Filesystem Management Guide¶

Overview¶

General idea on managing filesystems. This shows specifically ext4 and xfs as that's what I used, but there are plently of other options.

1. Identification¶

Before modifying any disks, identifying the correct device identifiers is critical to prevent data loss.

lsblk -o NAME,MODEL,SIZE,TYPE,FSTYPE

Reference Output:

NAME                      MODEL                            SIZE TYPE FSTYPE
sda                       SanDisk SD8TB8U2               238.5G disk 
└─sda1                                                   238.5G part ext4
sdb                       WDC WD120EFGX-68                10.9T disk 
└─sdb1                                                    10.9T part xfs
sdc                       WDC WD120EFGX-68                10.9T disk 
└─sdc1                                                    10.9T part xfs
sdd                       WDC WD120EFGX-68                10.9T disk 
└─sdd1                                                    10.9T part xfs
nvme0n1                   WDC PC SN730 SDBQNTY-256G-1001 238.5G disk 
├─nvme0n1p1                                                  1M part 
├─nvme0n1p2                                                  2G part ext4
└─nvme0n1p3                                              236.5G part LVM2_member
  └─ubuntu--vg-ubuntu--lv                                  100G lvm  ext4

2. Partitioning & Formatting¶

You can choose between a scriptable command-line approach or an interactive visual tool.

Option A: Command Line (Scriptable)¶

SSD Setup (ext4)¶

Target: /dev/sda (Appdata/Cache)

# 1. Wipe old filesystem signatures
sudo wipefs -a /dev/sda

# Use parted for GPT specifically (Recommended for drives >2TB)
sudo parted -s /dev/sda mklabel gpt 

# 3. Format to EXT4
sudo mkfs.ext4 -L "appdata" /dev/sda1

HDD Setup (XFS)¶

Target: /dev/sdb, /dev/sdc, /dev/sdd (Mass Storage)

# Drive 1 (sdb)
sudo wipefs -a /dev/sdb
sudo parted -s /dev/sdb mkpart primary xfs 0% 100%
sudo mkfs.xfs -f -L "disk1" /dev/sdb1

# Drive 2 (sdc)
sudo wipefs -a /dev/sdc
sudo parted -s /dev/sdc mkpart primary xfs 0% 100%
sudo mkfs.xfs -f -L "disk2" /dev/sdc1

# Drive 3 (sdd)
sudo wipefs -a /dev/sdd
sudo parted -s /dev/sdd mkpart primary xfs 0% 100%
sudo mkfs.xfs -f -L "parity1" /dev/sdd1

Option B: Interactive (Visual)¶

For a visual interface, use cfdisk.

Formatting Required

cfdisk only creates the partition. You must still run the mkfs commands listed in Option A to format the filesystem after creating the partitions.

Launch Tool: sudo cfdisk /dev/sda (Repeat for sdb, sdc, sdd).
Label Type: Select gpt.
Delete: Remove existing partitions if necessary.
New: Select [ New ] -> [ Enter ] (Use max size).
Write: Select [ Write ] -> Type yes.
Quit: Select [ Quit ].

3. Mounting & Persistence¶

Get UUIDs¶

Use UUIDs for mounting. Unlike /dev/sdX names, UUIDs do not change if drive order changes. You'll need to map them using these or they may not show on reboot

ls -l /dev/disk/by-uuid/

Output:

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Dec  7 05:34 02de315f-8ced-4745-bb4f-2d24c46efa48 -> ../../sdb1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 Dec  7 04:33 3c26dce0-7f10-426c-bd67-e9f2d77889ee -> ../../nvme0n1p2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Dec  7 05:34 603999da-c2dd-484d-80bf-ab4977680e90 -> ../../sdc1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Dec  7 05:34 844cae61-9599-4a57-9431-18c0a33904e4 -> ../../sda1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Dec  7 05:34 9860056e-b314-4cb9-acc5-30e76281795b -> ../../sdd1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Dec  7 04:33 d5ac7faa-876c-43ff-b27a-94c53bf79bb2 -> ../../dm-0

Create Mount Points¶

Create the directories where the drives will be accessed.

