Disk Partition... Help!

[CraigyP]

Hi,

I just wondered if anybody out there could help me please.

I set up a partition on my laptop which I have Mint running on. Truth is I love it so much more than Windows, I mean really love it, and I wanted to make the partition bigger. I'm no expert with partitions but I followed some instructions on Windows which enabled me to set up the initial partition to install Linux Mint on. Now, I don't know if I should go back to Windows and shrink my hard drive some more, if I did I don't know if it would automatically make the Linux partition bigger or not. I really don't have a clue which Linux software to use or what to do. All I do know is which partition I want to make bigger. Or should that be larger?

Hopefully this isn't too stupid a question!

Thanks,

Craig

[vl1969]

What you need is called gparted,
BUT you can not shrink or expand live partition, ie. The partition you are running from.
Also there is always a chance of something going wrong, thus do a full backup of the system and be ready to reinstall a new, if some how you butch the changes. Boot from live cd and adjust partitions from there. Windows will not help you as it does not understand linux partitions.
Now a bit of trivia, if you had installed on btrfs it would be a lot easier to shrink expand even a live partition, tru you would have to use cli, but it still be easier . I however does not advocate the use of btrfs for any noob or close to that level.
It took me almost a year of playing with it to see the benefits and shortcomings of it.

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk

[jimallyn]

I have always used gparted for shrinking/expanding partitions. However, I have heard that for any Windows newer than XP, you should use Windows tools to shrink the partition, as gparted may have problems with it. I've never installed Linux on a machine that had anything newer than XP on it, so I don't have any experience with that. Generally, it is best to run gparted from a "LiveCD" as you cannot modify a partition that is currently mounted. gparted can be found on many "rescue disks" or utility disks.

[CraigyP]

Thanks guys,

I'll give it a go, after a backup.

Thanks again,

Craig

[Mark Phelps]

To shrink the Windows filesystem partitions, if your Windows is Seven or newer, use the Disk Management utility, It's pretty basic, but it will not result in filesystem corruption -- which is a risk you run using GParted to shrink Windows OS partitions.

Once that is done, you need to boot into a CD/USB and run Gparted from there to resize the Linux filesystem partitions -- as partition mods can't be made while the partition is in use.

[CraigyP]

Thanks Mark,

Yes, I have 8.1 and I used it to shrink the disk originally and then I installed Linux on the unallocated partition. So like that I shrink the drive again and then boot a DVD with gParted and then increase the partition with Linux by the same amount of memory?

Cheers,

Craig

[Mark Phelps]

and then increase the partition with Linux by the same amount of memory?

You're confusing two different terms. Disk space is not "memory".

But yes, you boot using the Gparted Live media and increase the size of the Linux filesystem partition to incorporate the new unallocated disk space you made available from Windows.

[CraigyP]

Thanks Mark,

Sorry, I did understand but I got the terms confused (disk space and memory!). The advice is very much appreciated, especially when it comes down to partitioning a hard disk!

Thanks again,

Craig

[austin.texas]

It may help to see what partitions you currently have, in order to tell the best way to approach it.
Please post the result of

Code: Select all

sudo parted -l

(That is a small L at the end - not a 1)

[Annoyingduck]

Just remember that windows disk management will not allow shrinking the windows partition less than half of the available space on the hard drive. So for larger drives (say 1tb) the smallest you'll be able to shrink windows is 500gb. Gparted does not have this limitation. One thing I have done in the past to overcome this is to use windows disk management to shrink to 50% of the drive, reboot, then use gparted to shrink it further (at your own risk of corruption).

[Flemur]

You can do all your partition changing at once with the "MiniTool Partition Wizard Boot CD".

Regardless of method - Backup your data first!

[CraigyP]

This is fantastic guys, thank you all for the support. I'll be giving it a go this weekend when I have plenty of time.

Thanks again,

Craig

[CraigyP]

Hello again,

Just to update you. I've managed to shrink the Windows partition and also enlarge the Linux one with GParted. Mint now has plenty of room to grow and both that and Windows are booting and working perfectly.

Thanks again to everyone for the help and support, I really appreciate it. Partitioning is pretty scary stuff but you got me through it!

Craig