Resize a Windows or Linux Partition

How to modify or resize a Windows or Linux partition

If you have two SE (Windows and Linux) on the same machine and you want to make changes to your Windows partition, then i advise you to make changes to your Windows partition from Windows. Do not touch your Windows partition with the Linux resizing tools.

To resize your Windows partition go to Computer > Disk Management > right click on the Partition you want > Extend-Volume or Shrink-Volume.

Now for the Linux Partitions :

We are going to see some ways to see how we can resize a Linux Partition without damaging our disk. But before we start please Backup your Data before you start doing anything.

1)How to resize partition and filesystem with fdisk and resize2fs

So let's start !! The system has two Disks wich they are :

• /dev/sda 
• /dev/sdb

[root@f ~]# df -h

Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on

/dev/mapper/vg_foo-LogVol01

                       13G  4.6G  7.7G  38% /

tmpfs                 376M     0  376M   0% /dev/shm

/dev/sda1             485M  105M  355M  23% /boot

/dev/sdb1             494M  402M   67M  86% /yourpartitionname

1. Unmount the partition

[root@f ~]# umount / yourpartitionname /

[root@f ~]# df –h

Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on

/dev/mapper/vg_foo-LogVol01

                       13G  4.6G  7.7G  38% /

tmpfs                 376M     0  376M   0% /dev/shm

/dev/sda1             485M  105M  355M  23% /boot

2. Delete the partition

[root@f ~]# fdisk /dev/sdb

WARNING: DOS-compatible mode is deprecated. It's strongly recommended to

         switch off the mode (command 'c') and change display units to

         sectors (command 'u').

Command (m for help): d

Selected partition 1

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/sdb: 1073 MB, 1073741824 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 130 cylinders, total 2097152 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk identifier: 0x2dbb9f13

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

Command (m for help): w

The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.

Syncing disks.

3. Create a new Partition

[root@f ~]# fdisk /dev/sdb

WARNING: DOS-compatible mode is deprecated. It's strongly recommended to

         switch off the mode (command 'c') and change display units to

         sectors (command 'u').

Command (m for help): n

Command action

   e   extended

   p   primary partition (1-4)

p

Partition number (1-4): 1

First sector (2048-2097151, default 2048):

Using default value 2048

Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (2048-2097151, default 2097151):

Using default value 2097151

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/sdb: 1073 MB, 1073741824 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 130 cylinders, total 2097152 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk identifier: 0x2dbb9f13

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/sdb1            2048     2097151     1047552   83  Linux

Command (m for help): w

The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.

We created a new partition but we didn't finish yet, now we need to use the command resize2fs to successfully finish. Let's do it

4. Resize your filesystem with resize2fs

[root@fo ~]# resize2fs /dev/sdb1

resize2fs 1.41.12 (17-May-2010)

Resizing the filesystem on /dev/sdb1 to 1044192 (1k) blocks.

The filesystem on /dev/sdb1 is now 1044192 blocks long.

5. Re-mount extended partition

[root@fo ~]# mount /dev/sdb1 /yourpartitionname/

[root@fo ~]# df -h

Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on

/dev/mapper/vg_foo-LogVol01

                       13G  4.6G  7.7G  38% /

tmpfs                 376M     0  376M   0% /dev/shm

/dev/sda1             485M  105M  355M  23% /boot

/dev/sdb1             988M  402M  536M  43% / yourpartitionname*

2) Resize with GParted

This is a specialized distribution based on Debian that allows users to load GParted on any computer via an optical disc or USB flash drive. It does not require any installation , it boots from the media and runs solely in the RAM, but is able to resize partitions on any hard drives that are attached to the computer. This is the best option, as it has full access to the hard drives with minimal worry that something will break.

You can also install GParted via this command line :

sudo apt-get install gparted

Then you just have to open GParted let it scan your disk and just click on the partition you want to make changes to, then choose the option that goes with your needs and finally hit apply.

And for me i think this software is the best one. But you can also use KDE Partition Manager or Disks.

I hope this article was helpful and for any suggestions leave a comment bellow