DOS Label Disk

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Maximum 2TB partition size
4 primary partitions (1 extended)
fdisk (to manage disk)
83 Linux partition type
82 Swap partition type
8e LVM partition type
fd RAID partition type

GPT Label Disk

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Maximum 8ZB partition size
128 partitions
gdisk (to manage disk)
8300 Linux partition type
8200 Swap partition type
Copy held a the end of the disk

Automating
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Parted can script creation partition

parted // Launch parted

toot
select /dev/sdb // Select the disk you
want work on
print // print the partition
table of selected disk
mklabel msdos // Create a msdos
partition (with MBR 3 primary and 1 extended)
mklabel gpt // Create a gpt
partition (with gpt and 128 partitions)
mklabel mkdos
mkpart primary 1 200 // Create primary partion of
size 200M
mkpart extended 201 -1 // Create an extended
partition going to the end of disk (-1)
mkpart logical 202 300 // Create a logical partition
of size 97M
print

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb count=1 bs=512 // Wipe out all information in a

disk