Partitioning

Stuff

fdisk

sfdisk – display or manipulate a disk partition table

sfdisk reads and writes partition tables, but are not interactive like fdisk or cfdisk (it reads input from a file or stdin).

gdisk – Interactive GUID partition table (GPT) manipulator

Wipe out GPT (zap)

root@SERVER:~# gdisk /dev/sda
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.3

Partition table scan:
  MBR: protective
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: present

Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.

Command (? for help): x

Expert command (? for help): z
About to wipe out GPT on /dev/sda. Proceed? (Y/N): Y
Warning: The kernel is still using the old partition table.
The new table will be used at the next reboot or after you
run partprobe(8) or kpartx(8)
GPT data structures destroyed! You may now partition the disk using fdisk or
other utilities.
Blank out MBR? (Y/N): Y

sgdisk – Command-line GUID partition table (GPT) manipulator for Linux and Unix

sgdisk --zap-all /dev/sdX

sgdisk reads and writes partition tables, but is not interactive like fdisk or cfdisk (it reads input from a file or stdin).

parted – a partition manipulation program

$ parted /dev/sdb print
Error: /dev/sdb: unrecognised disk label
Model: asmedia ASMT1153e (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 4001GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: unknown
Disk Flags:

parted /dev/disk/by-id/scsi-3..55d mklabel gpt mkpart P1 btrfs 2048s 100%

wipefs – wipe a signature from a device

Prints information about sda and all partitions on sda

wipefs /dev/sda*
wipefs /dev/mapper/mpathe

Erases all signatures from the device /dev/sdb

wipefs --all /dev/sdb

To find the right disk:

tree /dev/disk/by-id/

blkdiscard – discard sectors on a device

blkdiscard is used to discard device sectors. This is useful for solid-state drivers (SSDs) and thinly-provisioned storage. Unlike fstrim(8), this command is used directly on the block device.

By default, blkdiscard will discard all blocks on the device. Options may be used to modify this behavior based on range or size, as explained below.

Misc

4k sector size

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Format

https://developer.ibm.com/tutorials/l-linux-on-4kb-sector-disks/

https://www.seagate.com/gb/en/tech-insights/advanced-format-4k-sector-hard-drives-master-ti/