Linux Disk & Storage Management: Complete Guide (2026)

Storage management is one of the most critical responsibilities of a Linux system administrator. From partitioning new disks and creating filesystems to managing LVM volumes and configuring RAID arrays, this guide covers every aspect of Linux storage management with practical, production-ready examples.

Viewing Disk Information

# List all block devices
lsblk
lsblk -f  # Show filesystem info

# Show disk space usage
df -h
df -hT   # Include filesystem type

# Show directory sizes
du -sh /var/log/
du -sh /* 2>/dev/null | sort -rh | head -10

# Detailed disk info
sudo fdisk -l
sudo parted -l

# Show disk hardware info
sudo hdparm -I /dev/sda
lshw -class disk

Disk Partitioning

fdisk — MBR Partitioning

# Interactive partitioning
sudo fdisk /dev/sdb

# fdisk commands:
# n = new partition
# d = delete partition
# p = print partition table
# t = change partition type
# w = write changes and exit
# q = quit without saving

gdisk — GPT Partitioning

# For disks > 2TB or UEFI systems
sudo gdisk /dev/sdb

# Non-interactive partitioning with sgdisk
sudo sgdisk -n 1:0:+500M -t 1:ef00 /dev/sdb  # EFI partition
sudo sgdisk -n 2:0:0 -t 2:8300 /dev/sdb       # Linux partition

parted — Modern Partitioning

# Create GPT label and partitions
sudo parted /dev/sdb mklabel gpt
sudo parted /dev/sdb mkpart primary ext4 0% 100%

# Resize partition
sudo parted /dev/sdb resizepart 1 50GB

Filesystem Creation and Management

# Create ext4 filesystem
sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb1

# Create XFS filesystem
sudo mkfs.xfs /dev/sdb1

# Create Btrfs filesystem
sudo mkfs.btrfs /dev/sdb1

# Check and repair filesystem
sudo fsck /dev/sdb1        # Generic
sudo e2fsck -f /dev/sdb1   # ext4
sudo xfs_repair /dev/sdb1  # XFS

# View filesystem info
sudo tune2fs -l /dev/sdb1  # ext4
sudo xfs_info /dev/sdb1    # XFS

# Resize filesystem
sudo resize2fs /dev/sdb1         # ext4 (grow)
sudo xfs_growfs /mount/point     # XFS (grow only)

Mounting and fstab

# Mount a partition
sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/data

# Mount with specific options
sudo mount -o noatime,nodiratime /dev/sdb1 /mnt/data

# Mount read-only
sudo mount -o ro /dev/sdb1 /mnt/data

# Mount by UUID (preferred)
sudo mount UUID=abc-123 /mnt/data

# Unmount
sudo umount /mnt/data

# Force unmount if busy
sudo umount -l /mnt/data   # Lazy unmount
sudo fuser -km /mnt/data   # Kill processes using mount point

# Find UUID of a partition
blkid /dev/sdb1

Persistent Mounting with /etc/fstab

# /etc/fstab format:
#           

# Example entries:
UUID=abc-123-def  /mnt/data      ext4  defaults,noatime  0  2
UUID=xyz-789-uvw  /mnt/backup    xfs   defaults          0  2
/dev/sdb1         /mnt/storage   ext4  rw,nosuid,nodev   0  2

# Test fstab without rebooting
sudo mount -a

# If fstab has errors and system won't boot:
# Boot to recovery, then:
mount -o remount,rw /
# Fix /etc/fstab, then reboot

Logical Volume Management (LVM)

LVM provides flexible disk management with the ability to resize volumes, create snapshots, and span multiple physical disks:

LVM Architecture

• Physical Volumes (PV) — raw disks or partitions
• Volume Groups (VG) — pool of physical volumes
• Logical Volumes (LV) — virtual partitions carved from VGs

# Step 1: Create Physical Volumes
sudo pvcreate /dev/sdb /dev/sdc
sudo pvs   # List PVs

# Step 2: Create Volume Group
sudo vgcreate data-vg /dev/sdb /dev/sdc
sudo vgs   # List VGs

# Step 3: Create Logical Volumes
sudo lvcreate -L 50G -n app-data data-vg
sudo lvcreate -L 20G -n db-data data-vg
sudo lvcreate -l 100%FREE -n logs data-vg
sudo lvs   # List LVs

# Step 4: Create filesystem and mount
sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/data-vg/app-data
sudo mount /dev/data-vg/app-data /mnt/app

Resizing LVM Volumes

# Extend logical volume + filesystem
sudo lvextend -L +10G /dev/data-vg/app-data
sudo resize2fs /dev/data-vg/app-data    # ext4
# Or combine both:
sudo lvextend -L +10G -r /dev/data-vg/app-data

# Add new disk to volume group
sudo pvcreate /dev/sdd
sudo vgextend data-vg /dev/sdd

# Reduce (ext4 only — BACKUP FIRST!)
sudo umount /mnt/app
sudo e2fsck -f /dev/data-vg/app-data
sudo resize2fs /dev/data-vg/app-data 30G
sudo lvreduce -L 30G /dev/data-vg/app-data

LVM Snapshots

# Create snapshot
sudo lvcreate -L 5G -s -n app-data-snap /dev/data-vg/app-data

# Mount snapshot (read-only)
sudo mount -o ro /dev/data-vg/app-data-snap /mnt/snapshot

# Restore from snapshot
sudo lvconvert --merge /dev/data-vg/app-data-snap

RAID Configuration with mdadm

# Create RAID 1 (mirror)
sudo mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=1 --raid-devices=2 /dev/sdb /dev/sdc

# Create RAID 5 (striping with parity)
sudo mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=5 --raid-devices=3 /dev/sdb /dev/sdc /dev/sdd

# Check RAID status
cat /proc/mdstat
sudo mdadm --detail /dev/md0

# Save RAID configuration
sudo mdadm --detail --scan >> /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf

# Replace failed disk
sudo mdadm --manage /dev/md0 --remove /dev/sdc
sudo mdadm --manage /dev/md0 --add /dev/sde

Disk Monitoring

# Monitor disk I/O
iostat -xz 1
iotop

# Check disk health with SMART
sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda
sudo smartctl -H /dev/sda   # Quick health check
sudo smartctl -t short /dev/sda  # Run test

# Monitor in real-time
watch -n 1 'df -h'
dstat -cdngy

Disk Quotas

# Enable quotas (add usrquota,grpquota to fstab options)
sudo mount -o remount,usrquota,grpquota /mnt/data

# Initialize quota database
sudo quotacheck -ugm /mnt/data
sudo quotaon /mnt/data

# Set user quota (soft 5GB, hard 6GB)
sudo edquota -u alice
# Or non-interactive:
sudo setquota -u alice 5G 6G 0 0 /mnt/data

# View quota usage
sudo repquota -a
quota -u alice