For MBR partition table and the difference between GPT disk.
MBR: MBR partition table (master boot record) we are all familiar, when we use the past windows commonly used.
The maximum supported volume: 2T, but there are restrictions on partitions: up to four primary partitions, or three primary partitions plus an extended partition

GPT: GPT (GUID partition table that is). EFI is a standard derived from the newer standard disk partition table structure, is the main form of future disk partition. Compared with the MBR partition mode, it has the following advantages.

Breakthrough MBR 4 primary partitions limit, each supporting up to 128 disk partitions. Support more than 2T partition, the maximum volume of up to 18EB.

For GPT partition recommended partitioning tool parted, fdisk GPT in this not very good.

Parted Introduction

Parted commands are divided into two modes: command-line mode and interactive mode.

Command line mode

parted [option] device [command], the mode to partition the disk directly in the command line, more suitable for programming applications. Such as:

Displays disk / dev / sdb partition.

parted /dev/sdb print

Interactive mode

parted [option] device to enter the interactive mode. Especially in the case of parted command is not very familiar with the recommended interactive mode.

parted /dev/sdb

parted Command Common Options

Enter the interactive mode, enter helpthe following dialog, based Parted 3.2 will be described herein.

test@test01:~$ sudo parted /dev/sdb
GNU Parted 3.2
使用 /dev/sdb
欢迎使用 GNU Parted! 输入 'help'可获得命令列表.
(parted) help
  align-check TYPE N                        check partition N for TYPE(min|opt) alignment
  help [COMMAND]                           print general help, or help on COMMAND
  mklabel,mktable LABEL-TYPE               create a new disklabel (partition table)
  mkpart 分区类型 [文件系统类型] 起始点 终止点      创建一个分区
  name NUMBER 名称               将编号为NUMBER 的分区命名为“名称”
  print [devices|free|list,all|NUMBER]     display the partition table, available devices, free space,
        all found partitions, or a particular partition
  quit                          退出程序
  rescue 起始点 终止点  挽救临近“起始点”、“终止点”的遗失的分区
  resizepart NUMBER END                    resize partition NUMBER
  rm MINOR                      删除编号为 MINOR 的分区
  选择设备  选择要编辑的设备
  disk_set FLAG STATE                      change the FLAG on selected device
  disk_toggle [FLAG]                       toggle the state of FLAG on selected device
  set NUMBER FLAG STATE                    change the FLAG on partition NUMBER
  toggle [NUMBER [FLAG]]                   切换分区 NUMBER 的 FLAG 标记
  unit UNIT                                set the default unit to UNIT
  version                                  display the version number and copyright information of GNU
        Parted
(parted)

Several options are more common

help print help information
print output partition information
mklabel create a partition table, that is, use msdos (MBR) or use gpt, or otherwise partitioned table
mkpart create a new partition
format: the TYPE-the PART mkpart the START the END
. the PART-types are the TYPE Primary (primary partition), extended (extended partition), logical (logic region) extended and logical partitions only msdos.
rm delete a partition
resizepart specified partition size adjustment
quit quit the interactive interface

To partition the disk

First, for larger capacity disk using fdisk tool you will get the following message:

test@test01:~$ sudo fdisk /dev/sdb

欢迎使用 fdisk (util-linux 2.31.1)。
更改将停留在内存中，直到您决定将更改写入磁盘。
使用写入命令前请三思。

设备不包含可识别的分区表。
The size of this disk is 3.7 TiB (4000787030016 bytes). DOS partition table format cannot be used on drives for volumes larger than 2199023255040 bytes for 512-byte sectors. Use GUID partition table format (GPT).

创建了一个磁盘标识符为 0x9f682389 的新 DOS 磁盘标签。

命令(输入 m 获取帮助)：

This time we need to update parted to partition the disk.

Change the partition table

As follows:

(parted) mklabel gpt
(parted) print
Model: ATA ST4000DM004-2CV1 (scsi)
磁盘 /dev/sdb: 4001GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
分区表：gpt
Disk Flags:

数字  开始：  End  大小  文件系统  Name  标志

(parted)

Create a partition

Use mkpart size you need to create a partition

(parted) mkpart primary 0 4TB
(parted) p
Model: ATA ST4000DM004-2CV1 (scsi)
磁盘 /dev/sdb: 4001GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
分区表：gpt
Disk Flags:

数字  开始：  End     大小    文件系统  Name     标志
 1    1049kB  4001GB  4001GB            primary

(parted)

Created after exit.

Each operation is parted with immediate effect, and different fdisk, fdisk only used at the end wto take effect after save.

Format the partition

You need to format the file system.

mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb1

The entire partition creation process is over.

Partition aligned to give optimal performance

When the partition is not aligned, parted prompts as follows

警告: The resulting partition is not properly aligned for best performance.
忽略/Ignore/放弃/Cancel?

For this tip, just like partition alignment. If your design is aligned or else, you can ignore this prompt.

There are two alignment partitioning method,

A method, expressed as a percentage used to partition the space, then to 100% of the time is naturally aligned. Examples are as follows:

(parted) mkpart primary 0% 100%
(parted) p
Model: ATA ST4000DM004-2CV1 (scsi)
磁盘 /dev/sdb: 4001GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
分区表：gpt
Disk Flags:

数字  开始：  End     大小    文件系统  Name     标志
 1    1049kB  4001GB  4001GB            primary

(parted)

The second method is used if the capacity is to space, then -1the value represents a final position. Examples are as follows:

(parted) mkpart primary 0TB -1
(parted) p
Model: ATA ST4000DM004-2CV1 (scsi)
磁盘 /dev/sdb: 4001GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
分区表：gpt
Disk Flags:

数字  开始：  End     大小    文件系统  Name     标志
 1    1049kB  4001GB  4001GB            primary

(parted)

Three methods manual calculation.

On the bottom of this blog describes how to calculate disk sectors to ensure the partition alignment.

https://rainbow.chard.org/2013/01/30/how-to-align-partitions-for-best-performance-using-parted/

Parted create GPT partitions