How Do I Extend the Disk Partition and File System in Linux?

Before extending the disk partition and file system, you must check the disk partition style and file system format, and then select an appropriate operation accordingly.

1. For how to use fdisk and parted to check the disk partition style, see How Do I Check the Disk Partition Style in Linux?
2. For how to select an appropriate partition style, see Table 1.

   Table 1 Operation instructions of extending partitions and file systems in Linux

   Scenario	Partition Style	Disk Function	OS Requirements	File System Format	Capacity Expansion Tool	Example Configuration
   	GPT or MBR	System disk Data disk	To extend partitions and file systems of a system disk, the kernel version must be later than 3.6.0. To extend partitions and file systems of a data disk, there is no requirements on the OS version.	ext* (such as ext2, ext3, and ext4), xfs, and btrfs	growpart	Device name: /dev/vdb Existing partition: /dev/vdb1 Space added: 50 GiB
   	MBR	System disk	The kernel version is earlier than 3.6.0.	ext* (such as ext2, ext3, and ext4), xfs, and btrfs	dracut-modules-growroot	Device name: /dev/vda File system format: ext4 Mount point: /mnt/sda Partition name: /dev/vda1 Space added: 60 GiB Partition style: MBR
   	MBR	System disk Data disk	None	ext* (such as ext2, ext3, and ext4), xfs, and btrfs	fdisk parted	Device name: /dev/vdb File system format: ext4 Mount points: /mnt/sdc and /mnt/sdd Partition 1: /dev/vdb1 Size: 100 GiB Partition style: MBR Partition 2: /dev/vdb2 Size: 50 GiB Partition style: MBR
   	GPT	Data disk	None	ext* (such as ext2, ext3, and ext4), xfs, and btrfs	parted	Device name: /dev/vdb File system format: ext4 Mount points: /mnt/sdc and /mnt/sdd Partition 1: /dev/vdb1 Size: 2 TiB Partition style: GPT Partition 2: /dev/vdb2 Size: 1 TiB Partition style: GPT

   NOTE:

   The maximum disk capacity that MBR supports is 2 TiB, and the disk space exceeding 2 TiB cannot be used.

   If your disk uses MBR and you need to expand the disk capacity to over 2 TB, change the partition style from MBR to GPT. Ensure that the disk data has been backed up before changing the partition style because services will be interrupted and data on the disk will be cleared during this change.