Is it necessary to specify the partition type?

pmav99

According to this on non-dual boot systems it is not necessary to specify the partition type. Is this accurate? Does it have any consequence not doing so?

coop

The discussion is basically correct. You don't really have to specify a partitition type (in Linux!) to format a partition with mkfs. However, it is still a good practice (based on experience) if you want to not make a sloppy error some day (like accidentally formatting an LVM partition because it was not labelled as such etc.) I like to be able to type fdisk -l /dev/sda and see what each partition is for -- linux, swap, lvm, vfat etc. Good documentation and bookkeeping

pmav99

OK, that makes sense)