gdisk Command: How to Partition a Disk in Linux
To set up Linux partitions (create, modify, delete), you use the fdisk command or the gdisk command. This article covers editing partition information with gdisk.
Before mounting, partition setup proceeds in the following order.
Until you save and exit, your partition changes are not applied to the disk.
✅ Setting Up Linux Partitions with the gdisk Command
gdisk is a partition management utility for Linux systems, like fdisk. fdisk is usually used for disks under 2TB, while parted or gdisk is used for large disks of 2TB or more.
gdisk -[options] [target device file]To check the configured partitions, apply the -l option to the gdisk or fdisk command.
gdisk -l
Disk /dev/xvda: 10 GiB, 10737418240 bytes, 20971520 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 0EF4456F-5883-478F-B913-FBB62350113E
Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/xvda1 2048 204799 202752 99M EFI System
/dev/xvda2 204800 2252799 2048000 1000M Linux filesystem
/dev/xvda3 2252800 2260991 8192 4M PowerPC PReP boot
/dev/xvda4 2260992 2263039 2048 1M BIOS boot
/dev/xvda5 2265088 20969471 18704384 8.9G Linux filesystem
Disk /dev/xvdf: 3 GiB, 3221225472 bytes, 6291456 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes1. gdisk options
This is the default screen shown after running gdisk.
gdisk /dev/xvdf
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.7
Partition table scan:
MBR: not present
BSD: not present
APM: not present
GPT: not present
Creating new GPT entries in memory.
Command (? for help):2. Checking with the p option in gdisk
Command (? for help): p
Disk /dev/xvda: 20971520 sectors, 10.0 GiB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512/512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): 0EF4456F-5883-478F-B913-FBB62350113E
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
Main partition table begins at sector 2 and ends at sector 33
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 20971486
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 6077 sectors (3.0 MiB)
Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name
1 2048 204799 99.0 MiB EF00 EFI System Partition
2 204800 2252799 1000.0 MiB 8300 primary
3 2252800 2260991 4.0 MiB 4100 primary
4 2260992 2263039 1024.0 KiB EF02 primary
5 2265088 20969471 8.9 GiB 8300 primary3. Creating a partition with gdisk
You can check partition types with the L command.
Hex code or GUID (L to show codes, Enter = 8300): L
Type search string, or <Enter> to show all codes:
0700 Microsoft basic data 0701 Microsoft Storage Replica
0702 ArcaOS Type 1 0c01 Microsoft reserved
2700 Windows RE 3000 ONIE boot
3001 ONIE config 3900 Plan 9
4100 PowerPC PReP boot 4200 Windows LDM data
4201 Windows LDM metadata 4202 Windows Storage Spaces
7501 IBM GPFS 7f00 ChromeOS kernel
7f01 ChromeOS root 7f02 ChromeOS reserved
8200 Linux swap 8300 Linux filesystem
8301 Linux reserved 8302 Linux /home
8303 Linux x86 root (/) 8304 Linux x86-64 root (/)
8305 Linux ARM64 root (/) 8306 Linux /srv
8307 Linux ARM32 root (/) 8308 Linux dm-crypt
8309 Linux LUKS 830a Linux IA-64 root (/)
830b Linux x86 root verity 830c Linux x86-64 root verity
830d Linux ARM32 root verity 830e Linux ARM64 root verity
830f Linux IA-64 root verity 8310 Linux /var
8311 Linux /var/tmp 8312 Linux user's home
8313 Linux x86 /usr 8314 Linux x86-64 /usr
8315 Linux ARM32 /usr 8316 Linux ARM64 /usr
8317 Linux IA-64 /usr 8318 Linux x86 /usr verity
Press the <Enter> key to see more codes, q to quit: Enter 8200 for swap or 8300 for a Linux filesystem to set the partition type.
4. Deleting a partition with gdisk
Use the [d] option to delete a partition. Enter the number of the partition to delete; if there is only one partition, it is deleted automatically.
Command (? for help): d
Partition number (1-5): 3ℹ️ Affiliate Disclosure
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