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/disk1
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/disk2
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/parity1
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/appdata

Edit fstab¶

Add the following to the bottom of /etc/fstab to ensure drives mount automatically at boot.

# ---------------------------------------------------------
# DATA DRIVES (XFS) - 12TB WD Reds
# ---------------------------------------------------------
# Disk 1 (sdb1)
UUID=02de315f-8ced-4745-bb4f-2d24c46efa48 /mnt/disk1 xfs defaults,noatime 0 0

# Disk 2 (sdc1)
UUID=603999da-c2dd-484d-80bf-ab4977680e90 /mnt/disk2 xfs defaults,noatime 0 0

# Parity Drive (sdd1)
UUID=9860056e-b314-4cb9-acc5-30e76281795b /mnt/parity1 xfs defaults,noatime 0 0

# ---------------------------------------------------------
# FAST STORAGE (EXT4) - 240GB SSD
# ---------------------------------------------------------
# Appdata/Cache (sda1)
UUID=844cae61-9599-4a57-9431-18c0a33904e4 /mnt/appdata ext4 defaults,noatime 0 0

Reload Configuration¶

After editing fstab, verify the syntax and reload system daemons.

sudo findmnt --verify
sudo systemctl daemon-reload

4. Verification¶

Perform these checks before rebooting to ensure the configuration is valid.

Test Mount:
```
# No output is good news
sudo mount -a
```
Check Sizing:
```
df -h
```
disk1, disk2, parity1: Should be ~11T
appdata: Should be ~220G

Check Permissions:

ls -ld /mnt/disk1 /mnt/disk2 /mnt/parity1 /mnt/appdata

If listed as root, change ownership to your specific user (e.g., goose):

sudo chown -R goose:goose /mnt/disk1 /mnt/disk2 /mnt/parity1 /mnt/appdata

5. Docker Integration Reference¶

Once mounted, pass these paths to containers via compose.yaml.

FileBrowser (File Management)¶

services:
  filebrowser:
    volumes:
      # Map Host Path : Container Path
      - /mnt/nvme_storage:/mnt/nvme_storage

Beszel (System Monitoring)¶

services:
  beszel-agent:
    volumes:
      - /mnt/nvme_storage:/mnt/nvme_storage:ro
    environment:
      # Comma-separated list of mount points to monitor
      - EXTRA_FILESYSTEMS=/mnt/nvme_storage

6. General CLI Cheat Sheet¶

Identification & Hardware Info¶

Command	Description
`lsblk`	List Block Devices. The best "at a glance" view of disks, partitions, and mount points.
`lsblk -f`	Lists devices plus filesystem types (ext4, ntfs) and UUIDs.
`sudo fdisk -l`	Detailed low-level partition table dump. Good for verifying sector sizes.
`sudo lshw -class disk`	Hardware details (model numbers, serial numbers, firmware).
`sudo blkid`	Prints the UUIDs and labels for all block devices.

Disk Usage & Space¶

Command	Description
`df -h`	Disk Free. Shows total/used/avail space in "Human Readable" format (GB/TB).
`du -sh /path/to/dir`	Disk Usage. Calculates the size of a specific directory.
`ncdu`	Interactive Usage. A visual, navigable tool to find large files. (Requires install).

Health & Maintenance¶

Command	Description
`sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda`	SMART Data. Checks physical health, temp, and error logs (Requires `smartmontools`).
`sudo fsck /dev/sda1`	File System Check. Repairs corruption. Only run on unmounted drives.

Mounting Operations¶

Command	Description
`sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/usb`	Manually mounts a partition to a folder.
`sudo umount /mnt/usb`	Unmounts the drive safely.
`sudo mount -a`	Mounts everything listed in `/etc/fstab` that isn't already mounted.