Hi there,
I was wondering if there were tools to resize the size of a
partition under linux. I know there is one for Windows called
PartitionMagic, and I was wondering if there were the same kind of
thing for linux.

In other words, what I would like to do, is free the end of a
partition (fdisk says it is a HPFS/NTFS) so I can resize the partition
with fdisk, then in the free space I can put a swap partition...

It is not possible for me to backup the stuff on the partition, I am
ready to play with fire, but I would like to have reliable tools if
possible, and I am ready to test it on another computer before I try
it on this one.

I will be using KNOPPIX for this...

Thanks in advance!
Simon

In comp.os.linux.setup xm <xm@ca.inter.net>:
[..]

> In other words, what I would like to do, is free the end of a
> partition (fdisk says it is a HPFS/NTFS) so I can resize the partition
> with fdisk, then in the free space I can put a swap partition...

> It is not possible for me to backup the stuff on the partition, I am
> ready to play with fire, but I would like to have reliable tools if
> possible, and I am ready to test it on another computer before I try
> it on this one.

man ntfsresize

*WARNING*
There's no guarantee that it works, albeit it usually does, you
shouldn't start without a backup if the data has any worth to
you.

--
Michael Heiming (X-PGP-Sig > GPG-Key ID: EDD27B94)
mail: echo zvpunry@urvzvat.qr | perl -pe 'y/a-z/n-za-m/'
#bofh excuse 312: incompatible bit-registration operators

> man ntfsresize
>
> *WARNING*
> There's no guarantee that it works, albeit it usually does, you
> shouldn't start without a backup if the data has any worth to
> you.

Ntfsresize does guarantee non-destructive resizing and no data loss. It
doesn't guarantee that it always resizes the partition because there
are cases when it doesn't make sense. For example if NTFS has bad
sectors (hardware disk damage) or inconsistent (ntfsresize includes and
runs a severe, built-in NTFS checker before resizing). In these cases
it refuses resizing and will not modify NTFS at all.

But I agree about the backup. No guarantee for power loss and died
harddisk either or if the repartitioning (not the fileystem resizing)
goes bad:
http://mlf.linux.rulez.org/mlf/ezaz/...l#troubleshoot

szcs@abuse.co.uk wrote (in part):

> For example if NTFS has bad
> sectors (hardware disk damage) or inconsistent (ntfsresize includes and
> runs a severe, built-in NTFS checker before resizing). In these cases
> it refuses resizing and will not modify NTFS at all.

In this case, what you should do is make a total backup, replace the hard
drive with a new one, make the partitions the sizes you want, and then
restore from the backup. If you have bad blocks that the file system
notices, it is a warning to order the new hard drive right away.
>
> But I agree about the backup. No guarantee for power loss and died
> harddisk either or if the repartitioning (not the fileystem resizing)
> goes bad:
> http://mlf.linux.rulez.org/mlf/ezaz/...l#troubleshoot
>


--
.~. Jean-David Beyer Registered Linux User 85642.
/V\ Registered Machine 241939.
/( )\ Shrewsbury, New Jersey http://counter.li.org
^^-^^ 09:40:00 up 3 days, 12:21, 3 users, load average: 4.33, 4.27, 4.24

xm wrote:
> Hi there,
> I was wondering if there were tools to resize the size of a
> partition under linux. I know there is one for Windows called
> PartitionMagic, and I was wondering if there were the same kind of
> thing for linux.
>
> In other words, what I would like to do, is free the end of a
> partition (fdisk says it is a HPFS/NTFS) so I can resize the partition
> with fdisk, then in the free space I can put a swap partition...
>
> It is not possible for me to backup the stuff on the partition, I am
> ready to play with fire, but I would like to have reliable tools if
> possible, and I am ready to test it on another computer before I try
> it on this one.
>
> I will be using KNOPPIX for this...
>
> Thanks in advance!
> Simon

You don't need windoze for PM - You can boot then PM 8.0 CD. The GUI isn't
as slick as the windoze one but that's probably a feature :-)


/dan

Jean-David Beyer wrote:
> szcs@abuse.co.uk wrote (in part):
>
>> For example if NTFS has bad
>> sectors (hardware disk damage) or inconsistent (ntfsresize includes and
>> runs a severe, built-in NTFS checker before resizing). In these cases
>> it refuses resizing and will not modify NTFS at all.
>
>
> In this case, what you should do is make a total backup, replace the
> hard drive with a new one, make the partitions the sizes you want, and
> then restore from the backup. If you have bad blocks that the file
> system notices, it is a warning to order the new hard drive right away.
>
>>
>> But I agree about the backup. No guarantee for power loss and died
>> harddisk either or if the repartitioning (not the fileystem resizing)
>> goes bad:
>> http://mlf.linux.rulez.org/mlf/ezaz/...l#troubleshoot
>>
>
>

Thank you all, I will try and check the disk for errors and I believe it should
be alright, the data has no value to me, but it's an OS installed and working,
it would just represent the hassle of reinstalling it.

Thanks again!

Simon

On 2004-12-06, xm <xm@ca.inter.net> wrote:

> I was wondering if there were tools to resize the size of a
> partition under linux. I know there is one for Windows called
> PartitionMagic, and I was wondering if there were the same kind of
> thing for linux.

"parted" is a ncurses program that can do this for you; "qtparted" is a
GUI front end for parted that looks and acts a great deal like Partition
Magic. "System Rescue CD (http://www.sysresccd.org) has both on a bootable
linux CD.

--

-John (john@os2.dhs.org)