1 Topic by MentalBeaver

  • MentalBeaver
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  • Registered: 2012-07-18
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Topic: Can I move unallocated space left and grow sda2 (NTFS) to use it?

Hello,

I may have got my laptop hard drive into a non-critical predicament.  I have Windows 7 and Linux Mint 11 dual booting.  Here is a GParted screenshot (using Live CD to make any changes, used GParted under "proper" OS to get screenshot):

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/263/gparted.png

I would like to move the unallocated space to the left next to sda2 (OS) which is my Windows 7 installation and doesn't have much space available.  I would then like to increase sda2 to take up the unallocated space.  The unallocated space was originally part of sda5 (DATA).

I referred to it as a non-critical predicament because the laptop is not really being used so if I had to reinstall then it wouldn't be the end of the world.

Can anyone offer any advice please?  Is there any other information I can provide?

Thank you for any help.

2 Reply by class413

  • class413
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Re: Can I move unallocated space left and grow sda2 (NTFS) to use it?

You have to move the extended partition and the contained logical partitions to the right.
First grow the extended, then move the 3 logical one by one, and finally shrink the extended from the start to the right.
Then, you will be able to grow /dev/sda2.

Please, try to respect the alignment (MiB or cylinder) of the existing partitions.

*** It is highly recommended to backup any important files before doing resize/move operations. ***

3 Reply by MentalBeaver

  • MentalBeaver
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Re: Can I move unallocated space left and grow sda2 (NTFS) to use it?

Finally got chance to try this today and it worked as you described.  Thank you for your help with this.

4 Reply by gedakc

  • gedakc
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Re: Can I move unallocated space left and grow sda2 (NTFS) to use it?

'Glad to hear that you were able to solve the problem.

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