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03-09-2017, 09:00 PM
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#1
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Member
Registered: Jan 2017
Location: Thailand
Distribution: Mint 20.3 Cinnamon 64-bit 12Gb RAM (Linux newbie, Dummies level)
Posts: 412
Rep: 
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Gparted to resize & move partition
I’ve use Gparted once before to increase the size of my Linux partition. This time I want to reduce that size and (I assume) move it to allow for resizing my Windows partition (that needs increasing in size).
It’s probably easier if I refer to the attached images.
gparted1 shows sda6 (my Linux partition) I want to shrink and move, so that there’s a continuous free space at the end of sda5 (my Windows data partition), between that and sda6.
See gparted4 showing how I want to end up with the partitions rearranged.
gparted2 shows how I tried to configure sda6 by reducing the partition size and setting some space preceding it.
Doing that causes the warning as shown in gparted3. I assume I take that seriously?
If I only resize but don’t try to move Linux (sda6) Gparted puts the unallocated space at the end of sda6, between that and the Linux swap partition.
I’ve read the Gparted faq as indicated in the warning message. It looks very complicated, even if I discover whether I use GRUB or GRUB2?
I haven’t done anything yet, hopefully awaiting advice from other users here.
If I reduce my Linux partition, how can I end up with enough space immediately preceding it to allow extending my Windows partition?
From the way I read it, I can’t moved the Linux partition to where I want?
Or have I missed the point somewhere?
I was initially working on the assumption that after reducing the Linux partition I would have unallocated space between that and the Windows partition, which I thought I’d use Partition Master in Windows to extend it.
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03-09-2017, 09:11 PM
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#2
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LQ Veteran
Registered: Aug 2003
Location: Australia
Distribution: Lots ...
Posts: 21,340
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All warnings should be taken seriously.
In this case it is pretty easy to fix as the linked article shows. If you are using Mint 18 then you are using grub2. My advice would be to proceed - you might be lucky and everything "just works", else you'll need to follow the article.
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1 members found this post helpful.
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03-09-2017, 09:24 PM
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#3
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Senior Member
Registered: Dec 2014
Location: Montreal, Quebec and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia CANADA
Distribution: Arch, AntiX, ArtiX
Posts: 1,364
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Quote:
Originally Posted by syg00
All warnings should be taken seriously.
In this case it is pretty easy to fix as the linked article shows. If you are using Mint 18 then you are using grub2. My advice would be to proceed - you might be lucky and everything "just works", else you'll need to follow the article.
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Agree with syg00. GParted always provides this warning when making certain important changes. I have used it extensively and rarely run into a boot problem afterwards. If you do, as mentioned, it can be fixed.
So I would also go ahead and deal with any problems should they occur. There is no other way to make room for your sda5 partition.
Just for my understanding, you are using this sda5 ntfs partition for data that is available to both the linux and Windows systems, right ? The Windows system boots from the other (primary) ntfs partition called "Gateway" at sda2 ? ... just curious.
Last edited by Rickkkk; 03-09-2017 at 09:26 PM.
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1 members found this post helpful.
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03-09-2017, 09:27 PM
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#4
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LQ Guru
Registered: Nov 2008
Location: Pictland
Distribution: Linux Mint 21 MATE
Posts: 8,048
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Personally, I would go with it and, if my machine didn't boot up into Linux, throw Boot Repair Disk at it (booting off a DVD/CD/USB media).
I would also go your planned route and use Partition Master or similar in Windows afterwards to resize the Windows partition (and filesystem).
However, even if you do all that, and it works, sda5 will still be pretty crammed full. You would just be kicking the can down the road if you're going to be amassing files at that rate. If I were you, I would consider getting a larger hard disk or adding another disk into your machine setup if possible.
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1 members found this post helpful.
