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#1 2010-08-17 02:41:50

ctown.myth
Member
Registered: 2010-02-10
Posts: 169

Need some help modifying partitions

Hello everyone,

I want to re-partition my HDD, and I have some questions about if particular things can be done. I currently triple boot on my notebook between Windows 7, Arch and Ubuntu. The reason was that until recent kernels, I would get horrid battery life on Linux, in the window of 3-4 hours, while Win7 would give me around 6. Since everything now works just right, I would like to erase my Win7 partition and boot Arch and/or Ubuntu.

But I partitioned my HDD a bit wonkly, and I'm not at home where I can safely backup my data to my desktop. Here's a overview of my partitioning scheme:

Partition #1: 100GB Win7 - this will go (NTFS)
Partition #2: 100GB "backup" partition - this was admitently, a mistake (ext4)
Partition #3: 30GB Arch KDE (ext4)
Partition #4: 20GB Ubuntu (ext4)

Now I wanted to keep Partition #2 (as /home), and increase the size to 200GB, but the problem is that I would have to extend it backwards. I google'd it and found that /ext3 partitions can't be extended backwards. Has that changed with /ext4? If it hasn't what can I do? Can I move the partition back to take over the old NTFS space, then extend it forwards?


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#2 2010-08-17 03:17:02

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: Need some help modifying partitions

Yes, you can extend the partition in either direction.
This may help: http://partedmagic.com/

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#3 2010-08-17 03:40:18

ctown.myth
Member
Registered: 2010-02-10
Posts: 169

Re: Need some help modifying partitions

Thanks! Will get to work now.


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#4 2010-08-17 08:49:34

Inxsible
Forum Fellow
From: Chicago
Registered: 2008-06-09
Posts: 9,183

Re: Need some help modifying partitions

what you need to do is :
1) Erase the windows 7 partition. This will then give you unallocated space | partition 2 | partition 3 | partition 4
2) Move the "backup" partition to the top of the drive. This will copy all the data to the head of the drive. partition 2 | unallocated space | partition 3 | partition 4
3) Then simply merge partition 2 with the unallocated space so you get partition 2 | partition 3 | partition 4


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There's no such thing as a stupid question, but there sure are a lot of inquisitive idiots !

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#5 2010-08-17 09:31:23

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: Need some help modifying partitions

Inxsible wrote:

what you need to do is :
1) Erase the windows 7 partition. This will then give you unallocated space | partition 2 | partition 3 | partition 4
2) Move the "backup" partition to the top of the drive. This will copy all the data to the head of the drive. partition 2 | unallocated space | partition 3 | partition 4
3) Then simply merge partition 2 with the unallocated space so you get partition 2 | partition 3 | partition 4

I think Gparted does step 2 and 3 at the same time. When you are asked what do you want to do with the free space, you can pick various setups:
100 GB free - 100 GB ext4
20 free - 100 ext4 - 80 free
0 free -100 ext4 - 100 free
etc.
You can merge all of the free space or just some.

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#6 2010-08-18 03:27:08

ctown.myth
Member
Registered: 2010-02-10
Posts: 169

Re: Need some help modifying partitions

Thanks, was going to move it first anyways, I'm just too afraid to loose any data by extending it backwards.


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#7 2010-08-18 09:27:07

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: Need some help modifying partitions

ctown.myth wrote:

Thanks, was going to move it first anyways, I'm just too afraid to loose any data by extending it backwards.

You should always have your data backed up, even if you're not playing with the partitions' setup.

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#8 2010-08-18 12:56:52

ctown.myth
Member
Registered: 2010-02-10
Posts: 169

Re: Need some help modifying partitions

karol wrote:
ctown.myth wrote:

Thanks, was going to move it first anyways, I'm just too afraid to loose any data by extending it backwards.

You should always have your data backed up, even if you're not playing with the partitions' setup.

I don't have the option of backing up, I'm currently away from home, and won't be returning any time soon.
And I rememberd another problem: once I mount the partition as /home, will any problems with file permissions occur?


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