# parted ### Format external storage using `parted` Adapted from [this article](https://www.tecmint.com/create-new-ext4-file-system-partition-in-linux/) Find your drive. The rest assumes that it's located at `/dev/sda` ```bash sudo lsblk -o NAME,FSTYPE,SIZE,MOUNTPOINT,LABEL ``` Enter parted shell ```bash parted /dev/sda ``` Create partition ```bash (parted) mklabel gpt (parted) mkpart primary ext4 0% 100% (parted) print (parted) quit ``` - `mklabel` Options are `gpt` or `msdos`, see [this article](https://www.wikiwand.com/en/GUID_Partition_Table) for a comparison. See `help mklabel` - The above `mkpart` command creates a primary partition of format ext4 that takes up the entire drive. See `help mkpart`. Format the new partition ```bash sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda ``` Mount the drive ```bash # Create mountpoint mkdir -p ~/data sudo mount -t auto /dev/sda ~/data # Check that it's mounted df -hT ``` See [[fs#Automatically mount external drive at startup https www binarytides com ubuntu-automatically-mount-partition-startup|here]] for instructions on automatically mounting external drives at startup.