How to create an LVM physical volume

A new disk or partition cannot join an LVM storage stack until it has an LVM label. Creating a physical volume writes that label and the initial metadata to the chosen block device so it can later be assigned to a volume group.

The pvcreate command works on a whole disk such as /dev/sdb or on a partition such as /dev/sdb1. The examples use an unused whole disk; choose the device carefully because writing PV metadata changes the start of the target device.

Check the device table and existing signatures before initializing the PV. If wipefs reports a filesystem, partition table, RAID signature, or old LVM label that you still need, stop and recover or migrate that data before running pvcreate.

1. List block devices and choose the unused disk or partition.

   $ lsblk --paths --output NAME,SIZE,TYPE,FSTYPE,MOUNTPOINTS
   NAME          SIZE TYPE FSTYPE MOUNTPOINTS
   /dev/sda      80G disk        
   `-/dev/sda1   80G part ext4   /
   /dev/sdb     100G disk        

   Use a device that is not mounted and does not contain data to keep. The sample target is /dev/sdb.

2. Check for existing signatures on the target device.

   $ sudo wipefs --no-act /dev/sdb

   No output means wipefs did not find known filesystem, partition-table, RAID, or LVM signatures on the device.

   If the command lists signatures you still need, do not continue; pvcreate writes LVM metadata to the device.

3. Create the physical volume.

   $ sudo pvcreate /dev/sdb
     Physical volume "/dev/sdb" successfully created.

   Replace /dev/sdb with the confirmed target. Do not run this on a mounted filesystem, boot disk, or device that still holds data to preserve.

4. Verify the new physical volume.

   $ sudo pvs /dev/sdb
     PV         VG Fmt  Attr PSize   PFree  
     /dev/sdb      lvm2 ---  100.00g 100.00g

   An empty VG column shows the device is initialized as a PV but has not been assigned to a volume group yet.