[SOLVED]How to add unallocated space to ext4 root partition

[Rogviparoc]

Hello everyone

Would you please consider the following problem: the family PC is using Linux Mint 10 that was installed after Win XP.
The root partition has become too small and I resized the logical partition (hosting my F:/ ("Data") drive under Win XP) and was able to free some 30Gb.

My question may seem stupid but I cannot figure out a way to add this to my ext4 partition; can somebody plesae advise me ?

Many thnaks in advance,

R.

Attached you will find a screenshot of Gparted and the results of running command "sudo blkid", "sudo fdisk -l" and "sudo parted -l print".

[mintybits]

Hi. Yes, you can use the free space.
First step is to back up any crucial linux data just in case something goes terribly wrong. Best to do the same for Windows.

There are at least 2 ways to do this.

1) The simplest way - resize sda2
Boot a live linux CD and run GParted.
Use GParted to resize sda2, moving its start to the left to use the free space. This operation may take quite a long time so be patient and do not interrupt it or your linux partition will be trashed.
When finished, reboot and confirm linux boots.

2) The safer way, but more complicated - copy sda2, make sure the copy works and then delete the original
Boot a live linux CD and run GParted.
Use GParted to extend the extended partiton sda4 to the right...so that it contains the unallocated space.
Use GParted to copy & paste sda2 into the unallocated space inside the extended partition. The copy will be called sda6.
Change the UUID of sda2 so it is different from sda6. Otherwise Grub will get confused when trying to boot. In a terminal:

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sudo tune2fs -U random /dev/sda2

Now reboot into linux.
Confirm you are booted into the sda6 linux

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mount

Reinstall Grub for good measure

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sudo dpkg-reconfigure grub-pc

Then reboot and confirm all is ok.

Now you can boot live CD and run GParted and delete sda2 and extend the extended partition to the right and then extend sda6 to fill the unallocated space.

Option 2) is only worth the hassle if you haven't got an easy way to restore sda2 if anything goes wrong. This option allows you to change the UUID of sda2 back to what it was and then delete sda6 and have your original set-up. To see the UUIDs for your partitions use

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sudo blkid

To change sda2 UUID to a particular value:

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sudo tune2fs -U <uuid> /dev/sda2

[Rogviparoc]

Thank you very much for the detailed explanation.
I Will give it a try by next week-end (when I have plenty of time to mess things up )
I will keep you posted on this.

[Rogviparoc]

Here is what I did:
- I edited the profiles of the users so they might use backupmint;
- backup of every users data to a portable HDD with backupmint;
- I edited the profiles of the users back to their regular user's profile;
- I used the latest GParted disc to resize the root partition.

Gparted did the job beautifully and there was not a single problem when rebooting.


Now Linux Mint 10 has enough space.

Thank you mintybits.