Filesystem Creation · ArchWorks

Complete guide to partitioning disks, creating filesystems, and configuring persistent mounts on Linux.

Table of Contents#

Overview
Partition Table Types: MBR vs GPT
Partitioning with fdisk
Partitioning with parted
Partition Type GUIDs
Filesystem Comparison
Creating Filesystems
Swap Setup
UEFI Boot Partition Setup
Mounting Filesystems
Persistent Mounting with fstab
Troubleshooting
See Also
Sources

1. Overview#

Setting up storage on Linux involves three steps: partitioning the disk, creating filesystems on the partitions, and mounting those filesystems into the directory tree. The choice of partition table (MBR vs GPT), filesystem type (ext4, XFS, Btrfs), and mount options all affect performance, reliability, and compatibility.

2. Partition Table Types: MBR vs GPT#

Aspect	MBR (Master Boot Record)	GPT (GUID Partition Table)
Maximum disk size	2 TiB	9.4 ZiB (effectively unlimited)
Maximum partitions	4 primary (or 3 + 1 extended with logical)	128 (default, configurable)
Boot firmware	Legacy BIOS	UEFI (protective MBR allows limited BIOS use)
Redundancy	Single copy of partition table	Primary and backup copy at disk end
CRC protection	None	CRC32 checksum on header and entries
Partition identification	1-byte type code	128-bit GUID

Recommendation: use GPT for all new installations. MBR is only necessary for legacy BIOS systems that cannot boot from GPT.

3. Partitioning with fdisk#

fdisk is an interactive, text-based partition editor. It supports both MBR and GPT (since util-linux 2.26+).

Launch fdisk#

sudo fdisk /dev/<device>

Create a GPT Partition Table#

Command: g       # Create a new GPT partition table

Create Partitions#

Command: n       # New partition
Partition number: 1
First sector: (press Enter for default)
Last sector: +512M        # 512 MiB EFI partition

Command: t       # Change partition type
Partition type: 1          # EFI System

Command: n       # New partition
Partition number: 2
First sector: (press Enter for default)
Last sector: +4G           # 4 GiB swap

Command: t       # Change partition type
Partition number: 2
Partition type: 19         # Linux swap

Command: n       # New partition
Partition number: 3
First sector: (press Enter for default)
Last sector: (press Enter for remaining space)

Command: w       # Write changes and exit

Verify#

sudo fdisk -l /dev/<device>

4. Partitioning with parted#

parted is a non-interactive alternative that supports scripting and handles GPT natively.

Interactive Mode#

sudo parted /dev/<device>

(parted) mklabel gpt
(parted) mkpart "EFI" fat32 1MiB 513MiB
(parted) set 1 esp on
(parted) mkpart "swap" linux-swap 513MiB 4609MiB
(parted) mkpart "root" ext4 4609MiB 100%
(parted) print
(parted) quit

Non-Interactive (Scripting)#

sudo parted -s /dev/<device> \
  mklabel gpt \
  mkpart "EFI" fat32 1MiB 513MiB \
  set 1 esp on \
  mkpart "swap" linux-swap 513MiB 4609MiB \
  mkpart "root" ext4 4609MiB 100%

parted vs fdisk#

Feature	fdisk	parted
Interface	Interactive TUI	Interactive + scriptable CLI
GPT support	Yes (util-linux 2.26+)	Native
Resize partitions	No	Yes
Alignment	Manual	Automatic (optimal)
Disk label types	MBR, GPT	MBR, GPT, Sun, Mac, BSD

5. Partition Type GUIDs#

GPT partitions are identified by GUIDs. Common partition type GUIDs:

Type	GUID	fdisk Code
EFI System Partition	`C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B`	1
Linux filesystem	`0FC63DAF-8483-4772-8E79-3D69D8477DE4`	20
Linux swap	`0657FD6D-A4AB-43C4-84E5-0933C84B4F4F`	19
Linux LVM	`E6D6D379-F507-44C2-A23C-238F2A3DF928`	30
Linux RAID	`A19D880F-05FC-4D3B-A006-743F0F84911E`	29
Linux /home	`933AC7E1-2EB4-4F13-B844-0E14E2AEF915`	28 (Linux home)
Linux root (x86-64)	`4F68BCE3-E8CD-4DB1-96E7-FBCAF984B709`	23
Microsoft basic data	`EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7`	11

These GUIDs enable auto-discovery by systemd-gpt-auto-generator, allowing the system to identify partition purposes without fstab entries.

