Arch Linux Disk Utilities Guide

Complete beginner-friendly guide to disk utilities on Arch Linux, including disk partitioning, formatting, disk health checks, and disk management tools.

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Table of Contents

1. Partitioning Tools
2. Formatting Tools
3. Disk Health
4. Disk Cloning
5. Troubleshooting

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Partitioning Tools

fdisk

Use fdisk:

# Install fdisk
sudo pacman -S util-linux

# Partition disk
sudo fdisk /dev/sda

# Commands:
# n - new partition
# d - delete partition
# w - write changes

cfdisk

Use cfdisk:

# Install cfdisk
sudo pacman -S util-linux

# Partition disk
sudo cfdisk /dev/sda

parted

Use parted:

# Install parted
sudo pacman -S parted

# Partition disk
sudo parted /dev/sda

GParted

Install GParted:

# Install GParted
sudo pacman -S gparted

# Launch
sudo gparted

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Formatting Tools

mkfs

Format partitions:

# ext4
sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1

# btrfs
sudo mkfs.btrfs /dev/sda1

# xfs
sudo mkfs.xfs /dev/sda1

# FAT32
sudo mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1

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Disk Health

SMART Tools

Check disk health:

# Install smartmontools
sudo pacman -S smartmontools

# Check SMART
sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda

# Short test
sudo smartctl -t short /dev/sda

# Long test
sudo smartctl -t long /dev/sda

Badblocks

Check for bad blocks:

# Install badblocks
sudo pacman -S e2fsprogs

# Check disk
sudo badblocks -v /dev/sda

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Disk Cloning

dd

Clone disk:

# Clone disk
sudo dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb bs=4M status=progress

# Clone to image
sudo dd if=/dev/sda of=backup.img bs=4M status=progress

Clonezilla

Use Clonezilla:

# Download ISO from clonezilla.org
# Boot from ISO
# Follow wizard

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Troubleshooting

Disk Errors

Fix errors:

# Check filesystem
sudo fsck.ext4 /dev/sda1

# Auto-repair
sudo fsck.ext4 -a /dev/sda1

Partition Table Issues

Fix partition table:

# Test partition table
sudo partprobe -s

# Re-read partition table
sudo partprobe /dev/sda

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Summary

This guide covered partitioning, formatting, disk health, cloning, and troubleshooting.

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Next Steps

• Arch Linux Filesystem Management - Filesystems
• Arch Linux Installation Guide - Installation
• ArchWiki Disk Utilities: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Partitioning

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This guide is based on the ArchWiki. For the most up-to-date information, always refer to the official ArchWiki.