Easiest Method to Resize my Root / Partition

sml · 2012-02-07 02:38:19

I had a problem during a recent pacman -Suy, where my hard-drive root partition was full (I followed the default install of 10Gb - which obviously is not sufficient).
I did a pacman -Sc to clean the cache so I survived immediate danger.
I would like to resize my / parition from 10Gb to 20Gb and reduce my /home parition.

What is the safest method to do this?

If my computer is running, my / partition will be mounted so I guess I cannot resize with gparted?
Is gparted the easiest option?
Should I boot a live USB copy-to-ram system and then resize my partitions with gparted? maybe the gparted live distro would be good?
Any easier options with a few command line entries whilst my computer is running?

Mektub · 2012-02-07 03:19:47

sml,

the Gparted Live CD/USB is a good method.

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php

After a backup, of course.

Mektub

frank419 · 2012-02-07 15:04:45

Just to add what Mektub said, this will allow you to shift your data partition over and grow your root partition. This process, depending on how big you HDD is, will take 3 hours +.

sml · 2012-02-09 11:46:48

thanks guys .... ahhh .. thanks for the reminder that it will take so long ... it has been about 5 years since my last resizing and i hoped things had changed since then .. guess not

the SSD should help though

DSpider · 2012-02-09 12:14:25

I also have 10 GB reserved for Arch, and I keep my system "/" and "home" (where my user folder takes up 2.1 GB) together on one partition. After running pacman -Scc, I'm at 69% capacity with 2.55 GB free.

And you ran out of space with a SEPARATE home partition? Are you fricken kidding me? Check what's taking up so much space first. You can get by with 10 GB unless you installed complete DE's, several games and shit. It's probably /var/log/ most likely.

Learn2logrotate.

Last edited by DSpider (2012-02-09 12:21:36)

sml · 2012-02-09 12:17:37

thanks for the tip.

what's a good tool to check the size of folders.

kdiskfree only worked at partitions level only

Last edited by sml (2012-02-09 12:17:45)

DSpider · 2012-02-09 12:21:52

Right click - Properties

Edit: It just hit me that 2.55 GB is not 69% of 10 GB. Conky (and any other file manager) is wrong about my root drive. This is because some folders are locked to normal users (like /root/). Running "df -h" gives a much more accurate percentage (74%).

Last edited by DSpider (2012-02-09 12:29:46)

Mektub · 2012-02-09 12:24:08

I just use the command line:

cd /
sudo du -khs *

Mektub

kleskjr · 2012-02-09 13:06:16

An option you can do to avoid messing up with /, is to create a separate partition for /var.

whitethorn · 2012-02-09 13:07:15

sml wrote:

thanks for the tip.
what's a good tool to check the size of folders.
kdiskfree only worked at partitions level only

I like to use ncdu for this it's in the community repo. Basically just go to / and type in

ncdu .

Simple.

Ashren · 2012-02-09 13:39:18

Use lvm2 and never worry about situations like this again.

vacant · 2012-02-09 14:08:30

If you have a large number of arch packages and keep a large cache (after pacman -Sc) then just move the pacman cache off to a less full partition and change pacman.conf "CacheDir" accordingly.

e.g. you could even move the cache to /home. <-hint, you don't have to just store user directories there, it's your system after all.

Arch Linux

#1 2012-02-07 02:38:19

Easiest Method to Resize my Root / Partition

#2 2012-02-07 03:19:47

Re: Easiest Method to Resize my Root / Partition

#3 2012-02-07 15:04:45

Re: Easiest Method to Resize my Root / Partition

#4 2012-02-09 11:46:48

Re: Easiest Method to Resize my Root / Partition

#5 2012-02-09 12:14:25

Re: Easiest Method to Resize my Root / Partition

#6 2012-02-09 12:17:37

Re: Easiest Method to Resize my Root / Partition

#7 2012-02-09 12:21:52

Re: Easiest Method to Resize my Root / Partition

#8 2012-02-09 12:24:08

Re: Easiest Method to Resize my Root / Partition

#9 2012-02-09 13:06:16

Re: Easiest Method to Resize my Root / Partition

#10 2012-02-09 13:07:15

Re: Easiest Method to Resize my Root / Partition

#11 2012-02-09 13:39:18

Re: Easiest Method to Resize my Root / Partition

#12 2012-02-09 14:08:30

Re: Easiest Method to Resize my Root / Partition

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