[CentOS] partprobe command showing error

Wed Apr 17 12:19:19 UTC 2013
Mike Burger <mburger at bubbanfriends.org>

> Hi,
>
> I've created a new partition on /dev/sda on my CentOS machine after which
> fdisk -l gives output as:
>  Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
> /dev/sda1   *           1          13      104391   83  Linux
> /dev/sda2              14        3500    28009327+  83  Linux
> /dev/sda3            3501        6527    24314377+  83  Linux
>
> Now, when I run partprobe I get the following error:
> Error: Error informing the kernel about modifications to partition
> /dev/sda3 -- Device or resource busy.  This means Linux won't know about
> any changes you made to /dev/sda3 until you reboot -- so you shouldn't
> mount it or use it in any way before rebooting.
> Warning: The kernel was unable to re-read the partition table on /dev/sda
> (Device or resource busy).  This means Linux won't know anything about the
> modifications you made until you reboot.  You should reboot your computer
> before doing anything with /dev/sda.
>
> I'm using parted rpm version "parted-1.8.1-29.el5". Is it some issue with
> this version or with the way I'm using this command?

In my experience, this is normal behavior...it's not any different than if
you used fdisk, instead.

You're modifying the partition table on the boot drive, and, if I recall
correctly, there isn't a mechanism for the kernel to reread the partition
table of the boot drive.

Long story short, you'll need to reboot.