Resizing Harddrive - solved - kinda sorta

[dangbert]

I have a 500GB Hd that I have partitioned into a couple of 75GB partitions with the rest of the drive unpartitioned.  I would like to utilize some of that unformatted space, which butts right up the the partition my latest and fully updated version of PCLinuxOS in mounted on (SDA7).  

This is not a life or death issue, but I do have a question on resizing the harddrive.  But back in the "ole days" Grub booted to the partition and files indicated. Now with the "new and improved" system each partition is given a code and whoa to you if you do anything to change the size of the partition because the code changes and you can no longer boot into that partition.


I have an older version mounted on another partition that I could boot into.  In the old days, I would boot into that OS, unmount SDA7, resize it, remount it and reboot back into it.   Having had the IUDD (or whatever its called) changed on me and the fun of dealing with that, I am really hesitant about doing anything.

So the questions are:

Can I do it?
How do I do it?

Thanks

Deb

[Old-Polack]

I have a 500GB Hd that I have partitioned into a couple of 75GB partitions with the rest of the drive unpartitioned.  I would like to utilize some of that unformatted space, which butts right up the the partition my latest and fully updated version of PCLinuxOS in mounted on (SDA7). 

This is not a life or death issue, but I do have a question on resizing the harddrive.  But back in the "ole days" Grub booted to the partition and files indicated. Now with the "new and improved" system each partition is given a code and whoa to you if you do anything to change the size of the partition because the code changes and you can no longer boot into that partition.


I have an older version mounted on another partition that I could boot into.  In the old days, I would boot into that OS, unmount SDA7, resize it, remount it and reboot back into it.   Having had the IUDD (or whatever its called) changed on me and the fun of dealing with that, I am really hesitant about doing anything.

So the questions are:

Can I do it?
How do I do it?

Thanks

Deb

A few points:

It would be a good idea to post the output of     fdisk -l     as root. (That's a lower case L not a number 1)

You don't resize drives; their size is fixed. You can resize partitions on the drive. If you are going to create a new partition to use some of the unused space, there is no need to resize the present partitions, so the problem you mention won't happen. If you choose to resize a partition, and the UUID changes, and you don't want to mess with finding and using the new one, you can label the partition, and use the label in the same manner as you would use the UUID. Labels are easier to remember, and use, because they can have a direct bearing on the contents of the partition. I label all of my partitions. Labels can be created from a number of Linux applications; I prefer tune2fs.

[root@localhost ~]# tune2fs -L <labelname> /dev/sdxn         <Enter>

Replace <labelname> with the actual label you wish the partition to have, and x and n with the drive designation, and partition number of the partition you wish labeled.

Examples:

My fstab;

Code:

# Entry for /dev/sdc14 :
LABEL=minime2010        /                       ext4    defaults,noatime                1 1
LABEL=TR5-Documents     /home/polack/Documents  ext3    defaults,noatime                1 2
LABEL=Documents2        /home/polack/Documents2 ext3    defaults,noatime                1 2
LABEL=share7            /share7                 ext3    rw,user,auto,exec,noatime       0 0
LABEL=share9            /share9                 ext3    rw,user,auto,exec,noatime       0 0
LABEL=movies            /movies                 ext3    rw,user,auto,exec,noatime       0 0
LABEL=movies2           /movies2                ext3    rw,user,auto,exec,noatime       0 0
LABEL=TV-1              /tv                     ext3    rw,user,auto,exec,noatime       0 0
LABEL=storage00         /zstorage00             ext3    rw,user,noauto,exec,noatime     0 0
LABEL=120backup         /zbackup                ext3    rw,user,noauto,exec,noatime     0 0
LABEL=boot200           /mnt/boot               ext3    rw,user,noauto,exec,noatime     0 0
none                    /proc                   proc    defaults                        0 0
# Entry for /dev/sda2 :
LABEL=swap200           swap                    swap    defaults                        0 0
# Entry for /dev/sdc2 :
LABEL=swap1000          swap                    swap    defaults                        0 0
# Entry for /dev/sde2 :
LABEL=swap750           swap                    swap    defaults                        0 0
none                    /dev/pts                devpts  mode=0620                       0 0
/dev/fd0                /mnt/floppy             auto    rw,user,noauto,exec             0 0
/dev/sr0                /mnt/cdrom              auto    ro,user,noauto                  0 0
/dev/sr1                /mnt/dvd                auto    ro,user,noauto                  0 0
# none                  /dev/shm                tmpfs   defaults                        0 0

My boot stanza for this installation;

title MiniMe 2010
kernel (hd0,0)/minime2010/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=MiniMe_2010 root=LABEL=minime2010  resume=LABEL=swap1000 vga=791
initrd (hd0,0)/minime2010/initrd.img

I created the swap partition label with the command;

[root@localhost ~]# mkswap -L swap1000 /dev/sdc2          <Enter>

The -L <labelname> is the same as used with tune2fs to label regular partitions.

