Help Resizing Linux Partition :s

[aaron11193]

Hey guys,

For the last hour I've been looking for a way to expand my main xubuntu partition onto some free space that is before it...

I'm using the xubuntu 8.04 alternate install cd to do the partitioning. It seems that i have to move my xubuntu partitiion to before the free space because when i try to resize it to take up the free space, I get the error: "size too large" or something like that.

But there is no option in the partitioner to move the partition....

Does anyone know of a way I can move the partition using this partitioner? (i think it's gparted, not sure...)

LiveCD's are out of the question as I have no CD drive... The method I used to install xubuntu initially apparently won't work with LiveCD's.

Any help would be appreciated, I only have 167.8MB of free space in my linux partition :S

 

[Klaus]

It is not very advisable to work on partitions that are actually in use, so you should boot from an external medium. If you don't have a CD drive, maybe you could boot from an USB stick. Instructions on creating a GParted Live Stick can be found here: http://gparted.sourceforge.net/liveusb.php
Instructions on moving the partition can be found here: http://gparted.sourceforge.net/larry/move/move.htm
Hope that helps.

 

[Squidge]

I'm assuming your not using logical partitions? In which case, the only real easy way to get more space is to find a directory big enough for your new partition and mount the directory there

 

[aaron11193]

Hey thanks for the replies.

@Klaus: I am booting into the xubuntu 8.04 alternate install CD using grub4dos to do the partitioning, so no, the partitions are not in use.

Here you can see my partitions.

The i want to move /dev/sda6 partition to before the unalocated space so i can grow /dev/sda6 onto the unalocated space.

EDIT: Just looked at GParted Live, downloading now to do HDD method.

 

[Ravnos]

GParted should work with UNetBootIn, if you have a USB stick around. It worked ok for me.

 

[Klaus]

Just selecting the ext3-partition and hitting resize/move doesn't work? Squidge said something about problems with logical partitions, but I don't use them, so I can't really comment on this, I never tried it. Maybe he can help.

 

[aaron11193]

Just selecting the ext3-partition and hitting resize/move doesn't work? Squidge said something about problems with logical partitions, but I don't use them, so I can't really comment on this, I never tried it. Maybe he can help.

I was using a text based version of GParted before, but I downloaded the live from HDD version of it and got it to boot from my WinXP partition where I have grub4dos.

It's all good now, I got it

My only problem now is... On my WinXP partition, I only have about 9GB of space left. I've checked and my WINDOWS folder takes up about 5GB, Program files is 10GB and Documents and Settings ('home' in linux) is about 10GB aswell. Now my WinXP partition is about 35-40GB, what the hell is taking up all the extra space?

 

[Ravnos]

You've totalled up 25GB there. Assuming those numbers aren't exact, if your partition is 35GB, then 9GB sounds about right for remaining space. At 40GB, you have about 5GB unaccounted for, and if that's the case, I would set explorer to "show hidden files and folders", and then go to each of the directories on the root of the C drive and check "size on disk" in the properties.

 

[aaron11193]

You've totalled up 25GB there. Assuming those numbers aren't exact, if your partition is 35GB, then 9GB sounds about right for remaining space. At 40GB, you have about 5GB unaccounted for, and if that's the case, I would set explorer to "show hidden files and folders", and then go to each of the directories on the root of the C drive and check "size on disk" in the properties.



Yes, the numbers are rounded up and there's other directories that are <1GB in size in my root ( or C:/ ( or C:\.. whatever, it's the root directory ) )

I have "show hidden files and folders" checked always, but even so, when I mount my WinXP partition in Linux I see even more hidden files. M$ lies again!

I think I'll just wait for my USB--> IDE adaptor ( is it spelt adapter? FF thinks so.. ) to get here so I can store some of my crap on some of the spare HDDs I have lying around.