partprobe - Reread partitions without restarting

The partprobe command is used to inform the operating system kernel of partition table changes, without requiring a system reboot. This command is useful when a new partition is created or an existing partition is deleted or resized. By default, the Linux kernel does not automatically detect partition table changes, so the partprobe command is necessary to notify the kernel of these changes.

Overview

The partprobe command is used to rescan the partitions on a device and update the kernel’s partition table. This is useful when a new partition has been created, deleted or resized on a device, but the kernel is still using the old partition table. The partprobe command can be used to update the kernel’s partition table without requiring a system reboot.

Syntax

partprobe [options] [devices...]

Examples

To rescan all partitions on all devices, use the following command:

sudo partprobe

To rescan partitions on a specific device, use the following command:

sudo partprobe /dev/sda

To rescan partitions on multiple devices, use the following command:

sudo partprobe /dev/sda /dev/sdb

Specific use cases

When a new partition is created on a device, the partprobe command can be used to inform the kernel of the new partition.
When a partition is deleted or resized on a device, the partprobe command can be used to inform the kernel of the changes.
When a device is added or removed from the system, the partprobe command can be used to inform the kernel of the changes.

Options

The following table lists the available options for the partprobe command:

Option	Description
-d, –dry-run	Print the actions that would be taken, but do not actually update the partition table.
-h, –help	Display help information for the `partprobe` command.
-s, –summary	Display a summary of the actions taken by the `partprobe` command.
-v, –verbose	Display verbose output.

Troubleshooting tips

If the partprobe command fails to update the kernel’s partition table, try running the command with root privileges using sudo.
If the partprobe command reports an error, check the system logs for more information about the error. The system logs can be found in /var/log/messages or /var/log/syslog.

Notes

The partprobe command only works with devices that use the MBR or GPT partitioning schemes.
The partprobe command does not work with devices that use other partitioning schemes, such as APM or BSD disklabels.
The partprobe command is included in the parted package, which is installed by default on most Linux distributions.

partprobe – Reread partitions without restarting