The blkid command reports all the LABEL= and UUID= information for all the partitions on your machine, as well as the format used on each partition.

[root@littleboy ~]# blkid

Code:

/dev/sda1: LABEL="boot200" UUID="6e33d09e-b09d-49da-bae7-c7a40a0b6671" TYPE="ext3" SEC_TYPE="ext2"
/dev/sda5: LABEL="TV-1" UUID="2be4fddf-f783-4449-bf36-2dff451c9ab9" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdc14: LABEL="minime2010" UUID="ab32e99a-5bb8-4360-b75d-e13df5412608" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sda2: LABEL="swap200" UUID="63298e54-0115-44cc-bd22-16ded462cffb" TYPE="swap"
/dev/sda3: LABEL="TR5-2" UUID="3b7d8a95-2144-431c-ae9e-935a9e40b5f1" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdb1: LABEL="usb_boot" UUID="77ad8b9e-39cf-4ff6-88e4-6c4fe1cd33f9" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdb2: LABEL="swap160" UUID="b69ed243-1225-4fc2-be9f-6637c9108391" TYPE="swap"
/dev/sdb3: LABEL="usb_root" UUID="3d637e7e-0844-4edb-a85e-d5a9e45fd8cf" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdb5: LABEL="usb_home" UUID="d4df1799-91e0-4946-9bd7-526ea1989f8f" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdb6: LABEL="share7" UUID="ff1937e8-f0ba-4a33-a544-ddfb3fd7a269" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdb7: LABEL="minime160" UUID="33fde9f7-aec2-44cc-8ae4-c32749414220" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdc1: LABEL="boot1000" UUID="10165aee-8b41-4c52-aa7e-c6b0d6d17eeb" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdc2: LABEL="swap1000" UUID="8b44f813-fd45-4f94-b519-28300b4791ad" TYPE="swap"
/dev/sdc3: LABEL="TR5" UUID="6ae6cf37-7fd2-4b9c-86dc-f037141745bb" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdc5: LABEL="TR5-Documents" UUID="9c1bbdf4-5f3c-4d70-b03a-983504da6c15" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdc6: LABEL="tmpback" UUID="dcf02721-aca8-494f-8182-cc8ab1df8430" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdc7: LABEL="TR6" UUID="36feb97d-2f61-4709-b6f5-8e8d8fee3370" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdc8: LABEL="fullmonty" UUID="872d45ed-de83-4e97-88a8-a4c9e48b96c2" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sdc9: LABEL="mmbuild" UUID="003077db-2988-4dcf-9baa-58e1798a4a85" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdc10: LABEL="st-backup" UUID="7b1f293e-8deb-49de-adbf-db9173fd2599" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdc11: LABEL="os-backups" UUID="3d1692bb-afe0-4648-b5be-d30f1eca32e7" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdc12: LABEL="movies2" UUID="fad35a11-5738-401e-88b6-56b78dfeb15a" TYPE="ext3" SEC_TYPE="ext2"
/dev/sdc13: LABEL="openbox" UUID="98eedd96-8d4a-4098-aa53-c57f0333ed89" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sdc15: LABEL="kde2010" UUID="f5b15060-9731-4dd8-9250-3d347b883295" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sdc16: LABEL="part16" UUID="1940cfcb-a101-46b1-b3ec-ed4b0550836c" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sdc17: LABEL="part17" UUID="5319bdcb-b9eb-48e3-9033-a21549f1477c" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sdd1: LABEL="750boot" UUID="985efd35-13a4-4279-8129-0f9552d95ccb" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdd2: LABEL="swap750" UUID="0ccd09b0-ebb4-4f78-8c73-632232adf438" TYPE="swap"
/dev/sdd3: LABEL="750pclos" UUID="ace4498d-cd4b-458b-9b0c-853c0679fe70" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdd5: LABEL="Documents2" UUID="d9550e51-e2e6-4b48-b382-d491ab0bc1ea" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdd6: LABEL="share9" UUID="3abe7220-57d1-40c8-acb3-b8d13585577f" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdd7: LABEL="Documents" UUID="6c984560-d3bc-4ea9-b2ad-62586c662bcf" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdd8: LABEL="750mm" UUID="b512d57e-3c7a-4226-96ea-98ba93d5d486" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdd9: LABEL="movies" UUID="90ae3f6a-46b2-485a-886d-e4c203491907" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdd10: LABEL="120backup" UUID="3dff9abc-88c0-47dc-bd2c-f3f991acab69" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdd11: LABEL="storage00" UUID="f0320f20-48d5-4ddb-89ed-9da4676aefa4" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"

