Resizing root partition?!
 

How can I do this!? It's just too small, and my Home is too big. I've managed to take away space from Home (about 5 GB, which I was planning on using for /). However, the Mandrake Control Center partition manager requries a partition to be unmounted before one can resize it...and I obviously can't unmount root (error: No such file or directory)?

I tried using Partition Magic 8.0 from within Windows but that did not let me resize it?!

Thanks in advance!

First, a ext2/ext3 partition can't expand backwards, only forwards. To resize with linux use a bootdisk. Going through the Mandrake installation until you get to the partition manager part might work.

hi,

one way would be to use System Rescue CD -

http://www.sysresccd.org/

which includes QTParted, a partition editor modeled on Partition magic. The disc image is about 100MB in size, so only really an option if you're on a fast internet connection!

A word of warning though - do be *very* careful when attempting to resize partions... I managed to completely screw up a Linux installation just last week, doing a Linux partition resize. I'd certainly recommend a backup of all your important files before you even think about starting, and if you're hoping to shrink a Windows partition to make more room for Linux, make sure you de-frag it first!

Thanks. I've got nothing to backup on my Linux install, as I've only recently switched to Mandrake.

But...I didnt defrag my Windows partition before resizing it! Will this adversely affect my Linux system's performance?

And I do have broadband, so I'll get the ISO in about 10 minutes. I'll report back when done :)

Back...and it's a no-go

qtparted would not let me resize either of my ext3 partitions, only the Linux Swap and my Windows one. The "Resize" option was grayed out to be more specific. :(

Any other ways of doing this? (Kevin's way didn't work either)

hi,

if you didn't de-frag your windows partition, don't worry, it won't affect the performance of Linux; but, it's usually a good idea to de-frag a windows partition prior to resizing, to keep your windows install sweet.

as regards not being able to resize, ahem, this is where i kind of came unstuck...

my install consists of windows on /dev/hda1; i then have an extended partition on /dev/hda2, in which Linux itself resides on, i think, /dev/hda6 (/dev/hda5 is swap).

anyway, having shrunk my windows partition, i found that it was not possible to resize the linux partition 'down' to fill the available space; the whole linux partition first had to be moved down, then resized 'up', if you catch my drift. anyway, it all went horribly wrong, so i would *definitely* suggest your seeking extra advice before proceeding - i'm absolutely not an expert on this, and given the potential for filesystem damage, tread carefully.

you might be wondering why i suggested using the system rescue cd, given that i ran in to so much trouble - well, others have used it, and had no problems - it was, in my case i think, a case of 'operator error'....

I'll give you an option but it will only work if you have a spare hard drive with approximately equal or greater than the system hard drive you are currently using/wanting to resize the partitions.

Take a look here , follow the link and read the rest of the thread. You can then transfer everything from the spare hard drive back to the original if needed after repartitioning/formating the original. If you have any more questions, post back.