How Do I Extend the Disk Partition and File System in Linux?
Before extending the disk partition and file system, you must check the disk partition style and file system format, and then select an appropriate operation accordingly.
- For how to use fdisk and parted to check the disk partition style, see How Do I Check the Disk Partition Style in Linux?
- For how to select an appropriate partition style, see Table 1.
Table 1 Operation instructions of extending partitions and file systems in Linux Scenario
Partition Style
Disk Function
OS Requirements
File System Format
Capacity Expansion Tool
Example Configuration
GPT or MBR
System disk
Data disk
- To extend partitions and file systems of a system disk, the kernel version must be later than 3.6.0.
- To extend partitions and file systems of a data disk, there is no requirements on the OS version.
ext* (such as ext2, ext3, and ext4), xfs, and btrfs
growpart
- Device name: /dev/vdb
- Existing partition: /dev/vdb1
- Space added: 50 GiB
MBR
System disk
The kernel version is earlier than 3.6.0.
ext* (such as ext2, ext3, and ext4), xfs, and btrfs
dracut-modules-growroot
- Device name: /dev/vda
- File system format: ext4
- Mount point: /mnt/sda
- Partition name: /dev/vda1
- Space added: 60 GiB
- Partition style: MBR
MBR
System disk
Data disk
None
ext* (such as ext2, ext3, and ext4), xfs, and btrfs
- fdisk
- parted
- Device name: /dev/vdb
- File system format: ext4
- Mount points: /mnt/sdc and /mnt/sdd
- Partition 1: /dev/vdb1
- Size: 100 GiB
- Partition style: MBR
- Partition 2: /dev/vdb2
- Size: 50 GiB
- Partition style: MBR
GPT
Data disk
None
ext* (such as ext2, ext3, and ext4), xfs, and btrfs
parted
- Device name: /dev/vdb
- File system format: ext4
- Mount points: /mnt/sdc and /mnt/sdd
- Partition 1: /dev/vdb1
- Size: 2 TiB
- Partition style: GPT
- Partition 2: /dev/vdb2
- Size: 1 TiB
- Partition style: GPT
NoteThe maximum disk capacity that MBR supports is 2 TiB, and the disk space exceeding 2 TiB cannot be used.
If your disk uses MBR and you need to expand the disk capacity to over 2 TB, change the partition style from MBR to GPT. Ensure that the disk data has been backed up before changing the partition style because services will be interrupted and data on the disk will be cleared during this change.