Creating a Partition Size Larger than 2TB


Linux desktop user generally uses small hard disk and partition, but on server you need a large partition. For example, you cannot create 4TB partition size (RAID based) using fdisk command. It will not allow you to create a partition that is greater than 2TB. In this tutorial, you will learn more about creating Linux filesystems greater than 2 Terabytes to support enterprise grade operation under any Linux distribution.
To solve this problem use GNU parted command with GPT. It supports Intel EFI/GPT partition tables. Partition Table (GPT) is a standard for the layout of the partition table on a physical hard disk. It is a part of the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) standard proposed by Intel as a replacement for the outdated PC BIOS, one of the few remaining relics of the original IBM PC. EFI uses GPT where BIOS uses a Master Boot Record (MBR).

(Diagram illustrating the layout of the GUID Partition Table scheme. Each logical block (LBA) is 512 bytes in size. LBA addresses that are negative indicate position from the end of the volume, with −1 being the last addressable block. Imaged Credit Wikipedia)

GPT Kernel Support

EFI GUID Partition support works on both 32bit and 64bit platforms. You must include GPT support in kernel in order to use GPT. If you don't include GPT support in Linux kernelt, after rebooting the server, the file system will no longer be mountable or the GPT table will get corrupted. By default Redhat Enterprise Linux / CentOS comes with GPT kernel support. However, if you are using Debian or Ubuntu Linux, you need to recompile the kernel. Set CONFIG_EFI_PARTITION to y to compile this feature.
File Systems
   Partition Types
     [*] Advanced partition selection
     [*] EFI GUID Partition support (NEW)
....

Linux create 3TB partition size

One of my clients has Raid 5 Array -7x500GB hard disks to store large data. To create partition start GNU parted as follows:
# parted /dev/sdx
Output:
GNU Parted 1.8.1
Using /dev/sdx
Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.
(parted)
Creates a new GPT disklabel i.e. partition table:
mklabel gpt
Create 3TB partition size:
mkpart primary 0 3001G
Quit and save the changes:
quit
Use mkfs to format file system:
# mkfs.ext3 /dev/sdx1
Note: Replace /dev/sdx with actual RAID or disk name or block Ethernet device such as /dev/etherd/e0.0 . Don't forget to update /etc/fstab, if necessary.

Further readings:

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