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Making a File System
This page is an update for the original file system page.
Fdisk
Run fdisk to make a new partition on a hard drive, in this example I'm making a partition of type 82 (Linux swap file).
- Start the fdisk program on the desired drive.
suse:/ # fdisk /dev/hda
- Enter m for a list of commands at any time
Command (m for help): m
Command action
a toggle a bootable flag
b edit bsd disklabel
c toggle the dos compatibility flag
d delete a partition
l list known partition types
m print this menu
n add a new partition
o create a new empty DOS partition table
p print the partition table
q quit without saving changes
s create a new empty Sun disklabel
t change a partition's system id
u change display/entry units
v verify the partition table
w write table to disk and exit
x extra functionality (experts only)
- Enter n for a new partition, you will be prompted for extended or primary (You can only have 4 primary partitions on a drive, but you can create an extended partition and put logical partitions on it). In this case I created an extended partition 256MB in size (/dev/hda4) and in the extended partition I'll make a logical drive of 256MB for the swap partition. Notice that I'm not using the entire drive for the extended partition, the drive has 788 cylinders, and the extended partition ends on cylinder 347. If you want to add more partitions later, make the extended partition encompass the rest of the disk then only use what you want for the swap partition. ( I am updating this page two weeks later, the screen output on this page was from a test system running Debian 2.2, and in fact Debian is no longer installed on the computer; it was replaced with OpenBSD 2.7 several days after the page's creation. )
Command (m for help): n
Command action
e extended
p primary partition (1-4)
e
Partition number (1-4): 4
First cylinder (315-788, default 315):
Using default value 315
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (315-788, default 788): +256M
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/hda: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 788 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 1 61 489951 83 Linux
/dev/hda2 62 122 489982+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda3 123 314 1542240 83 Linux
/dev/hda4 315 347 265072+ 5 Extended
- Now I'll create the logical drive, notice you aren't prompted for extended or primary as four primary partitions have already been created.
Command (m for help): n
First cylinder (315-347, default 315):
Using default value 315
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (315-347, default 347): +256M
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/hda: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 788 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 1 61 489951 83 Linux
/dev/hda2 62 122 489982+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda3 123 314 1542240 83 Linux
/dev/hda4 315 347 265072+ 5 Extended
/dev/hda5 315 347 265041 83 Linux
- Now to change /dev/hda5's type to that of a swap partition. Enter t at the prompt and change the new partition's type to 82 for a swap, if you're making a regular partition it already should be of type 83 for an ext2 file system. If you're
going to be making a swap partition record the partition number (/dev/hda5) and block count (265041).
Command (m for help): t
Partition number (1-5): 5
Hex code (type L to list codes): 82
Changed system type of partition 5 to 82 (Linux swap)
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/hda: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 788 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 1 61 489951 83 Linux
/dev/hda2 62 122 489982+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda3 123 314 1542240 83 Linux
/dev/hda4 315 347 265072+ 5 Extended
/dev/hda5 315 347 265041 82 Linux swap
- Enter w to write the partition table and exit fdisk.
Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!
Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
WARNING: If you have created or modified any DOS 6.x
partitions, please see the fdisk manual page for additional
information.
Syncing disks.
root@debian:~#
- Next run mke2fs to make an ext2 filesystem or skip to below for a swap partition.
mkfs
Used to build a Linux file system on a device.
Syntax:
# mkfs [ -V ] [ -t fstype ] [ fsoptions ] FILESYSTEM [ blocks ]
Example:
# mkfs -V -t ext2 -c /dev/hda3
| Options |
| -V |
verbose |
| [ fsoptions ] |
| -c |
check for bad blocks |
| -l |
filename file with list of bad blocks |
| -v |
verbose |
mke2fs
Used to create a Linux second extended file (ext2) system.
Syntax:
mke2fs [options] DEVICE [block count]
Example:
root@debian:/# mke2fs -c -v /dev/hdb1
mke2fs 1.18, 11-Nov-1999 for EXT2 FS 0.5b, 95/08/09
Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=4096 (log=2)
Fragment size=4096 (log=2)
791840 inodes, 1582394 blocks
79119 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=0
49 block groups
32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group
16160 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736
Running command: badblocks -b 4096 -s /dev/hdb1 1582394
Checking for bad blocks (read-only test): done
Writing inode tables: done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done
root@debian:/#
| Options: |
| -c |
checks the device for bad blocks before creating file system |
| -f fragment size |
specifies the size of file fragments in bytes |
| -ibytes per inode |
creates a inode for every bytes per inode on the disk, min. = 1024, default = 4096 |
| -l filename |
read the filename for a list of bad blocks |
| -m reserved blocks percentage |
specifies the percentage of blocks reserved for SuperUser, default= 5% |
| -o creator OS |
manually overrides default value |
| -q |
quiet execution |
| -v |
verbose |
| -F |
forces mk2fs to run even if the device isn't a block special device |
| -L volume label |
sets the filesystem's volume label |
| -M last mounted directory |
ets the last mounted directory for the file system |
| -r revision |
sets the file system revision for the file system |
| -R RAID options |
sets RAID related options for the file system |
| -S |
Write superblock and group description only |
Mounting the new drive
- Edit /etc/fstab to add a new entry for the new drive
#/etc/fstab: static file system information.
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
/dev/hda1 / ext2 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/hda5 none swap sw 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/fd0 /floppy auto defaults,user,noauto 0 0
/dev/cdrom /cdrom iso9660 defaults,ro,user,noauto 0 0
/dev/hda2 /root ext2 defaults 0 0
/dev/hda3 /usr ext2 defaults 0 0
/dev/hdb1 /drive2 ext2 defaults 0 0
suse:/bakup /nfsbakup nfs ro,noauto 0 0
- Mount the new drive at /drive2
root@debian:/# mount /drive2
- Verifying the drive is mounted, you can use df or mount.
root@debian:/drive2# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda1 463M 107M 332M 24% /
/dev/hda2 463M 7.0k 439M 0% /root
/dev/hda3 1.4G 497M 910M 35% /usr
/dev/hdb1 5.9G 20k 5.6G 0% /drive2
Using mount command.
root@debian:/drive2# mount
/dev/hda1 on / type ext2 (rw,errors=remount-ro,errors=remount-ro)
proc on /proc type proc (rw)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,gid=5,mode=620)
/dev/hda2 on /root type ext2 (rw)
/dev/hda3 on /usr type ext2 (rw)
/dev/hdb1 on /drive2 type ext2 (rw)
mkswap
swapon
- Initialize the swap file with swapon.
debian:~# swapon /dev/hda5
Edit /etc/fstab to make sure the swap partition is properly referenced.
#/etc/fstab: static file system information.
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
/dev/hda1 / ext2 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/hda5 none swap sw 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/fd0 /floppy auto defaults,user,noauto 0 0
/dev/cdrom /cdrom iso9660 defaults,ro,user,noauto 0 0
/dev/hda2 /root ext2 defaults 0 0
/dev/hda3 /usr ext2 defaults 0 0
/dev/hdb1 /drive2 ext2 defaults 0 0
suse:/bakup /nfsbakup nfs ro,noauto 0 0
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