1 Topic by johnroberts (edited by johnroberts 2007-03-06 06:10:52)

  • johnroberts
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Topic: Resizing of XFS partitions???(& bare-metal-restore) [SOLVED->feedback]

Hello everybody

I am a n(.)(.)b with Linux...I have built an AMD64 system, running  64bit openSUSE 10.1 to use a CFD package, openFOAM, (and remember my  old UNIX days almost 15 years back, on SGI Indigos...). Having set-up  the system, I considered it to be a good idea to take a backup image  of the hard disk in order to be able to do a bare-metal-restore in  case something going wrong. In this area I had experience only with Norton Ghost in Windows and taking into account Ghost does not support  XFS (my file system of choice...), I had to find another solution.

I am using an 80GB HD with:
a) an ~20GB system partition (XFS)
b) an ~50GB user partition (XFS)
c) the usual swap

I discovered Clonezilla LiveCD that supported XFS and seemed to facilitate inexperienced users by providing a GUI. I used it to take a  backup of the entire hard disk (everything: both partitions and MBR
info...) on an external USB2.0 hard disk. The image (with compression...) fits nicely on a single DVD5. My main question after that was how to proceed in case a bare-metal-restore was necessary with the critical detail being what should be the proper procedure if the  new target disk was of different (bigger) size. After some discussions with Steven Shiau from the Clonezilla team, he suggested the easiest route was to do a total restore using Clonezilla and then use GParted to resize the partitions as necessary by the new disk size.
If it is not too much to ask, I would like to ask for advice on  this. My main questions are:
1. Can I use GParted LiveCD to resize the partitions on an XFS set-up  disk (keeping the data intact...)
2. If it is possible, are there any specifics or distinct options I must be careful with in order to proceed??
3. If during the restore or resizing procedure the GRUB installation is damaged, is there an easy way to repair it (and how???)????

Many Thanks in advance
Best Regards
JR

2 Reply by johnroberts

  • johnroberts
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Re: Resizing of XFS partitions???(& bare-metal-restore) [SOLVED->feedback]

Here is an update on the above for anyone that might be interested in a similar scenario.
I managed to find a spare hard disk (of larger capacity than the original source) and decided to test a real bare-metal-restore on the new disk from the image I already had!!! My observations are:

1. GParted LiveCD works 100%

2. The only detail to mention is that after restoring with Clonezilla I resized the partitions in 3 separate steps and not all at once (in order to keep track of any problems...). Having 1 boot partition (system) and one user partition, the steps were: a. move the user partition towards the unallocated space and check if all went well...b. grow the user partition to the end of the drive and check...c. grow the (boot) system partition to the boundary of the user partition and check...

3. The only problem I had (I was forced to do the restore procedure twice...) was not due to GParted LiveCD but due to Clonezilla. The first time during the restore procedure, I left the default option for Clonezilla to reinstall GRUB on the MBR and that completely messed-up everything. After the restore although GParted worked properly, the system partition proved unbootable. I tried reinstalling GRUB properly through the openSUSE install media (there are available repair options...) but to no avail. GRUB would not reinstall...

Conclusion is, there IS a solid bare-metal-restore option even in XFS  (the X in XFS as in eX-otic :-D)


Good Luck to everyone
experienced and n(.)(.)b alike

3 Reply by LarryT

  • LarryT
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Re: Resizing of XFS partitions???(& bare-metal-restore) [SOLVED->feedback]

thx for reporting smile

Larry
GParted-project Admin
Former GParted-LiveCD maintainer (2007)