EX200 Configure local storage Practice Question
Which TWO commands can be used to create a filesystem on a new partition? (Choose two.)
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse partition management commands (fdisk, parted) with filesystem creation commands (mkfs), or think that mounting a partition will automatically create a filesystem on it.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
mkfs /dev/sdb1
B is correct because `mkfs` is the generic command to create a filesystem on a partition. D is correct because `mkfs.ext4` is a specific variant of `mkfs` that creates an ext4 filesystem. Both commands write the filesystem metadata to the partition, making it ready for mounting.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt
Why it's wrong here
mount associates an existing filesystem with a mount point in the directory hierarchy; it never creates or formats a filesystem. The device must already contain a valid filesystem, otherwise mount returns an error like 'wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock'. Therefore, while this command is useful after formatting, it cannot initialize a filesystem on /dev/sdb1.
- ✓
mkfs /dev/sdb1
Why this is correct
mkfs is the standard command-line front-end that builds a filesystem on a device, writing the superblock, inode table, and other metadata. With no -t option, it defaults to ext2, but it silently calls the appropriate mkfs.<type> binary. This command correctly initializes /dev/sdb1 for use, so it is a valid answer.
- ✗
parted /dev/sdb
Why it's wrong here
parted is an interactive or scriptable partitioning tool that creates, deletes, resizes, and checks partitions on a whole disk, manipulating the partition table only. It does not write any filesystem metadata to the partition; after running parted, a separate mkfs step is still required. Also note the argument is the whole disk (/dev/sdb), not the partition, reinforcing its role as a partition-table editor.
- ✓
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb1
Why this is correct
mkfs.ext4 is the dedicated ext4 filesystem builder, equivalent to running mkfs -t ext4, and it fully creates an ext4 filesystem with journaling, extents, and other ext4 features. It writes the boot sector and inode tables directly to /dev/sdb1, making it another correct command for the task. This is the most common modern choice for a new filesystem.
- ✗
fdisk /dev/sdb
Why it's wrong here
fdisk is a classic partitioning utility that edits the MBR or GPT partition table on the whole disk, allowing you to create and delete partitions. It does not create filesystems at all; fdisk only defines the partition boundaries and types. Running it on /dev/sdb would change partition layout, but the filesystem on any partition remains untouched, so it cannot initialize a filesystem.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every EX200 question from scratch — 427 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This EX200 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Red Hat certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the EX200 exam.