I'm running slackware 9.1 with 2 partitions... a main partition and a swap partition.

60 gig harddrive
58 gig main
2 gig swap (i understand it's a lot of swap)

All i want to do is split my main partition into 2 partions so i can add windows XP pro on it, but without losing all my files. Is that even possible?

Please respond thanks

What file-system are you using?


Cheers,
Tink

i could be wrong but i think it's ntfs

Copy & paste the output of
mount
please ... slack DEFINITELY wouldn't run
of ntfs :) (unless you were an ueber-guru
and did some serious hacking ;})


Cheers,
Tink

/dev/hda1 on / type reiserfs (rw)
/dev/hdc on /mnt/cdrom type iso9660 (ro,nosuid,nodev)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,gid=5,mode=620)
proc on /proc type proc (rw)
usbfs on /proc/bus/usb type usbfs (rw)

it's reiserfs sorry

In this case you have (to the best of my knowledge)
only two choices:
a) back-up everything (probably using partimage and
a networked machine)
or
b)
buy and use the Paragon or Arconis Partition Managers

I'm not aware of any freeware or open-source tools
that will allow resizing ReiserFS partitions.


Cheers,
Tink

i hate my life then

thanks tho

I just thought of another alternative: :}

If the machine has enough grunt, get
vmware or qemu and run windows in a
virtual machine ;)


Cheers,
Tink

Tink-
I have a similiar problem except I have I hard drive that was partitioned with windoze as well as linux. I would like to remove the windoze and increase my linux partition. This is what I get when I type the command "mount":
/dev/hda3 on / type ext3 (rw)
/dev/hda1 on /win1 type vfat (rw)
/dev/hda2 on /win2 type vfat (rw)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,gid=5,mode=620)
proc on /proc type proc (rw)
none on /proc/bus/usb type usbdevfs (rw)
----
I used fdisk to make the partitions, so would I just delete the vfat partititions and make another ext3 partition or can I increase the size of the existing ext3?
Thanks and cheers
Neil

Two things:

Firstly: the problem is not similar at all, instead
of hi-jacking an existing thread you should be
firing off a new one for your problem :)

Secondly: ext2/3 can be handled by parted (qtparted
if it needs to be graphical) ... it's included in Knoppix,
for example. You can't do that resize to the mounted
partition.


Cheers,
Tink

OK, I want to deal with the problem of re-sizing a Reiser filesystem.

If what Tink says is true (and, coming from his authority, it most probably is), it's a disappointing aspect of the otherwise wonderul Reiser.

I have a suggestion though. With *any* partitioning, you should have a backup of all your sensitive files. I hope you weren't looking for lazy way out of that.

You could keep them on a CD, by using cdrecord on your cdwriter (if you have one). Alternatively you buy a USB stick or extra hard-disk, and just copy it all over. At some stage you will have a full back-up, and then you can clean install the whole thing, after partitioning.

I say this, because windowsXP likes being on the very first partition. And it's good practice to have back ups.

Another option, if you can delete unnecessary files and shave down your current slackware set up, is to split the swap partition itself, say leave it at 256M, which would allow you to create a middle of 1.75G, onto which you could transfer files from your Partition No.1. I admit 1.75G might not be enough, but I think that's possible with swap, as it's temporary stiorage only.

You will have to turn swap off, and umount it for that operation of course. but there are commands for that.

I just saw the following article which tells you how to put all your swap into RAM (check http://kerneltrap.org/node/view/3660) meaning that you could try use the full 2GB to try and fit your slack into.

I know that's asking alot, but, as I mentioned with efficient trimming you could copy over all the essentials into the 2GB, and then carve up your 58G partition in any way you want.

However, back-ups are always to be recommended-

I just used the systemrescue cd and qtparted to resize and move a reiserfs partition. Seems pretty d a r n easy to me.
First, I resized it down, commit changes.
Don't forget to leave a swap partition in place.
Then I moved it to the right side of the scale. I moved it to the right because Balkman stated that he wanted to install XP. It is usually easier to put Windows systems on the beginning side of a disk aka /dev/hda1.
When you are going to move the partition to the right, you need to make sure to resize it small enough so the entire partition will fit entirely to the right of where it ends.
In other words, if you have a 60GB drive, resize it down to less than 30GB or the move operation won't work.

After you successfully move things to the right, you can install MS in the normal position. Just make sure to not let MS take over the entire drive.
Also, you will need to edit your /etc/fstab and /boot/menu.lst or lilo.

Edit: I was using system rescue cd 0.2.15 . I don't know if the earlier versions work as well for this.

Well that would mean that resizing ReiserFS *is* possible. Sure it was Reiser, yes? Have you also tested? Interesting one. qtparted is only a gui, it must be using a Reiser tool behind the scenes. I'm tempted to try it out myself, if I had more time.

Yep, it's possible. Yes Qtparted is just a GUI front end. I have done the command line version of resize_reiserfs and fdisk but I thought the GUI tool would be easier to explain.
I don't have any particular attraction to reiserfs but just trying to be helpful.