[dangbert]

First, "My Bad" I meant resize the partition.

I am running the "ext4" format and from what I read "tune2fs" can handle "ext2" and "ext3" file systems.  Can it handle "ext4"?

Thanks

Deb

[Old-Polack]

First, "My Bad" I meant resize the partition.

I am running the "ext4" format and from what I read "tune2fs" can handle "ext2" and "ext3" file systems.  Can it handle "ext4"?

Thanks

Deb

Yes. It worked on all of mine.

[genomega]

Labels are easier to remember: Now that has to be the under statement of the year. 

[dangbert]

Here is my current "fstab"

# Entry for /dev/sda8 :
UUID=7f8ea662-4f85-44d0-bc43-104c0b18c656 / ext4 defaults 1 1
# Entry for /dev/sda7 :
UUID=ee562ae7-a466-488b-8148-a0cbfd2c0829 /2010 ext4 defaults 1 2
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
# Entry for /dev/sda5 :
UUID=62ac1576-91d6-41b6-99eb-8cdd9734d132 swap swap defaults 0 0
none /dev/pts devpts defaults 0 0
tmpfs /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0


However, I just picked up another problem.  Konqueror is trying to bring up Dolphin.  The SuperUser version of Konqueror works fine, it is the User version that has the problem.  I have had this once before and forget what I did to cure it.  But until I get this straightened out, I am not about to change "fstab" information. 

That being said, once I do, I assume I would use your instructions above and make the necessary changes.  Right?

Thanks

Deb

[Old-Polack]

Here is my current "fstab"

# Entry for /dev/sda8 :
UUID=7f8ea662-4f85-44d0-bc43-104c0b18c656 / ext4 defaults 1 1
# Entry for /dev/sda7 :
UUID=ee562ae7-a466-488b-8148-a0cbfd2c0829 /2010 ext4 defaults 1 2
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
# Entry for /dev/sda5 :
UUID=62ac1576-91d6-41b6-99eb-8cdd9734d132 swap swap defaults 0 0
none /dev/pts devpts defaults 0 0
tmpfs /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0


However, I just picked up another problem.  Konqueror is trying to bring up Dolphin.  The SuperUser version of Konqueror works fine, it is the User version that has the problem.  I have had this once before and forget what I did to cure it.  But until I get this straightened out, I am not about to change "fstab" information. 

That being said, once I do, I assume I would use your instructions above and make the necessary changes.  Right?

Thanks

Deb

At least on the pass server KDE is being upgraded to KDE4.5 as I type this; 242 packages in my case. Whatever the problem is, it will probably no longer exist once the upgrades are applied. There may be new oddities, to replace them, or the upgrade may be flawless. We won't know for sure until the upgrades are installed. I'm doing that right now.

I wouldn't be spending too much time with concerns for anything KDE wise, before the upgrade.

[dangbert]

Well, I think I fixed it, kinda sorta.  It was rather drastic though

I installed a new HD.  I tried to do the updates on a system that had been updated yesterday and got the dreaded error message that I had broken links or broken packages.  This is about the third time I have had problems and it always seemed to be something in the software that had corrupted the file system.

Any after playing with it for a little bit, I deleted files out of "tmp" on root, it would not boot, into either OS I had loaded (2010 or 2010.1).  So, having another, and new, HD layiing around, I decided to bite the bullet and do a complete change over.  The good news is, I did another install into a blank partition on the old HD and saved all my data files.

The process goes on and I will let you know.

Deb

[dangbert]

It appears the problem was a defective harddrive.  So, the resizing problem was solved when i installed the new HD. 

Thanks to one and all


Deb