs.ext4`, and `man mkfs.vfat` for options. ## 4 — Create mount points and mount Create directories to use as mount points and mount the newly formatted partitions: ```bash theme={null} root@control:~# mkdir /xfsmount /ext4mount /vfatmount root@control:~# mount /dev/sdb1 /xfsmount root@control:~# mount /dev/sdb2 /ext4mount root@control:~# mount /dev/sdb3 /vfatmount ``` Verify mounts with `lsblk`: ```bash theme={null} root@control:~# lsblk NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS sda 8:0 0 20G 0 disk ├─sda1 8:1 0 1M 0 part ├─sda2 8:2 0 1G 0 part /boot └─sda3 8:3 0 19G 0 part ├─rhel-root 253:0 0 17G 0 lvm / └─rhel-swap 253:1 0 2G 0 lvm [SWAP] sdb 8:16 0 5.1G 0 disk ├─sdb1 8:17 0 499M 0 part /xfsmount ├─sdb2 8:18 0 499M 0 part /ext4mount └─sdb3 8:19 0 499M 0 part /vfatmount sr0 11:0 1 1024M 0 rom ``` Inspect mounted filesystems with a filtered `mount` output: ```bash theme={null} root@control:~# mount | egrep '/xfsmount|/ext4mount|/vfatmount' /dev/sdb1 on /xfsmount type xfs (rw,relatime,seclabel,attr2,inode64,logbufs=8,logbsize=32k,noquota) /dev/sdb2 on /ext4mount type ext4 (rw,relatime,seclabel) /dev/sdb3 on /vfatmount type vfat (rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=ascii,shortname=mixed) ``` Check available space with `df -h`: ```bash theme={null} root@control:/# df -h Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/mapper/rhel-root 17G 7.6G 9.5G 45% / /dev/sda2 960M 353M 608M 37% /boot /dev/sdb1 435M 34M 402M 8% /xfsmount /dev/sdb2 458M 14K 429M 1% /ext4mount /dev/sdb3 499M 0 499M 0% /vfatmount ``` ## 5 — Make mounts persistent in /etc/fstab To ensure the filesystems mount automatically at boot, add entries to `/etc/fstab`. Prefer `UUID=` or `LABEL=` references rather than device node paths like `/dev/sdb1`, since device names can change. Obtain UUIDs and label information: ```bash theme={null} root@control:~# blkid /dev/sdb3 /dev/sdb3: SEC_TYPE="msdos" UUID="B195-D19A" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="vfatpartition" PARTUUID="8c4bffb6-0bfc-4cff-9529-c4dfe33d6193" ``` Or list filesystem information for all devices: ```bash theme={null} root@control:~# lsblk --fs NAME FSTYPE LABEL UUID MOUNTPOINTS sdb ├─sdb1 xfs 4f965fc2-f957-47cf-a7a8-ef503b6bfb95 /xfsmount ├─sdb2 ext4 ext4fs 356cf60a-b4c4-4294-83cb-42273fbd8cbe /ext4mount └─sdb3 vfat vfatpartition B195-D19A /vfatmount ``` Edit `/etc/fstab` (example snippet). This file controls mounts at boot: ```text theme={null} # # /etc/fstab # Created by anaconda on Tue Mar 31 10:50:07 2026 # # Accessible filesystems, by reference, are maintained under '/dev/disk/'. # See man pages fstab(5) https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man5/fstab.5.html, findfs(8) https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/findfs.8.html, mount(8) https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/mount.8.html and/or blkid(8) https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/blkid.8.html for more info. # # After editing this file, run 'systemctl daemon-reload' to update systemd # units generated from this file. # UUID=d3b9cb8c-5cf7-45cb-8bef-9dec51747be4 / xfs defaults 0 0 UUID=691cc3c4-617b-46de-88a8-72845adc7636 /boot xfs defaults 0 0 UUID=f7ba6641-f5c1-4503-a64f-c804eda85768 none swap defaults 0 0 /dev/sdb1 /xfsmount xfs defaults 0 0 LABEL=ext4fs /ext4mount ext4 defaults 0 0 UUID=B195-D19A /vfatmount vfat defaults 0 0 ``` Notes on the example: * The `/dev/sdb1` entry uses a device path — acceptable for demos but not recommended for production. * The ext4 filesystem is mounted by label (`LABEL=ext4fs`). * The vfat filesystem is mounted by UUID (`UUID=B195-D19A`) — recommended for stability. After saving `/etc/fstab`, reload and test: 1. Reload systemd units generated from fstab: ```bash theme={null} root@control:~# systemctl daemon-reload ``` 2. Test fstab entries by attempting to mount all filesystems: ```bash theme={null} root@control:~# mount -a ``` If `mount -a` completes without errors, the fstab entries are valid and the system should mount those filesystems automatically on boot. Verify with `lsblk`: ```bash theme={null} root@control:~# lsblk NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS sda 8:0 0 20G 0 disk ├─sda1 8:1 0 1M 0 part ├─sda2 8:2 0 1G 0 part /boot └─sda3 8:3 0 19G 0 part ├─rhel-root 253:0 0 17G 0 lvm / └─rhel-swap 253:1 0 2G 0 lvm [SWAP] sdb 8:16 0 5.1G 0 disk ├─sdb1 8:17 0 499M 0 part /xfsmount ├─sdb2 8:18 0 499M 0 part /ext4mount └─sdb3 8:19 0 499M 0 part /vfatmount sr0 11:0 1 1024M 0 rom ``` You can also test full unmount/remount to ensure behavior: ```bash theme={null} root@control:~# umount /xfsmount /ext4mount /vfatmount root@control:~# mount -a ``` Always validate `/etc/fstab` changes with `mount -a` before rebooting. A malformed fstab can leave the system unbootable or in rescue mode. ## Summary In this tutorial you have: * Created a GPT partition table on `/dev/sdb` * Added three partitions (XFS, ext4, VFAT) * Formatted each partition with appropriate filesystem tools and applied labels/UUIDs * Mounted the filesystems and verified them using `lsblk`, `mount`, and `df` * Made mounts persistent by adding entries to `/etc/fstab` and testing with `mount -a` Further reading and references: * Parted manual: [https://www.gnu.org/software/parted/manual/parted.html](https://www.gnu.org/software/parted/manual/parted.html) * fstab(5): [https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man5/fstab.5.html](https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man5/fstab.5.html) * mount(8): [https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/mount.8.html](https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/mount.8.html) * blkid(8): [https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/blkid.8.html](https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/blkid.8.html) This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.