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Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. I tried to format a new disk with Btrfs, but it is disabled.

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  • I don't use "Disks" much. I don't think it can format a disk without making partitions on it. But you can format a disk to btrfs without making partitions quite easily using CLI. Is it a HDD, or a SSD?
    – Pilot6
    Jul 27, 2020 at 17:44
  • @Pilot6 It is a virtual OS and the disk is a virtual disk. Jul 27, 2020 at 17:46

1 Answer 1

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You need btrfs-progs installed to be able to create btrfs partitions.

You can't format a partition that is in mounted.

You need to unmount it first.

And I suggest using gparted instead of "Disks", it has a more clear GUI.

If this is a HDD, you can format it to btrfs without creating partition tables by running:

sudo mkfs.btrfs /dev/sdb
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  • I will try to use gparted, but I did not mount it manually, and I cannot find any menu to unmount the disk in Disks. Also, if that is the reason, why does it allow formatting with Ext4? Jul 27, 2020 at 17:37
  • There is a soft button with a black square to unmount.
    – Pilot6
    Jul 27, 2020 at 17:38
  • It is an unformatted disk. Is it still mounted? I have added the screenshot at the end of the question. Jul 27, 2020 at 17:43
  • It is not mounted, but it doesn't have a partition table.
    – Pilot6
    Jul 27, 2020 at 17:44
  • I created a partition table (GPT) using Gparted, but after doing that, I clicked the [+] button and "Create Partition" dialogue popped up. Yet, in the next screens, the results were the same: Ext4 is available but Btrfs is disabled. Also, "btrfs" is disabled in the Filesystem drop-down list. Maybe, Btrfs driver or software is not installed by default on Ubuntu 20.04 and I have to install it manually? Jul 27, 2020 at 17:51

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