pvcreate

Initialize disks for LVM use

TLDR

Initialize a partition as a physical volume

$ sudo pvcreate /dev/[sda1]

Initialize multiple devices at once

$ sudo pvcreate /dev/[sdb1] /dev/[sdc1]

Force creation without confirmation prompts

$ sudo pvcreate -ff /dev/[sda1]

Initialize with a specific metadata size

$ sudo pvcreate --metadatasize [512k] /dev/[sda1]

SYNOPSIS

pvcreate [OPTIONS] PhysicalVolume...

DESCRIPTION

pvcreate initializes a disk or partition for use as a physical volume in LVM. This writes LVM metadata to the device, preparing it to be added to a volume group.

PARAMETERS

-f, --force

Override various checks, confirmations, and protections. Use twice (`-ff`) to forcibly overwrite an existing physical volume.

-y, --yes

Answer yes to all prompts automatically.

-Z, --zero y|n

Controls if the first 4 sectors (2048 bytes) of the device are wiped. Default is yes unless `--restorefile` or `--uuid` are specified.

--metadatasize size

Approximate amount of space to set aside for each metadata area on the PV.

--metadatacopies 0|1|2

Number of metadata area copies on this PV. 0 stores no copies, 1 stores at the front only, 2 stores copies at both front and end.

--metadataignore y|n

Whether to ignore metadata areas on this PV. Useful when creating a large number of PVs to limit the number of metadata copies.

--dataalignment size

Align the start of the data area to a multiple of this size.

--dataalignmentoffset size

Shift the start of the data area by this additional offset.

-u, --uuid uuid

Specify a UUID for the physical volume. Without this option, a random UUID is generated. Required when restoring metadata with vgcfgrestore.

--restorefile file

Use metadata from a backup file to ensure consistent PV placement when restoring a volume group.

--bootloaderareasize size

Reserve space for a bootloader between the LVM metadata and the first physical extent.

--labelsector number

Sector number where the LVM2 label is written (default 1).

--setphysicalvolumesize size

Override the automatically detected device size.

-v, --verbose

Set verbose level. Can be repeated up to 4 times to increase detail.

All existing data on the device will be destroyed. The device should not be mounted or in use. Physical volumes must be created before being added to volume groups. Using `-ff` will override the check for existing filesystem signatures.

HISTORY

pvcreate is part of LVM2, the Linux Logical Volume Manager.