Want to split current partition & clone current install to try upgrading to KDE4

[Nish]

My 2009.2 is fully updated but had to remove KOffice to do that.  I have this install sitting on a pretty big partition and had the idea to split the partition, clone the current install and try and upgrade to KDE4 on the cloned one so I could use Kexi.  And get used to KDE4. Seems like a plan

I am thinking I could boot with my gparted cd to split the partition.  After that I am kind of lost 

Just figured cloning would be best because this is updated.  Trying to start a fresh install of 2009.2 and updating it probably would fail since there is so much updating to do, no 

This is my current layout

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x43d343d3

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1       25496   204796588+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2           25497       60800   283579380    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5           25497       31870    51199123+   b  W95 FAT32
/dev/sda6           31871       32890     8193118+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7           32891       60800   224187043+  83  Linux

[gseaman]

Is gparted able to resize linux partitions without data loss? If it does, I'm going to download and try it. I have a reiserfs partition using my entire drive, so I have to use my older, underpowered machine for KDE4 testing, and that isn't going so well.

Galen

[travisN000]

Do a search of Old-Polack's posts for this topic..  he has posted a few times on how to do this sort of thing.

"rsync" is probably a good search term.  


(use the search page, linked top left, not the search box top right)
 

EDIT:  
The general idea is to set up your partitions, and then use rsync (console) or grsync (GUI) from a PCLOS liveCD to copy the original partition  to the duplicate.  IF you have a spare partition or other storage, it is probably a good idea to use rsyn to make a back up copy of your install before re-sizing.

Once done you will have to manually fix your /boot/grub/menu.lst and /etc/fstab files per your requirements.

[Nish]

wasn't sure about rsync and was thinking I would need to use something like ddrescue?  Also was considering hiding the original partition with grub (that I know how to do!) but figured I would still need to edit the fstab and grub now that they use uid.  I will search for Old Polack's post.  99% of my inability to find an answer in the forums is when I don't know the right search terms

and Galen, yes, gparted should be suitable for resizing linux partitions as it is a linux app.  I heard you should use partition magic for resizing windows partitions and a linux app for resizing linux partitions.

Now we have hardrake (sp?) on the live CD I was thinking of booting it to live CD to do the resize but not sure that is an option without actually installing PCLinuxOS.  Then again, I could install PCLinuxOS and then just overwrite with the clone, hmmmm

FWIW - my data is backed up to an external drive.  And I frankly don't care about what happens to windows partitions since I mostly use it for games that are easily reinstalled but the XP install itself I would not like to go through again (arduous, how many times do you REBOOT!!!!and ACTIVATION! It is mine it is retail full, leave alone whydontcha!!!)

But I would very much miss my PCLinuxOS install if I hosed it.  But real data is backed up.  

[travisN000]

Rsync is the best choice, as it verifies the data integrity as it copies, eliminating the worry of a corrupted copy.  

You should be able to use diskdrake / aka harddrake from a PCLOS liveCD as well;  There is documentation for it here:

http://linux.techteam.gr/docs/mandrake/10/starter/diskdrake.html

Most docs say that you risk loosing data when using it to resize paritions, but IIRC the last time I used it, it warned me if I tried to resize too small.

[Nish]

thank you , Travis.  There shouldn't be a problem with corrupted data on resize due to lack of room as my partition is 200GB and since I am currently using only a fraction of it (long story: IDE disks, optical drives and new mobo with one lousey IDE because I can't afford another SATA drive of any type there should be a ton of room.

I know in windows resize partition land you should defrag again and again until it is "perfect" before resizing.  But in linux there is no equivalent defrag.  I am using ext3.  Might hold off until next weekend to try the dirty deed

Would label myself as cautiously optimistic