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03-09-2017, 09:54 PM
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#5
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Member
Registered: Jan 2017
Location: Thailand
Distribution: Mint 20.3 Cinnamon 64-bit 12Gb RAM (Linux newbie, Dummies level)
Posts: 412
Original Poster
Rep: 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rickkkk
Agree with syg00. GParted always provides this warning when making certain important changes. I have used it extensively and rarely run into a boot problem afterwards. If you do, as mentioned, it can be fixed.
So I would also go ahead and deal with any problems should they occur. There is no other way to make room for your sda5 partition.
Just for my understanding, you are using this sda5 ntfs partition for data that is available to both the linux and Windows systems, right ? The Windows system boots from the other (primary) ntfs partition called "Gateway" at sda2 ? ... just curious.
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Yes, the Windows primary partition is Gateway. For years, even before I ventured into Linux I always separated my data in that Data partition. Then if I had to re-install Windows at some point, I could do that and wouldn't lose the data.
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03-09-2017, 09:58 PM
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#6
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Senior Member
Registered: Aug 2009
Distribution: Rocky Linux
Posts: 4,805
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If you are booting via GRUB installed in the MBR you should be fine. Partition sda5 is a non-issue. It is neither a Linux nor Windows boot partition, and it can be moved freely. Partition sda6 is your Linux boot partition. Moving that is potentially a problem, but the default installation of GRUB in the MBR embeds the position-critical portion of the boot loader in the empty space between the MBR and the start of partition 1. You can run "fdisk -l /dev/sda" and verify that partition 1 starts at sector 2048, which allows plenty of space for that boot loader.
The worst that can happen (assuming no glitch that crashes the machine with the move/resize partially done) is that you would have to boot from Linux installation or boot repair media and reinstall the boot loader.
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03-09-2017, 10:02 PM
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#7
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Member
Registered: Jan 2017
Location: Thailand
Distribution: Mint 20.3 Cinnamon 64-bit 12Gb RAM (Linux newbie, Dummies level)
Posts: 412
Original Poster
Rep: 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hydrurga
Personally, I would go with it and, if my machine didn't boot up into Linux, throw Boot Repair Disk at it (booting off a DVD/CD/USB media).
I would also go your planned route and use Partition Master or similar in Windows afterwards to resize the Windows partition (and filesystem).
However, even if you do all that, and it works, sda5 will still be pretty crammed full. You would just be kicking the can down the road if you're going to be amassing files at that rate. If I were you, I would consider getting a larger hard disk or adding another disk into your machine setup if possible.
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Morning (for me anyway),
Ideally I would like to have a larger hard disk, but finances don't permit at the moment.
At what distance might I have to stand from the PC if I throw the Boot Repair Disk at it? Ha ha!
Last edited by paxolin; 03-09-2017 at 10:06 PM.
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03-10-2017, 12:11 AM
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#8
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LQ Guru
Registered: Nov 2008
Location: Pictland
Distribution: Linux Mint 21 MATE
Posts: 8,048
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Quote:
Originally Posted by paxolin
Morning (for me anyway),
Ideally I would like to have a larger hard disk, but finances don't permit at the moment.
At what distance might I have to stand from the PC if I throw the Boot Repair Disk at it? Ha ha!
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At least 2 cubits. 
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03-10-2017, 02:27 AM
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#9
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Member
Registered: Jan 2017
Location: Thailand
Distribution: Mint 20.3 Cinnamon 64-bit 12Gb RAM (Linux newbie, Dummies level)
Posts: 412
Original Poster
Rep: 
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Mission successfully accomplished. Thanks for all the suggestions.
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03-10-2017, 02:30 AM
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#10
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Member
Registered: Jan 2017
Location: Thailand
Distribution: Mint 20.3 Cinnamon 64-bit 12Gb RAM (Linux newbie, Dummies level)
Posts: 412
Original Poster
Rep: 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hydrurga
At least 2 cubits. 
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Those pesky imperial measurements. How long is a cubit? I always thought it was ten minutes.
I see in reality it's the distance from the tip of the middle finger to the base of the elbow. So those guys really did know their a*** from their elbow.
Last edited by paxolin; 03-10-2017 at 02:31 AM.
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