Is it safe to change the name of a partition in a gpt table using parted?

Question

I guess it IS but I didn't find any explicit statement that changing the name does not affect the data in the partition in the parted documentation and since I could loose a lot of data I want to know this for sure.

I am talking of course about the option name NUMBER NAME.

BTW, the downvotes probably are because "I could lose a lot of data" triggers a big "unsafe practices, not expected of the user base of this site" alarm bell with some people... — rackandboneman, Jan 14 '13 at 08:18
See my comment under Michael Hamptons answer. Maybe these people should visit a psychiatrist then. I think its better be safe than sorry, so this why I am asking algough I am 90% sure it doesnt do any harm. — problemofficer - n.f. Monica, Jan 14 '13 at 08:24
I read more about the gpt and the name seems to be a fixed length field in the header of the gpt table so I guess this field simply gets overwritten when you assign a new name. Consequently the data shouldnt be touched. — problemofficer - n.f. Monica, Jan 14 '13 at 08:25
Downvoting a question based on assumptions about the behaviour of the asker that have nothing to do with the question itself is pretty stupid if you ask me. — problemofficer - n.f. Monica, Jan 14 '13 at 13:32

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 14 '13 at 08:08

2

The documentation you linked to says:

2.4.6 name

— Command: name number name
Sets the name for the partition number (GPT, Mac, MIPS and PC98 only). The name can be placed in quotes.

Example:
      (parted) name 2 'Secret Documents'
Set the name of partition 2 to `Secret Documents'.

So of course it works with GPT partitions; it explicitly said so.

answered Jan 14 '13 at 08:08

Michael Hampton

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Yes, said documentation does not answer whether problems can be expected if you do so. – rackandboneman Jan 14 '13 at 08:16
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What it doesn't say, and this is why I am asking, if it changes the partition itself. Most people have developed a habit of not changing a partition after it has been filled with data. – problemofficer - n.f. Monica Jan 14 '13 at 08:22
If it were potentially destructive, it would say so, as other parts of the documentation do. (Barring bugs in parted...) – Michael Hampton Jan 14 '13 at 08:26
"it would say so" ... that attitude goes together with no backup (which the original question implies!) like gasoline with matches. – rackandboneman Jan 14 '13 at 12:43
@rackandboneman Where do you get that idea? If that were true, I'd have to read the source for every utility I ever wanted to use, before I could use it! – Michael Hampton Jan 14 '13 at 15:23

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 30 '16 at 17:42

If you are renaming your GPT partitions you shouldn't lose any data, (aside from the usual risk of disk errors while writing) but if you defined your mounts in your fstab by PARTLABEL, you have to update your fstab.

A good explanation for the different methods of defining can be found here: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/fstab

Is it safe to change the name of a partition in a gpt table using parted?

2 Answers2