6. Filesystem Comparison#

Feature	ext4	XFS	Btrfs
Max volume size	1 EiB	8 EiB	16 EiB
Max file size	16 TiB	8 EiB	16 EiB
Journaling	Yes (metadata + optional data)	Yes (metadata)	Copy-on-write (no journal needed)
Checksums	Metadata only (optional)	Metadata only	Data + metadata
Snapshots	No	No	Yes (native, cheap)
Compression	No	No	Yes (zlib, zstd, lzo)
RAID support	No (use mdadm/LVM)	No (use mdadm/LVM)	Yes (native RAID 0/1/10, experimental 5/6)
Online resize	Grow only	Grow only	Grow and shrink
Deduplication	No	No	Yes (offline)
Reflinks	No	Yes (since 5.1+)	Yes
Maturity	Very mature	Very mature	Mature (RAID 5/6 still experimental)
Best for	General purpose, databases	Large files, high throughput	Snapshots, compression, flexible storage
Default on	Debian, Ubuntu	RHEL, Rocky, Fedora	openSUSE, Fedora (Workstation option)

Choosing a Filesystem#

ext4 - safe default for most workloads. Well-tested, excellent fsck tooling, broad compatibility.
XFS - best for large files and high-throughput sequential I/O. Preferred for media servers, databases with large tablespaces.
Btrfs - best when you need snapshots, transparent compression, or flexible multi-device management. Excellent for desktops and NAS.

7. Creating Filesystems#

ext4#

# Basic
sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/<device><partition>

# With label and options
sudo mkfs.ext4 -L "rootfs" -O metadata_csum /dev/<device><partition>

# With reserved block percentage (default 5%, reduce for data-only partitions)
sudo mkfs.ext4 -m 1 -L "data" /dev/<device><partition>

XFS#

# Basic
sudo mkfs.xfs /dev/<device><partition>

# With label
sudo mkfs.xfs -L "data" /dev/<device><partition>

# Force overwrite existing filesystem
sudo mkfs.xfs -f /dev/<device><partition>

Btrfs#

# Basic
sudo mkfs.btrfs /dev/<device><partition>

# With label
sudo mkfs.btrfs -L "data" /dev/<device><partition>

# RAID1 across two devices
sudo mkfs.btrfs -d raid1 -m raid1 /dev/sda1 /dev/sdb1

FAT32 (for EFI)#

sudo mkfs.fat -F 32 -n "EFI" /dev/<device><partition>

Verify Filesystem#

# Show filesystem details
sudo blkid /dev/<device><partition>

# ext4 details
sudo tune2fs -l /dev/<device><partition>

# XFS details
sudo xfs_info /dev/<device><partition>

# Btrfs details
sudo btrfs filesystem show /dev/<device><partition>

8. Swap Setup#

Partition Swap#

sudo mkswap /dev/<device><partition>
sudo swapon /dev/<device><partition>

Swap File (Alternative)#

# Create a 4 GiB swap file
sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile bs=1M count=4096 status=progress
sudo chmod 600 /swapfile
sudo mkswap /swapfile
sudo swapon /swapfile

Verify Swap#

swapon --show
free -h

9. UEFI Boot Partition Setup#

UEFI systems require an EFI System Partition (ESP) formatted as FAT32.

