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Topic: Minimum partition size is almost the same as max. size in Gparted

Hi,

I am a first-time user of Gparted. I would like to have a dual-boot on my hard drive, for both Windows (it's Win2000 and a version of Linux). The PC has only one HD, 40Gb. It's not brand new, as you've probably already guessed. The goal is to split its hard drive 50/50 between Windows and Linux.

Currently, all HD space is used by Windows, there's just one NTFS partition. But within it (according to Windows) there's 35Gb of free space (Windows and all installed programs take only about 5Gb). So, to be safe, I backed up the important Windows stuff, and ran Gparted from a LiveCD I just made.

When I click on Resize/Move, it shows me Minumum Size: 39072 Mib, Maximum Size: 39080 Mib.
Which makes resizing of the partition almost worthless. What should I do reduce minumum size? It's my understanding that disk defragmentation is not going to help, correct?

Any help is very appreciated.

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Re: Minimum partition size is almost the same as max. size in Gparted

could you please :
1) take and post a screenshot (details about that here : http://gparted.sourceforge.net/larry/ti … etails.htm )
2) past the output of "fdisk -ul"

thx !

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

3 (edited by yuri72 2007-01-19 21:12:10)

Re: Minimum partition size is almost the same as max. size in Gparted

LarryT, I promise to post a screenshot (if I have it) when I have a new question.

At this point, I figured out how to solve the problem. I had to use ntfsresize to resize my NTFS partition.
I just ran a terninal:

ntfsresize -i
It informed me that I have bad clusters on disk (I guess that's why resize window was showing an exlamation mark icon in Gparted?) on /dev/hde1. I used the following command to resize the volume:

ntfsresize -b -s 15G /dev/hde1

All went fine, and right after it was complete, I went to Gparted, where my new min. size for /dev/hde1 was 4320MiB (that's the actual space taken by Windows 2000 stuff). So, I was able to proceed and resize the partition to about 16.64Gb.

The only problem I had at this point, the Gparted refused to "reboot". I had to press reset button.

Rebooted Windows, let it do the disk check, reboot again, and now running the Windows with a smaller partition. So far, so good. Now it's time to
make some space for Linux.

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Re: Minimum partition size is almost the same as max. size in Gparted

so next time :
tell us about : livecd version, gparted version.
thx

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

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Re: Minimum partition size is almost the same as max. size in Gparted

It's the latest available one:

gparted-livecd-0.3.3-0.iso from here:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfile … _id=173828

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Re: Minimum partition size is almost the same as max. size in Gparted

yuri72 wrote:

It's the latest available one:

gparted-livecd-0.3.3-0.iso from here:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfile … _id=173828

Nop, the last one is here : http://gparted-forum.surf4.info/viewtopic.php?id=313
tongue

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

7 (edited by yuri72 2007-01-20 02:46:13)

Re: Minimum partition size is almost the same as max. size in Gparted

Well, here is the rest of today's story.

After creating a partition where I was going to install Linux (Fedora 6), and moving my Windows 2000 partition a little bit to the right (so that there would be some space for GRUB loader, at the beginning of the disk), I successfully installed Fedora 6. The installation also put GRUB into /dev/hde3 (partition to the left from NTFS). So, my layout was the following:

/dev/hde3 - grub loader (~100BM)
/dev/hde1 - Windows 2000 (~16.6GB)
/dev/hde2 - Linux Fedora 6. (~20GB)

All went fine, and I was able to run both Windows and Linux depending on my choice at startup.

Here the bad part starts.

I booted using GParted live CD again, to look at the new layout. There was something I was going to ask (right on this forum) - the largest partition was listed twice. So, I tried to make a snapshot of the screen. GParted creates gparted.jpeg on /root. Now I need to copy it on a floppy or somewhere else. It did not let me mount a floppy.
I ended up mounting /dev/hde3 device with thes commands:

mkdir /tmp/data
mount -t /ext3 /tmp/data /dev/hde3
(success)

cp gparted.jpeg /dev/hde3
(success)

I verified that gparted.jpeg actually was placed to /dev/hde3.

And rebooted (without umount).

When I chose (in GRUB) to load Fedora 6, its starts loading and
says:
*****************************************
No volume groups found
Volume Group "VolGroup00" not found
Unable to access resume device (/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01)
..
Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!
*****************************************
That's it. The only option is to press reset button.

I still can successfully load Windows.

