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Add and Mount a New Disk with parted

This guide prepares a new disk with a GPT partition table, formats it as ext4, mounts it permanently, and creates a convenient link in the current user's home directory.

Use this recommended guide for new disks, including disks larger than 2 TiB. For an interactive fdisk alternative, see Add and Mount a New Disk with fdisk.

danger

Creating a new GPT partition table destroys the existing partition table and makes existing data inaccessible. Continue only after confirming that the target disk is new or that its data can be erased.

Identify the New Disk​

List disks before selecting the target disk:

lsblk

This guide uses /dev/sdb as an example. Replace it with the target disk shown by lsblk.

  • A SATA, USB, or virtual disk usually uses /dev/sdb and its first partition is /dev/sdb1.
  • An NVMe disk usually uses /dev/nvme0n1 and its first partition is /dev/nvme0n1p1.
caution

Do not identify a disk by its letter alone. Confirm its size and ensure that it has no required mount points before continuing.

Optional: Inspect Detailed Disk Information​

Use this form of lsblk to show filesystem types, labels, UUIDs, and mount points:

lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,TYPE,FSTYPE,LABEL,UUID,MOUNTPOINTS

Optional: Reuse an Existing Disk​

If you are intentionally reusing an existing mounted partition, unmount it before recreating the partition table:

sudo umount /dev/sdb1

Create a GPT Partition​

Install parted if it is not already available:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install parted

Open the target disk in parted:

sudo parted /dev/sdb

At the parted prompt, enter the following commands:

mklabel gpt
mkpart primary ext4 1MiB 100%
quit

mklabel gpt creates a GPT partition table. mkpart creates one partition from 1MiB to the end of the disk, and quit exits parted.

Ask the kernel to reload the partition table, then inspect the result:

sudo partprobe /dev/sdb
lsblk /dev/sdb
note

The ext4 value in mkpart records the intended filesystem type in the partition metadata. It does not format the partition; the next step creates the filesystem.

Optional: Run parted Non-interactively​

Use the following command in a provisioning script or when you have already verified the target disk:

sudo parted --script --align optimal /dev/sdb \
  mklabel gpt \
  mkpart primary ext4 1MiB 100%
  • --script runs the commands without opening the interactive prompt or asking for confirmation.
  • --align optimal asks parted to align the partition according to the disk's reported optimal I/O boundaries. Starting at 1MiB is already appropriate for most disks; this option is mainly useful for automated or performance-sensitive setups.

After partprobe, automation scripts that must wait for the new partition device can run:

sudo udevadm settle

This waits for udev to finish device-event processing. It is usually unnecessary for an interactive session; if /dev/sdb1 is already present, continue to the next step.

Format the Partition​

Format the new partition as ext4:

sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb1

For an NVMe disk, use the matching partition path, such as /dev/nvme0n1p1.

Optional: Add a Filesystem Label​

Use this command instead of the previous mkfs.ext4 command to assign the filesystem the hd label. A label is convenient for people reading lsblk, but UUID-based mounting does not require it.

sudo mkfs.ext4 -L hd /dev/sdb1

Create the Mount Point​

This guide uses /mnt/hd for an administrator-managed data disk:

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/hd
sudo chown "$USER:$USER" /mnt/hd
tip

Use /srv/<name> when the disk stores data served by a system service. /media/hd is better suited to removable media managed by a desktop environment; it can still be used by replacing /mnt/hd consistently in the commands and fstab entry.

Configure Automatic Mounting​

Find the partition UUID:

sudo blkid -s UUID -o value /dev/sdb1

Open fstab in Vim:

sudo vim /etc/fstab

Add one line, replacing YOUR_UUID with the value returned by blkid:

UUID=YOUR_UUID /mnt/hd ext4 defaults 0 2

Use defaults for an internal disk that must always be present.

Optional: Support an Unavailable External Disk​

For a removable or external disk, use this entry instead so the system can still boot when the disk is unavailable:

UUID=YOUR_UUID /mnt/hd ext4 defaults,nofail 0 2

Optional: Limit the Boot-time Device Wait​

On a systemd-based system, add x-systemd.device-timeout=10s to the external-disk entry when boot should wait no more than ten seconds for the device:

UUID=YOUR_UUID /mnt/hd ext4 defaults,nofail,x-systemd.device-timeout=10s 0 2

This option is not required for normal mounts; it only changes how long systemd waits for the device during boot.

caution

An invalid fstab entry can prevent normal boot. Test the entry before restarting the system.

sudo mount -a
df -h /mnt/hd

Optional: Verify the Mounted Source​

For additional verification of the mounted source and options, run:

findmnt /mnt/hd

Create a symbolic link so the mounted disk is available as ~/hd:

ln -s /mnt/hd "$HOME/hd"
ls -ld "$HOME/hd"
note

Use a symbolic link for a mounted directory. A hard link cannot point to a directory and cannot cross filesystem boundaries, so it cannot link /mnt/hd into the home directory.

The disk is now accessible through both /mnt/hd and ~/hd.