resize partition in gentoo

andytheg · n00b Joined: 23 Nov 2011 Posts: 71 Location: BASEL

Hi all,

I would like to resize my partition under /
and add more space.

xaviermiller · Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 12:44 pm Post subject:

which filesystem?
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Kind regards,
Xavier Miller

andytheg · n00b Joined: 23 Nov 2011 Posts: 71 Location: BASEL

/dev/sda5

I was trying to unmount it, but got:

xaviermiller · Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 1:01 pm Post subject:

No, my question is not "which partition", but "which filesystem" : ext, btrfs, xfs, reiser... ?

Some filesystems accept to be resized, some other not.

The best way is to boot a live CD (e.g. SystemRescueCD) and resize the partitions (e.g. with gparted).
_________________
Kind regards,
Xavier Miller

andytheg · n00b Joined: 23 Nov 2011 Posts: 71 Location: BASEL

xaviermiller · Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 1:10 pm Post subject:

ext3 can be resized, you are happy

IMHO I prefer the solution of "backup/restore", which is sometimes much faster than move a partition.
_________________
Kind regards,
Xavier Miller

andytheg · n00b Joined: 23 Nov 2011 Posts: 71 Location: BASEL

uffff

my system runs on a virtual disk i could resize, but my home directory still has 16 gb left.
I was reading about resize the partition but i dont know the steps i have to do exactly... :roll:

xaviermiller · Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 1:21 pm Post subject:

boot a linux LiveCD, for example SystemRescueCD and resize the partition to adjust to the disk.
_________________
Kind regards,
Xavier Miller

andytheg · n00b Joined: 23 Nov 2011 Posts: 71 Location: BASEL

well I can't use a cd rom the gentoo is running on a xen server (virtual system) Is there a tool out I can use for change the partition?
emerge?

Thanks...

xaviermiller · Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 5:52 pm Post subject:

Hello,

It is really not recommended to resize the root partition when it runs. You need to start an other system to resize it.

Use the ISO image of the CD-ROM
_________________
Kind regards,
Xavier Miller

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 6:06 pm Post subject:

andytheg,

Resizing a filesystem is a two step process, maybe three step process.

First, you need some free space physically located at the end of the partition to be grown
Now you can resize the partition to include that free space. You cannot do this while the filesystem is mouted and you may need a reboot to get the kernel to see the new size anyway.
Once the additional space is in the partition, the filesystem can be grown into it. Ths step can be done on the live in use filesystem

If you want to make a habit of this sort of thing, you should use Logical Volume Manager, which is designed to expand and shrink logical volumes while they are in use - provided always the filesystems support grow/shrink. You cannot add LVM now - its an install time oprion.

To create space on root, you could move /usr/portage to /home/portage. Thats simpler and less risky than a partition resize.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

djdunn · l33t Joined: 26 Dec 2004 Posts: 810

you can always add LVM or luks or whatever, you just need an intermediary device to store your hard drive information on while you reset it up
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