Requirements#

Minimum 100 MiB (512 MiB recommended for multiple boot loaders and kernels)
FAT32 filesystem
GPT partition type EFI System (GUID C12A7328-...)
Mounted at /boot/efi (most distros) or /efi (systemd-boot)

Create and Configure ESP#

# Create FAT32 filesystem
sudo mkfs.fat -F 32 -n "EFI" /dev/<device>1

# Create mount point
sudo mkdir -p /boot/efi

# Mount
sudo mount /dev/<device>1 /boot/efi

# Install bootloader (example: GRUB for x86_64 UEFI)
sudo grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=GRUB

# Generate GRUB config
sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

systemd-boot Alternative#

# Mount ESP at /efi or /boot
sudo mount /dev/<device>1 /boot

# Install systemd-boot
sudo bootctl install

10. Mounting Filesystems#

Basic Mount#

sudo mount /dev/<device><partition> /mnt

Mount with Options#

# ext4 with noatime for performance
sudo mount -o noatime,discard /dev/<device><partition> /mnt

# Btrfs with compression
sudo mount -o compress=zstd:3,noatime /dev/<device><partition> /mnt

# XFS with noatime
sudo mount -o noatime /dev/<device><partition> /mnt

# Read-only
sudo mount -o ro /dev/<device><partition> /mnt

Mount Options Reference#

Option	Description
`defaults`	Equivalent to `rw,suid,dev,exec,auto,nouser,async`
`noatime`	Do not update access times (best performance)
`nodiratime`	Do not update directory access times
`relatime`	Update atime only if older than mtime (kernel default)
`discard`	Enable continuous TRIM for SSDs
`errors=remount-ro`	Remount read-only on filesystem error (ext4)
`compress=zstd`	Enable transparent compression (Btrfs)
`nofail`	Do not fail boot if device is missing
`x-systemd.automount`	Mount on first access (systemd)
`_netdev`	Wait for network before mounting (for NFS, iSCSI)

11. Persistent Mounting with fstab#

Add entries to /etc/fstab to mount filesystems automatically at boot. Always use UUIDs instead of device names for reliability.

Find UUIDs#

sudo blkid

Example fstab#

# <filesystem>                          <mountpoint>   <type>  <options>               <dump> <pass>
UUID=<efi-uuid>                         /boot/efi      vfat    umask=0077              0      1
UUID=<root-uuid>                        /              ext4    defaults,noatime        0      1
UUID=<home-uuid>                        /home          ext4    defaults,noatime        0      2
UUID=<swap-uuid>                        none           swap    sw                      0      0
/swapfile                               none           swap    sw                      0      0
UUID=<data-uuid>                        /data          xfs     defaults,noatime        0      2
UUID=<btrfs-uuid>                       /storage       btrfs   compress=zstd:3,noatime 0      0

fstab Fields#

Field	Description
`<filesystem>`	Device identifier (UUID=, LABEL=, /dev/...)
`<mountpoint>`	Where to mount (or `none` for swap)
`<type>`	Filesystem type (ext4, xfs, btrfs, vfat, swap)
`<options>`	Mount options (comma-separated)
`<dump>`	Backup flag for dump utility (0 = skip, rarely used)
`<pass>`	fsck order (0 = skip, 1 = root first, 2 = others)

Verify Without Rebooting#

# Test all fstab entries
sudo mount -a

# Verify
df -h
swapon --show

Troubleshooting#

Issue	Cause	Solution
`mount: wrong fs type`	Filesystem not created or wrong type specified	Run `blkid` to check; create filesystem with `mkfs`
Boot fails after fstab edit	Typo in fstab or missing UUID	Boot recovery media, fix fstab; use `nofail` option for non-critical mounts
`mkfs.ext4: Device or resource busy`	Partition is mounted or in use	Unmount first with `umount`; check with `lsof`
GPT partition not recognized by BIOS	System firmware does not support GPT	Use MBR partition table, or update firmware to UEFI
EFI partition not detected	Wrong partition type or no FAT32 filesystem	Set partition type to EFI System; format as FAT32
SSD not trimming	`discard` not in mount options and no fstrim timer	Add `discard` to fstab, or enable `fstrim.timer` (preferred)
Slow performance on ext4	Access time updates on busy filesystem	Add `noatime` mount option
Partition alignment warning in parted	Partition not aligned to optimal I/O boundary	Use `parted` with `mkpart ... 1MiB` start to ensure alignment