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Install and Use gParted on Ubuntu

The graphical tool GParted lets you check the disk space, format a disk, create partitions and a lot more.

Sagar Sharma

GParted reads for GNOME Partition Editor, a powerful and user-friendly utility to manage disk partitions on Linux.

So in this tutorial, I will walk you through how you can install GParted in Ubuntu and later on will share some basic tasks you can perform using GParted.

Let's start with the installation.

How to install GParted in Ubuntu

GParted is available in the default repository of Ubuntu which means it can be installed with a single command:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install gparted

To verify the installation, check the installed version using the following command:

apt policy gparted
Check the installed version of Gparted on Ubuntu

As you can see, it gave me the GParted version 1.3.1.

Now, let's have a look at how to use GParted.

How to use GParted in Ubuntu

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Making changes to the system partition without knowledge may break your system so make sure you know what you are up to.

In this tutorial, I will be using a disk drive to demonstrate how you can perform basic tasks in GParted that are:

  • Format drive in different filesystem
  • Resizing partitions
  • Remove partitions
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To perform any of the shown actions, unmount partitions first which is explained in how you format partitions.

So let's start with the first one.

Format partition in different filesystem

To format the partition in the different filesystem type, then here's how you do it.

The first step is to unmount the drive as if the drive is mounted, system won't let you make any changes.

To unmount the drive, follow two simple steps:

  • Select the partition
  • Right-click and choose Unmount from the context menu
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You may have to repeat the above steps if you have multiple partitions.

Sounds confusing? Here's how you do it:

unmount drive in GParted

Once you unmount one or more partitions, select the target partition, right-click, and choose the Format to option and then select the filesystem type:

format partition in GParted

But that won't do it.

At the bottom, it will show 1 operation pending which indicates that the operation is yet to be performed with selected options.

To finish this operation, simply click on the check mark ✅ option and hit the Apply button:

finish pending operation in GParted

After successful completion of the operation, it will show you this message:

successful completion of disk formation in GParted

Resizing partitions

To resize the partition, all you have to do is follow two simple steps:

  • Select the partition and click on the Resize button.
  • You can either use the slider or specify the size manually to resize the partition.

For example, here, I resized my partition by half:

Once done, it will show you the unlocated space as you resized the partition:

GParted unallocated space after resizing partition in GParted

Finally, apply the actions by pressing the Apply all actions button followed by the Apply button from the warning prompt:

That's it!

Remove partition

While it may sound a little idiotic to remove the partition entirely think of a situation where you created a partition for a specific purpose and you no longer want it.

To remove the partition, first select the partition and click on the Delete the selected partition button:

delete partition in GParted

Once done, the size of the removed partition will be shown as unallocated space but as always, the task is undone.

To confirm the deletion of partition, press the Apply all actions button and then hit Apply:

confirm deletion of partition in gparted

Yep, that's all it takes to remove the partition in GParted.

Wrapping Up...

This was a simple tutorial explaining how you can install GParted in Ubuntu including the basic use of it.

I hope this guide has helped you to install GParted and has helped you to learn the basics of it. If you still have any doubts, leave a comment.

Sagar Sharma