Trying to solve this, I rebooted PC again using GParted. Now its start was flaky, and in the end it does not show any partitions that it created. It only shows one unused partition of 40GB (even though I still can run Windows on this PC). I still could mount /dev/hde3 and see gaparted.jpeg file (later I removed this file, but it did not change anything).

Then I decided to re-install Fedora 6, hoping to use a mode when I can erase all Linux partitions and install Fedora 6 there. What I get though even before I get to this screen is:

"Invalid partition table on /dev/hde -- wrong signature 4948".

I am afraid that if I continue the install, it would simply wipe out my Windows partition.

What should I do? Run Fedora rescue disk? Why this problem happened? All I did I copied a file to a partition. Is this possible that the problem occured simply because I did not call umount on /tmp/data? But I rebooted the PC, and this should not matter, after all.

Any ideas?

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Re: Minimum partition size is almost the same as max. size in Gparted

Hi yuri72 !
Tell me : how much hard drive do you use on your machine ?
hde means there is hda, hdb, or you use a pci raid card, arent you ?
BTW did you have use of hde *before* you plugged it into yuor machine ? Then drive geometry could be false and that should be the reason why your motherbord (using GParted) doesnt see anything right. So please past here the output of "cat /proc/partitions".

To mount floppy you just need to do the following :
mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy ,  and then access to your floppy.
One more thing : cp /root/gparted.jpeg /dev/hde3 ***completly delete*** hde3 partition !!!! So i can easy guess that nothing can work anymore !

mkdir /tmp/data
mount -t /ext3 /tmp/data /dev/hde3

This is completly false !
The right syntax is :
mount /dev/hde3 /mnt/whatyouwant.
Anyway, this is not the syntax to mount LV !!!
See "man lvm" to see how lvm works ! (Logical Volume Manager)

I guess you'd better make a fresh install of your fc6 (and maybe not use lvm) with custom layout and ext3 partitions...
It 's up to you
Good luck !

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

9 (edited by yuri72 2007-01-20 22:31:12)

Re: Minimum partition size is almost the same as max. size in Gparted

Hi LarryT!
Good question, about /dev/hde. I have only one hard drive on this PC, so indeed it should start with hda. But still, when I load it from Gparted live CD, it shows me /dev/hde (38.16Gib). Linux or any version of Unix never was set up on this PC, so I don't know about how it was before. The cat /proc/partitons gives me this:
major    minor   #blocks   name
7          0         22796    loop       
33        0        40020624  hde
33        1        17446590  hde1
33        2        1             hde2
33        3        104391     hde3

P.S. I got the info on how to copy a file to my HD partition from here:
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/larry/ti … etails.htm

Why copying a file would ruin a partition?

P.P.S. I figured out how to mount a floppy with FAT filesystem on it.
Here's my dialog with a shell :
---------------------------------------------
mkdir /tmp/floppy
mount /dev/fd0 /tmp/floppy
(message: special device /dev/fd0 does not exist)
modprobe floppy
mount /dev/fd0 /tmp/floppy
(message: you must specify the filesystem type)
mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /tmp/floppy
(success)
ls /dev/floppy
(gives list of files on a floppy)
---------------------------------------------
Here's my screenshot:
http://www.hoist-point.com/images/gparted.jpeg

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Re: Minimum partition size is almost the same as max. size in Gparted

okay , this is not the last livecd. Please use the last one which is beta-0.8.1 (or beta-0.8.2 in a few seconds)
Last iso autodetect floppy, and auto create /mnt/floppy

Why copying a file would ruin a partition?

It doesnt ruin a partition, but you type "cp my_file /dev/hde3", so the file take the place of critical things on dev/hde3 !!!
/dev/hde3 is not a mounted device accessible in rw mode. Do you understand ?
You first need to mount it.

Last livecd can be found here : http://gparted-forum.surf4.info/viewtopic.php?id=313

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

11 (edited by yuri72 2007-01-20 23:50:44)

Re: Minimum partition size is almost the same as max. size in Gparted

LarryT, but I did mount /dev/hde3, I wrote about it. My description of course was wrong. Here's what I did:

mkdir /tmp/data
mount -t /ext3 /dev/hde3 /tmp/data
(success)

cp gparted.jpeg /tmp/data
(success)

I don't understand why copying a file would overwrite critical things on a partition.

I can say though that when I went to /tmp/data I saw my gparted.jpeg there, along with other files. I still see grub, initrd, vmlinuz files there. I have not deleted anything on this partition. Can you please explain?

