partitioning - Extend Existing Linux partition

07
2014-07
  • GSD

    I had a dual boot hard drive with Windows / Centos 6.5.

    I no longer needed Windows so I removed the /dev/sda1 and /dev/sda2 via fdisk. It now looks like:

    Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/sda3   *       21891       21955      512000   83  Linux
/dev/sda4           21955       31131    73707864    5  Extended
/dev/sda5           21955       21981      204800   83  Linux
/dev/sda6           21981       23511    12288000   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7           23511       31131    61211648   83  Linux

    I would like to take the space that was used by Windows and add it to sda7

    I have played around with parted,resize2fs,lvextend, etc but I can't seem to figure out exactly how to do this. Can anyone help by providing me with specific fully-working steps/commands?

    Thanks!

    • Answers
  • Ruslan Gerasimov

    Before performing this task, it's highly recommended that you backup your data.

    You cannot resize the partition under the Operating System working/running from the same partition.

    In your case, if the /dev/sda7 is your / file system from which you work and try to resize it, then you need to boot your machine from different place. You can make live CD, boot the machine from DVD or USB and run gparted from there. You can boot from Ubuntu's LiveCD and use GParted on it or download GParted's LiveCD .iso, burn it to a CD and boot into it.

    Unmount (if it's mounted) the partition that will be involved in the resize/move operation, /dev/sdaX (by right clicking and selecting unmount from the context menu),

    Since the unallocated space is to the left of the ext4 partition you wish to resize, you'll first need to move the partition to the left of the unallocated space, which might cause boot error. Follow GParted's instructions on moving partitions.

    As Gparted moves partitions, not unallocated space, it is may be quite complicated task to get your aim. This is because you have a number of partitions. So you probably need to move them all to the left. At the final step your partition /dev/sda7 will be moved and resized (increased).

    Moving partitions is a copying itself, so it is going to take many hours. So probably it would be easier to save all critical data as backup to external drive, and then delete all partitions, design a new partitioning, reinstall OS and restore your data from backup.


    • Related Question

    linux - GRUB: how find partition number (hd0,x)?
  • Alexar

    i am playing with grub and i change the root using:

    root (hda,x)

    how can i know what's x for /dev/sda7 ?

    fdisk -l

       Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1        1958    15727603+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2            1959        7476    44323335    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5            1959        4569    20972826    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6            4570        5352     6289416   83  Linux
/dev/sda7            6373        7119     6000246   83  Linux
/dev/sda8            7120        7476     2867571   83  Linux
/dev/sda9            5353        6135     6289416   83  Linux
/dev/sda10           6136        6372     1903671   82  Linux swap / Solaris

    the problem is that in Gparted view, the order is not like sda5, sda6, sda7, ... but the order is like:

    • sda6
    • sda9
    • sda10
    • sda7
    • sda8

    so what's x for /dev/sda7 ?


    • Related Answers
  • Jonathan

    First off, you need to realize that in grub, it does not use normal linux hard drive identifiers. Instead, the letters correlate to numbers, starting with zero (i.e. hda = hd0, hdb = hd1, etc).

    Secondly, the partition number starts at 0, not 1 like in Linux, so subtract 1 from the linux partition number.

    An example is: hda1 = (hd0, 0)

    Finally, grub does not differentiate between hd and sd devices, so everything is labeled hd.

    Thus, in your case, your grub entry for /dev/sda6 should read (hd0, 5)

  • fymita

    Easiest way to be sure is from grub cli and using tab completion.

    start by typing... root (hd0,

    then hit [tab]
    The tab completion should then list the partitions available. pick the one you think makes most sense close off the parentheses and on the next line type kernel /

    then hit [tab] again... if the files and directory structure look right you picked the right one... if not.. back up and redo the root line.