Partition X does not start on physical sector boundary

If you run “fdisk -l” and you get something like:

[root@ftp ~]# fdisk -l
 
....
 
Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xec2af3f7
 
   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1               1      121601   976760001   83  Linux
Partition 1 does not start on physical sector boundary.

you’ll notice the message: “Partition 1 does not start on physical sector boundary

What is the cause and do I need to fix it? If so, how?

Explanation

Your hard disk has Advanced Format 4096-byte sectors to which the partition is not perfectly aligned (Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes).

This sort of partitioning may affect read/write IO rates and since we all want fast server, my advice is to fix this. To do that, you’ll need to backup all important data from those partition(s) and if you can, use GParted to move the partition so it starts at 4096-byte sector (set the start boundary at 1 MB or so). You can set the start to any logical sector which is a dividable by 8 (64, 256, etc)

If you don’t have GParted as an option (for example no direct access to server and GUI), you can do it with fdisk utility.

In my case, I added the new 1TB drive which is recognized as /dev/sdb. The problem became visible right after I created partition (in my case this is regular storage only disk with one partition)

Create partition

[root@ftp ~]# fdisk /dev/sdb
Device contains neither a valid DOS partition table, nor Sun, SGI or OSF disklabel
Building a new DOS disklabel with disk identifier 0x83dabcc9.
Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
After that, of course, the previous content won't be recoverable.
 
Warning: invalid flag 0x0000 of partition table 4 will be corrected by w(rite)
 
The device presents a logical sector size that is smaller than
the physical sector size. Aligning to a physical sector (or optimal
I/O) size boundary is recommended, or performance may be impacted.
 
WARNING: DOS-compatible mode is deprecated. It's strongly recommended to
         switch off the mode (command 'c') and change display units to
         sectors (command 'u'). 
 
Command (m for help):

As I can see, by default DOS-compatibility mode is On and display units are shown in cylinders

Command (m for help): n
Command action
   e   extended
   p   primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 1
First cylinder (1-121601, default 1): 
Using default value 1
Last cylinder, +cylinders or +size{K,M,G} (1-121601, default 121601): 
Using default value 121601

which leads to

Command (m for help): p
 
Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xec2af3f7
 
   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1               1      121601   976760001   83  Linux
Partition 1 does not start on physical sector boundary.

I had a chance to fix this on empty drive so it was easy. In case you have something on your drive, backup first!!!

Delete partition which wasn’t created properly (fdisk /dev/sdb, then “d” option, choose which partition)

As instructed, switch off DOS compatible mode and change the units to sectors by entering the c and u commands:

Command (m for help): u
Changing display/entry units to sectors

Then recreate the partition with

Command (m for help): n
Command action
   e   extended
   p   primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 1
First sector (2048-1953525167, default 2048): 2048
Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (2048-1953525167, default 1953525167): 
Using default value 1953525167

and we have

Command (m for help): p
 
Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders, total 1953525168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xec2af3f7
 
   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1            2048  1953525167   976761560   83  Linux

Great. No annoying message

Write changes with “w”.

Now fdisk -l wont complain.

Since I want new partition to mount as home2, the format command is:

[root@ftp ~]# mkfs.ext4 -L /home2 /dev/sdb1 
mke2fs 1.41.12 (17-May-2010)
Filesystem label=/home2
OS type: Linux
Block size=4096 (log=2)
Fragment size=4096 (log=2)
Stride=1 blocks, Stripe width=0 blocks
61054976 inodes, 244190390 blocks
12209519 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=0
Maximum filesystem blocks=4294967296
7453 block groups
32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group
8192 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks: 
	32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208, 
	4096000, 7962624, 11239424, 20480000, 23887872, 71663616, 78675968, 
	102400000, 214990848
 
Writing inode tables: done                            
Creating journal (32768 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done
 
This filesystem will be automatically checked every 28 mounts or
180 days, whichever comes first.  Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.

Now that we have created a new file system, we need to mount it. We need to create a mount point which is a directory into which the file system will be mounted.

# mkdir home2
# mount /dev/sdb1 /home2
# mount
/dev/sda1 on / type ext4 (rw)
......
/dev/sdb1 on /home2 type ext4 (rw)

To mount file system automatically at boot time, add an entry to the /etc/fstab.

....
LABEL=/home2            /home2                  ext4    defaults        1 2

6 thoughts on “Partition X does not start on physical sector boundary

  1. Great!!!! This article helped me a lot
    But, i see that fdisk show yet:

    Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes

    This is only a display error of fdisk?

  2. I have the same issue. But i can not delete the partition.

    [root@server ~]# fdisk -l

    Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
    Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
    Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
    I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
    Disk identifier: 0xa9407e38

    Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
    /dev/sdb1 1 121601 976760001 83 Linux
    Partition 1 does not start on physical sector boundary.

    ——————————————————————————
    [root@server ~]# fdisk /dev/sdb

    The device presents a logical sector size that is smaller than
    the physical sector size. Aligning to a physical sector (or optimal
    I/O) size boundary is recommended, or performance may be impacted.

    WARNING: DOS-compatible mode is deprecated. It’s strongly recommended to
    switch off the mode (command ‘c’) and change display units to
    sectors (command ‘u’).

    Command (m for help): d
    Selected partition 1

    Command (m for help):

    But the partition still there.

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