How to manage disk space and partitions

Understanding how your disks are organized helps you add space without surprises.

See disks and partitions

lsblk        # tree of disks and partitions
df -h        # space used on each

Mount a new disk or volume

After you attach a new volume, format and mount it:

mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb
mkdir -p /mnt/data
mount /dev/sdb /mnt/data

For automatic mounting, add it to /etc/fstab with its UUID (find it with blkid).

Expand a partition

If your plan received more disk, expand the filesystem to use all the space:

resize2fs /dev/sda1

When you run out of space

• Clean up what you do not need, see disk space monitoring.
• Move cold data to a Backup Box.
• Move to a plan with a bigger disk; with hourly billing, resizing is quick.