Also, what should I do now? The new FC6 intall will most likely wipe out my Windows partition. Is there a way to avoid it?

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Re: Minimum partition size is almost the same as max. size in Gparted

yuri72 wrote:

LarryT, but I did mount /dev/hde3, I wrote about it:

mkdir /tmp/data
mount -t /ext3 /tmp/data /dev/hde3
(success)

cp gparted.jpeg /dev/hde3
(success)

I don't understand why copying a file would overwrite critical things on a partition.
Is this because I should have used cp gparted.jpeg /tmp/data instead? Honestly, it might be that I actually did

cp gparted.jpeg /tmp/data

YES !
last is good : "cp some-file /tmp/data"
If all your partitions are here all is okay. But i think copying one file to /dev/hdeX was a very bad idea. Maybe i am wrong. Or maybe you are lucky wink

But your syntax is not good ! This is okay :

mkdir /tmp/data
mount -t ext3  /dev/hde3 /tmp/data

BTW, usually you dont need to specify ext3, so "mount /dev/hde3 /tmp/data" would be okay

I will be off during the night :-p
I 'll come back tomorrow !
bye

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

13 (edited by yuri72 2007-01-21 02:36:22)

Re: Minimum partition size is almost the same as max. size in Gparted

I downloded testdisk utility and ran it under Windows on this PC. Here is the result of
"analyze" screen:

http://www.hoist-point.com/images/testdisk.gif

Also, another question. Will my PC boot from GParted liveCD made on CD-RW, not on CD-R? I am asking because, for example, Fedora 6 installation program reports errors if I use DVD-RW (and works OK from DVD-R). It's a known issue with this install.

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Re: Minimum partition size is almost the same as max. size in Gparted

Hi LarryT,
what do you suggest that I do next? The TestDisk utility shows the 3 partitions that GParted apparently does not see..

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Re: Minimum partition size is almost the same as max. size in Gparted

I really dont know :-/
This is weird !...

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

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Re: Minimum partition size is almost the same as max. size in Gparted

Hi LarryT,

I have three questions.

1. Don't you think the fact that GParted does not see the existing patitions visible to TestDisk should be reported to GParted developers? Would the most recent version of Gparted help?

2. When I type "Gparted download" the very first link leads me to http://sourceforge.net/project/showfile … _id=173828 (where the most recent version of Gparted LiveCD is gparted-livecd-0.3.3-0.iso, the one I am using). You pointed out that the newest version is different. Why is it not listed there, and how much is it different from the one I have?

3. You have not answered my question about CD-RW vs. CD-R. Do you know about any problems with Gparted when it's ran from CD-RW live CD?

Thanks!

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Re: Minimum partition size is almost the same as max. size in Gparted

Hi Yuri72 !

yuri72 wrote:

Hi LarryT,

I have three questions.

1. Don't you think the fact that GParted does not see the existing patitions visible to TestDisk should be reported to GParted developers? Would the most recent version of Gparted help?

Yes you should report it as GParted bug (not as livecd bug !) ;  but keep some details on your hand, because Plors (the dev) will ask you for details.

2. When I type "Gparted download" the very first link leads me to http://sourceforge.net/project/showfile … _id=173828 (where the most recent version of Gparted LiveCD is gparted-livecd-0.3.3-0.iso, the one I am using). You pointed out that the newest version is different. Why is it not listed there, and how much is it different from the one I have?

Well : the livecd your are using is no more supported, since the maintainer is gone away with the (and this) project ! So i have build a new livecd, since 2 or 3 weeks. This is only beta version (for testing) adn this is the reason why you cant find it on the offical page, but only on news page. End-users dont make any differencies between stable and beta version : it is safer to let them working with stable version. Is it okay ? If you have another question, go ahead, please !

3. You have not answered my question about CD-RW vs. CD-R. Do you know about any problems with Gparted when it's ran from CD-RW live CD?
Thanks!

Sorry for this miss ! No : CD-R or CD-RW doesnt make any differences : the only thing is that CD-RW can be re-write (as you know tongue) and then it may make a mess sometimes ! On another hand, your drive may have problem with new CD-RW types (this i know, because i got such problems).

Thx for reporting !

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

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Re: Minimum partition size is almost the same as max. size in Gparted

LarryT, please let me know how to contact dev.team (Plors). I will give all the details I can get.

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Re: Minimum partition size is almost the same as max. size in Gparted

http://gparted-forum.surf4.info/misc.php?email=3

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