resizing ext3 without loosing any data

bloob · n00b Joined: 30 Mar 2007 Posts: 4

What I wanna do, is to install XP on a disk I have a 120gb ext3 partition...
So basically I want to make a ntfs partition on the same disc as ext3 one.
I'm not able to do a backup, so I have to resize it as it's around half full.

edit: oh, wait, i just found partition magic ;> looking for linux version if there is one...
but maybe there's a quicker way I don't know of?

IQgryn · l33t Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Posts: 764 Location: WI, USA

Well, it's not recommended to do any partition resizing without a backup. However, I haven't ever had trouble resizing an ext3 partition, so if you're brave enough to try it, here's what I'd recommend:

Get the GParted LiveCD from http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php
Burn it to a cd and boot from it
Use GParted to shrink the ext3 partition to whatever size your prefer once the cd boots
Go ahead and create the new partition for windows while you're at it
Install Windows normally, taking care to only use the new partition created
Boot from any LiveCD that will let you chroot into your Gentoo installation
Re-run grub-setup
Add a Windows entry to Grub's menu

Depending on what you want to use windows for, something like VirtualBox may be a better choice. It won't work for games, but for most other things it works very nicely, and you don't have to repartition.

bloob · n00b Joined: 30 Mar 2007 Posts: 4

The only reason is to try out Vanguard Online, and I wasn't able to get it running with cedega ;]
Anyway, cheers

krenshala · Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 1:00 pm Post subject:

Ah, searching for topics before creating a new one is such a good thing.

Thanks for the info, IQgryn. What you posted is exactly the info I was looking for to extend my /usr partition -- take from /home, give to /usr ... all so emerge stops complaining that my 4Gb /usr partition is full. Now to make the appropriate backups ...
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krenshala
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