Why Isn't ext4 Using My Whole Drive?

Stephen P. Morgan · 09-12-2014, 06:28 PM

I have two drives, one a Seagate 3.0 TByte drive and the other a Seagate 4.0 TByte drive. I've created an ext4 file system on both drives using the whole drive (not partitioned). For some reason, the file system created is the same size on both drives, and does not seem to be using the whole drive. It is (only) 2,113,656,748 1-KByte blocks. How can I get ext4 to use the whole drive? Thanks!!

knudfl · 09-12-2014, 06:46 PM

An ext4 file system has a maximum size of 2TB. EDIT: See #3, #5 .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_file_systems

Seems like JFS allows a much bigger size.
( If your partitioning tool is able to make it.)
* JFS is one of the most commonly used file systems,
and Ubuntu run perfectly with JFS.

Note : Gparted couldn't make more than 2 TB JFS on my 3 TB disk.

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Stephen P. Morgan · 09-12-2014, 07:08 PM

Are you sure? I read the table in that article to mean that ext4 supports up to 1 Ettabyte file systems.

michaelk · 09-12-2014, 08:42 PM

What distribution/version are you running?
Looks like a MBR/BIOS motherboard 2TB drive limitation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table

syg00 · 09-12-2014, 09:23 PM

Strictly speaking under MBR regimes it's the (each) partition that is limited to 2T - assuming 512 sector.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stephen P. Morgan

I have two drives, one a Seagate 3.0 TByte drive and the other a Seagate 4.0 TByte drive. I've created an ext4 file system on both drives using the whole drive (not partitioned). For some reason, the file system created is the same size on both drives, and does not seem to be using the whole drive. It is (only) 2,113,656,748 1-KByte blocks. How can I get ext4 to use the whole drive? Thanks!!

Are you sure ?. More likely you created one partition. Show us the output of this (as root/sudo) amended for the appropriate devices

Code:

parted /dev/sd? "print free"

EDDY1 · 09-13-2014, 05:32 PM

Check kernel config

http://carltonbale.com/how-to-break-...-system-limit/

sgosnell · 09-13-2014, 06:48 PM

Partitions created using MBR formatting can only contain 2TB. You have two choices - make two or more partitions on the drive, or use a GUID partition. MBR is rapidly becoming obsolete.

http://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials...e-ancient-mbr-

Stephen P. Morgan · 10-06-2014, 03:05 PM

Sorry, I've been away on a business trip. Just got back. This is what 'sudo parted /dev/sdi "print free"' returned:

Model: ATA ST4000DM000-1F21 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdi: 2199GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: loop

Number Start End Size File system Flags
1 0.00B 2199GB 2199GB ext4