[SOLVED] Can I split my Mint partition?

[gordon.cooke]

OK, so I know the short answer is YES with gparted, but with what issues?

I currently have a dual Vista and Mint 8- 64 bit. My partitions are:
sda1 Vista
sda2 Grub
sda3 /swap
sda5 / (mint8- 64bit) 20GB -- 6Gb used and 14 Gb free
sda6 /home
unallocated 42Gb

So I have a separate /home partition. I also have about 40Gb unallocated. I left this open so I cold set up some other distros for multi-boot. I've done this before and when the 64 bit mint came out I kind of started from scratch so I could have a separate home partition. I use mint as my main distro.

What I am thinking about is splitting my sda5 partition in half since mint8 is only using 6Gb. Anyone think 10Gb wouldnt be big enough for adding software in normal use (given separate home)? If I did so- would /home become sda7 (with a new 10Gb sda6)? How would this mess with mint finding /home? Ive tried google and the forums but cant find anything this specific (splitting between existing partitions). Id like to split sda5 into two 10Gb partitions- one for 64bit and one for 32 bit mint

Maybe it is just a bad idea? Would it be better (or possible) to shrink sda5 and then move sda6 to the left? I know Vista needs to be defragged before resizing, is there any equivalent in Linux or does GParted just handle it?

Yes I realize I can just add in to the unallocated space on the end of the drive (create sda7) but the 20Gb partition just seems like too much unused space considering I can fit a whole distro in there. Honestly it is a bit of an academic question- Id really like to understand the possibilities and implications of splitting a partition.

Related to this. Ive found lot of info about using a shared /home with multiboot- but always with different distros. Any input or concerns about haveing both 64 bit and 32 bit mint8? Could they share the same /home/user? Any differences in configuration files between 64 and 32 bit?

[shane]

I am not sure, but I think if you repartition in Linux the new partition created would be sda7 and sda6 will remain sda6. I think the Windows partition editors are the ones which will rename the partitions.

However, check out your /etc/fstab. If the partitions are identified by a long ID number instead of /dev/sda*, whatever happens should not affect the current Mint installation. If partitions are identified as /dev/sda*, you can simply edit this to the match the new partition scheme if required. Most probably you will have to do this from a Live CD.

[DataMan]

If the intent is to increase the size of the "unallocated" you can do it very carefully without having to wipe things out.

My suggestion is to do each step singly (do not gang things together in GParted).
1. Reduce the size of sda5 to the desired amount by dragging the right partition side to the left.
2. Once that has been completed, expand sda6 from the left to include the newly created unallocated space from sda5.
3. Finally, with the newly expanded size of sda6, reduce it down (again from right side of the partition moving to left).

You should now see your unallocated increase by the amount of space taken from sda5.

This could take a fair amount of time as GParted is going to be moving a lot of files around to complete some of these steps.

The usual warnings:
1. Make sure you're fully awake, sober and coherent before starting this.
2. Backup things in case of human / machine error.

-DataMan

[StanTheMan]

If you reduce the size of a Logical Partition with your partition editor and then create a new Logical partition in the empty space, the partition number will automatically change.
But if one of the partitions was mounted on /home , then it is necessary to edit your /etc/fstab file so that fstab will mount the new number on start up .

[gordon.cooke]

Update:

Sounds like 'splitting' the partition and leaving a new one between two existing ones is a bad idea. But I got everything worked out.

I booted up with a live CD of Mint8 and used GParted.
Shrunk the sda5 down from the right then applied the change.
(at this point there was unused space between the two partitions and looks like GParted would let me put a new one there)
Resized the sda6 to have 0 free space on the left and also moved the right side by the same size. Then applied the change.
This did take forever (it was a 100Gb partition). About 1-1/2 hours to read the partition and another hour to write it all in the new spot.
Made some changes to create partitions in the unused space at the end of the drive and applied
Rebooted to check out how it worked. No issues and everything is working fine since. No data losses or anything.

Thanks everyone for the help and advice.