Hi,

I have currently Windows 7 and CenOS 7 installed. They are fairly split half by half. Windows is on the first two primary partitions, CentOS'es `/boot` is mounted to the third primary partition. CentOS other folders `/`. `/home`, etc. are simply on a the fifth partition which in turn is on the extended partition (4th). Also, CentOS uses LVM. Essentially there are 5 partictions but 4th is extended and 5th is inside the extended one.

I would like to get rid of Windows and use that half space somehow clever with another linux distro. I am thinking either Fedora, Ubuntu. This is the plan to:

* change CentOS'es boot partition to have 1GB and move it to the beginning of disk
* create another boot partition for the other Linux distribution; another 1GB
* resize alredy created 5th partition to use remaining space

Because both systems will be Linux I was also thinking to rearrange LVM so that I would have:
* two separate partitions for /root folders which linux distributions would use
* have a partition for /home which would be shared between distributions.

I think CenOS is installed on XFS. I am not sure how to proceed after removing windows. Are there any programs than can move / resize partitions without losing data?

Thanks.

I would suggest you think some more:
- what is the point of increasing the CentOS /boot partition ?.
- LVM is designed to give you flexibility without the need to resize partitions .
- LVM doesn't use partitions for filesystems, it uses lvs. Be careful with nomenclature.
- sharing home is iffy when different version of the same program (say firefox) are accessing it. Better to share a say /data partition for things like Documents, Pictures, Downloads. {u,g}id mismatch is also a potential problem.

Post the following output

To keep a greater number of previous kernels, which sometimes may be life saving. That's what I have been reading

Yes, I know but if I have free space after removing windows, I'd like to fill that space somehow. I thought I might add another physical volume to the group and then rearrange logical volumes. I don't know if I can mix things in primary and extended partitions.

Ok. That's the thing I did not know. Thanks.

3 kernels should be plenty. On my test system I keep 8, but that includes my personal build kernels.
As for the space you free up by deleting Windows, simply make a pv on all that space - add that pv to your vg, then you can use it all as you wish.. Makes no difference if it's primary or logical partition once you do the pvcreate.

Basically the less you go moving stuff around unnecessarily, the less opportunity for you to screw things up.
Be warned by one who knows ...

I was hoping for that easy solution! As long as I can use free space and add it to the already existing vg, I am going to just create another pv. How hard is it to rearrange an existing lv and add new ones? This may need shrinking and adding lvs. Shall I do it as root?

EDIT. Is it possible that two distributions can sue the same LVM?