Re: Harddrive sorting

On Fri 28 Aug 2026 at 12:12:50 (+0200), [email protected] wrote:
> On Fri, Aug 28, 2026 at 11:56:40AM +0200, Michel Verdier wrote:
> > On 2026-08-28, [email protected] wrote:
> > 
> > >> You can label a disk. I don't remember well but I think I did it while
> > >> setting a partition table. Probably with fdisk.
> > >
> > > You actually label the partition table, no?
> > 
> > I mean when you create a partition table with fdisk you can label the
> > disk (if I remember well). Of course without partition table you can't :)
> 
> We mean the same: it's the (whole) partition table which carries that
> label. Different partition schemata /may/ have space for a label (or
> GUID or whatever) for each partition (MBR hasn't, GPT has), so if you
> want reliability, it's the file system (or whatever you decide to
> put in that partition) who has to take care of that.

PARTLABELs would be better when partitions are encrypted but as yet
unlocked; maybe also if you're somebody that clones filesystems
frequently (because the LABEL and UUID get duplicated).

Happily, the OP is not trying to achieve anything out of the ordinary.

> The "disk" (any "bunch of blocks", actually: can be an image file for
> your VM du jour) has no clue, no label and no ID :-)

I don't think you can change the ID information that's displayed by
the /dev/disk/by-id/ symlinks, like the World Wide Name.

Unless you happen to be the POTUS, of course.

Cheers,
David.