Host: Add local disk as Proxmox storage

Directory vs ZFS pool — which to pick

Opening the tool

From ProxMenux's main menu, open Storage & Share Manager → Add Local Disk as Proxmox Storage. You will see this sub-menu with four options:

How the script runs (Add flow)

The flow has two phases with a triple-gate safety filter. Phase 1 discovers safe disks, decides what to do with the chosen one and collects storage parameters; Phase 2 does the destructive work. Until the final confirmation the disk is untouched.

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  PHASE 1 — Detect, inspect, plan            │
│  (nothing touched yet)                      │
└──────────────────┬──────────────────────────┘
                   ▼
      Dependency check
      └─ parted / mkfs.ext4 / mkfs.xfs / blkid /
         lsblk / sgdisk present?
         If any missing → apt-get install
             parted e2fsprogs util-linux
             xfsprogs gdisk btrfs-progs
                   │
                   ▼
      Disk detection (lsblk -dn -e 7,11)
                   │
                   ▼
      Safety filter
      ├─ Hidden: type != "disk" (skip partitions)
      ├─ Hidden: read-only (ro=1)
      ├─ Hidden: /dev/zd* (ZFS volumes, not disks)
      ├─ Hidden: used by host storage
      │         (root pool, mounted paths, ZFS/LVM)
      └─ Hidden: referenced by any VM/LXC config
                   │
                   ▼
      User selects a disk
      (menu shows disk path + size + model)
                   │
                   ▼
      Disk inspection (blkid / lsblk)
      ├─ Has data → offer 2 actions:
      │      ├─ Format disk (ERASE all)
      │      └─ Use existing filesystem
      └─ Empty     → only "Format disk"
                   │
                   ▼
      If "Format" was chosen:
      Filesystem picker
      ├─ ext4   → dir storage (recommended general use)
      ├─ xfs    → dir storage (large files / VMs)
      ├─ btrfs  → dir storage (snapshots / compression)
      └─ zfs    → ZFS POOL storage (different path)
                   │
                   ▼
      Storage ID  (default: "disk-<device>")
      Mount path  (default: "/mnt/<storage-id>")
      Content types  (4 presets + custom):
      ├─ 1. VM Storage     → images,backup
      ├─ 2. Standard NAS   → backup,iso,vztmpl
      ├─ 3. All types      → images,backup,iso,vztmpl,snippets
      └─ 4. Custom         → free CSV input
                   │
   ┌──────── Cancel   OR   Confirm ────┐
   ▼                                   ▼
Exit, nothing        ┌─────────────────┴─────────────────┐
was changed          │  PHASE 2 — Execute                 │
                     └─────────────────┬─────────────────┘
                                       ▼
                       FORMAT PATH (destructive):
                       ├─ Final "ERASE confirmation" dialog
                       │   → Cancel exits here
                       ├─ wipefs + sgdisk --zap-all
                       ├─ parted/sgdisk: create partition
                       ├─ ZFS pre-flight:
                       │   • zpool command present?
                       │   • pool name not already in use?
                       ├─ mkfs.<fs> / zpool create
                       │   (mkfs.ext4 / xfs / btrfs / zfs pool)
                       ├─ Non-ZFS: mount -t <fs> + UUID
                       │     entry in /etc/fstab with
                       │     defaults,nofail
                       └─ ZFS: zpool manages its own mount
                                       ▼
                       REUSE PATH (existing fs):
                       ├─ blkid detects filesystem type
                       ├─ mkdir mount point
                       ├─ mount <disk> <path>
                       └─ UUID entry in /etc/fstab
                                       ▼
                       Register in Proxmox:
                       ├─ filesystem == zfs →
                       │    pvesm add zfspool <id> \
                       │         --pool <id> \
                       │         --content <csv>
                       └─ otherwise →
                            pvesm add dir <id> \
                                --path <mount-path> \
                                --content <csv>
                                       ▼
                       Summary + "visible in Datacenter →
                       Storage" confirmation

Format a blank disk

The path for a fresh disk or one whose contents you do not care about.

1. Pick the disk (system / in-use disks are hidden).
2. Pick "Format disk (ERASE all data)".
3. Pick the filesystem — see the table above for trade-offs.
4. Storage ID (default disk-<device>), mount path, content-type preset.
5. Confirm at the FINAL CONFIRMATION — DATA WILL BE ERASED dialog.
6. ProxMenux wipes the partition table, creates one partition spanning the whole disk, runs mkfs.<fs> (or zpool create), mounts it, adds it to /etc/fstab by UUID with defaults,nofail, and registers it in Proxmox via pvesm add dir or pvesm add zfspool.

Reuse an existing filesystem

The path for a disk you want to keep the data on — maybe you moved it from another Proxmox host, or the disk already has backups / ISOs you want to keep accessible.

1. Pick the disk.
2. Pick "Use existing filesystem".
3. Storage ID, mount path, content-type preset.
4. ProxMenux does not touch the data: it creates the mount point, mounts the disk, adds a UUID entry to /etc/fstab, and registers it as a Proxmox dir storage.

Content-type presets

Instead of a long checklist, ProxMenux offers 4 presets plus a custom option. The preset string is passed to pvesm add … --content <csv>:

Manual equivalent

Format + register a disk as ext4 directory storage:

# 1. prerequisites (one-time)
apt-get install -y parted e2fsprogs xfsprogs gdisk btrfs-progs

# 2. wipe + partition
wipefs -af /dev/sdX
sgdisk --zap-all /dev/sdX
sgdisk -n 1:0:0 -t 1:8300 /dev/sdX

# 3. format
mkfs.ext4 -L mydisk /dev/sdX1

# 4. mount + fstab (by UUID, nofail)
mkdir -p /mnt/mydisk
UUID=$(blkid -s UUID -o value /dev/sdX1)
echo "UUID=$UUID  /mnt/mydisk  ext4  defaults,nofail  0  2" >> /etc/fstab
mount /mnt/mydisk

# 5. register in Proxmox
pvesm add dir mydisk \
  --path /mnt/mydisk \
  --content images,backup

Or as a ZFS pool:

# 1. create the pool on the raw disk (no partition step needed)
zpool create -o ashift=12 tank /dev/sdX

# 2. register in Proxmox
pvesm add zfspool tank \
  --pool tank \
  --content images,rootdir

pvesm status tank

View disk storages

Lists every disk-backed Proxmox storage (both dir and zfspool that are user-created — system pools like rpool are hidden). Shows the mount path / pool name, content types and live status.

Remove disk storage

Unregisters the storage from Proxmox (pvesm remove) and offers to clean up the matching entry in /etc/fstab. For ZFS pools the script does not automatically destroy the pool — that is a separate zpool destroy <name> step you do by hand when you are sure.

List available disks

A read-only diagnostic view: prints the output of lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,TYPE,FSTYPE,MOUNTPOINT,MODEL followed by the dir / zfspool storages Proxmox already knows about. Good first stop when you open the tool and want to see "what is on this host?" before adding anything.

Troubleshooting

Related

• Disk Manager: Format / Wipe Physical Disk — low-level alternative when you just want to prepare a disk without registering it as Proxmox storage.
• Add iSCSI target as Proxmox storage — network equivalent when the block device lives on another box.
• Add Shared Directory on Host — prepare a directory on the host for LXC bind mounts (does not register a Proxmox storage).