Using SUSE 11.2 & XP on a Lenovo X61 laptop having a 140GB hard disk (now shows 130GB in XP with 11.4GB free) and 3GB of 1.99GHz RAM.

Hello:

While applying software I had chosen to install, the system said something about my disk space was getting kind of small.

What linux software do I use to find out what size the existing partition is (I assume it is 10GB), and, how do I determine how big I can make it (I assume up to 21.4GB - 10 + 11.4GB), and, how do I make it bigger?

Thank you.

Rob.

You can use gparted to resize your partitions.
Since you can't resize a partition while it's mounted I suggest you use a LiveCd distro to resize your partitions.
Ĩf you don't have a live CD distro you can download Ubuntu at http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download , that has gparted included.

I also urged to you to backup your important data before resizing.

[EDIT:]
you can also see the size and disk free space of your mounted partitions by issuing the command in a terminal:

I have a SUSE 11.2 LIVE GNOME CD as well as the 4.7GB DVD.

To use the LIVE CD, do I boot from it, and if so, do I do another 'install'?

Thanks,

Rob.

No. You don't do another install. If the live cd has gparted(I think it does) use it to resize your partitions.

[EDIT:]

Simple boot the cd or dvd but don't press the install button. Use it like a normal linux distro.

Now I'm dead - I don't know how to use a 'normal linux distro'.

lol. You do have suse installed on your computer?. I assume that you can do some basic operations.

I think Gparted is on the menu System->Administration->Gparted

How much of the used space in Windows is garbage you don't really need?

11GB free out of 130GB is not a lot. Filesystems don't work well when they are nearly full.

Laptop disk drives aren't low cost (like desktop disk drives) nor as easy to change (especially inconvenient to copy the contents of the old one to the new one if you don't have physical places to attach both).

But if you want to keep most of the files in the Windows system, you may need to get a bigger drive anyway. I would not suggest shrinking a Windows partition that is over 90% full.

If you decide to shrink it, either despite my advice or after deleting unneeded files, first boot into XP and defragment the partition. Linux partition tools are rather bad at shrinking fragmented ntfs partitions and even quite bad at recognizing when an ntfs partition is too fragmented for them to shrink.

It wouldn't hurt to look at gparted first while booted in the installed copy of suse. But you can't expand the root partition from there and you probably shouldn't shrink the ntfs partition from there. Just verify you can run it and look at the partitions.

Running Gparted from the suse liveCD should be very similar to running it from the installed suse. It may be a lot slower and it should need a different root password. But generally it should be the same.

Yes. I didn't noticed that you only have 11.4 GB free on windows.
I also advise you to fallow johnsfine advice.

I'm sorry, I do have SUSE 11.2 installed but I do not know how to do basic operations. (I guess that I don not understand the basic terminology either)

Perhaps it would be better if you told me where to find a tutorial on basic operations - I do not want to waste your time, or, the time of others.

Thanks,

Rob

First fallow the johnsfine advice. Go to Windows and free some space by removing unusessary files or buy a new bigger drive.
Please don't resize the partitions with only 10GB free.
After that come back here for more help.

Are you getting the above information from windows? You have a 130GB partition for windows? showing 11.4GB free? The free or unallocated would be your Linux partition.

I would agree with above posts that if this is the case, you should defragment windows and also remove any programs/data you don't need/want.

To partition in Opensuse you use Yast. Click the little green icon on the lower left, hover the mouse over Computer, you should see Yast in the menu above. click it and then click on System and in the window on the right you will see Partitioner, click that. A new window will open warning you to only use the program if you are familiar with partitioning. To continue click Yes and you will have another window open which lists your partition info (similar to fdisk). Right click on the windows partition and you will get options to: Edit, Resize, Delete.

Up to this point, no changes have been made.

So defrag windows, remove any data you don't need, do a backup and go for it...or not!

Make sure you get the correct windows (ntfs) partition!

Hello, again:

I am working on cleaning up my windoz programs & data...

Is it possible to put SUSE 11.2 on a portable external hard disk, all on its own, and use it when it is connected to my laptop?

If so, what type and size of external drive is required?

Thanks,

Rob.