Arch Linux

Realhuman561

Guest

[Solved] Extend volume greyed out?

I'm on a dualboot system with windows 11 insider and archlinux. I need to expand my archlinux volume but all options are greyed out in diskmgmt from windows (except for delete volume). Do i have to do it from a different program, from archlinux, or via a bootable usb? I don't even know if this is the right place to ask about this. Note: I am dual-booting from two different drives, but i have important data on the drive i use for arch so anything that involves data loss or risk of data loss is out of the question. Also note that the drive i use for arch has arch in a seperate partition to the data i need to keep.

Drives:
128gb ssd for windows
1tb drive with around 25 gb reserved for arch (this is the drive i'm trying to expand by another 25gb)
1tb removable ssd for games and other data

Note 2: The volume I use for arch is not visible from Explorer. I have no idea if this is related or not.

Note 3: I am extremely tired, so I may be slow to respond.

Last edited by Realhuman561 (2021-08-17 21:56:07)

Ammako

Member

Registered: 2021-07-16

Posts: 267

Re: [Solved] Extend volume greyed out?

You're probably not going to be able to do any operations on a linux filesystem from Windows side without using some kind of third-party addon or program to interact with it. I probably wouldn't recommend going that route, not sure I'd want to trust Windows' ability to properly handle linux filesystems without causing any breakage.

You'll have to boot into a live usb, shrink your 975 GB partition to 950 GB, and then extend the 25 GB partition to 50 GB. Shrinking a partition is always touchy though and I'm not sure I can recommend doing this without at least making a backup of your important data first. Given that this data is important, you already have a backup though, right?

Slithery

Administrator

From: Norfolk, UK

Registered: 2013-12-01

Posts: 5,776

Re: [Solved] Extend volume greyed out?

but i have important data on the drive i use for arch so anything that involves data loss or risk of data loss is out of the question.

Any operation that involves resizing partitions runs the risk of data loss, but as the data is important you already have multiple backups, yes?

---

No, it didn't "fix" anything. It just shifted the brokeness one space to the right. - jasonwryan
Closing -- for deletion; Banning -- for muppetry. - jasonwryan

aur - dotfiles

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 77,372

Re: [Solved] Extend volume greyed out?

Especially because

Note 3: I am extremely tired, so I may be slow to respond.

shrink your 975 GB partition to 950 GB

Which is the step that's very prone to data loss, because you have to actually move the filesystem.
Doing that without backups is almost begging for trouble, especially if you've no idea what you're doing to begin with and are tired on top of that (speaking out of experience here, I once was a very young god and did very stupid things ;-)

Whatever you do, the most important thing to understand is that you have to:
a) shrink the filesystem before you shrink the partition and
b) grow the partition before you grow the filesystem.

---

How to upload text · How to boot w/o GUI · Disable Windows Fast-Start! · Fix your xinitrc

Realhuman561

Guest

Re: [Solved] Extend volume greyed out?

You’ll have to boot into a live usb, Shrink your 975 GB partition to 950 GB, and then extend the 25 GB partition to 50 GB

I have previously shrunk the file system. I will boot into a live usb when i get the chance.
Thank you!

Last edited by Realhuman561 (2021-08-17 22:02:58)

Ammako

Member

Registered: 2021-07-16

Posts: 267

Re: [Solved] Extend volume greyed out?

As long as you understand and accept the risks of doing so without a backup.