How to increase inodes in Linux

Question

With the help of code, can you explain how to increase inodes in Linux?

Answer 1

Steps to Increase Inodes in Linux

Verify Current Inode Usage: You should verify your system's current inode usage before trying to increase it. Use the command:

df -i

This will show the number of inodes available and used on all mounted file systems.

Unmount the Partition: To modify the inode configuration, you need to unmount the partition. You can unmount the partition using the following command:

umount /dev/sdX1

Replace /dev/sdX1 with the appropriate device identifier for your system.

Reformat the Partition to Increase Inodes: You cannot directly increase the number of inodes on an existing file system. Instead, you need to reformat the partition. Use the mkfs (make file system) command with the -i option, which allows you to specify the bytes per inode. A smaller value results in more inodes.

To reformat with more inodes, run:

mkfs.ext4 -i <bytes-per-inode> /dev/sdX1

For example, if you want to allocate 1024 bytes per inode, use:

mkfs.ext4 -i 1024 /dev/sdX1

Mount the Partition Again: After reformatting, you can mount the partition back to its original location:

mount /dev/sdX1 /mnt

Replace /mnt with the correct mount point for your system.

Verify the Changes: After mounting the partition, verify the inode settings with:

df -i