Partitioning disks (MBR and GPT disks)

As mentioned earlier, using disk partitions allows us to more efficiently use the space available on our computers and servers.

Let’s dig into disk partitioning by first identifying the disks to act on.

Important Note

Once we have learned what caused disks to be partitioned and the limitations of this, we should follow one schema or another based on our system specifications. However, bear in mind that EFI requires GPT and BIOS requires MBR, so a system supporting UEFI, but having a disk partitioned with MBR, will boot the system into BIOS-compatible mode. Unified EFI (UEFI) is the industry standard that was known previously as EFI.

Linux uses a different notation for the disks based on the way those are connected to the system, so—for example—you can see disks as hda, sda, or mmbclk0 depending on that connection being used. Traditionally, disks connected using the Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) interface used...