1 Topic by zmmx-aerial (edited by zmmx-aerial 2013-12-15 19:49:46)

  • zmmx-aerial
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Topic: Don't perform move operation when extending NTFS

Are there any reasons to perform data moving operations when extending NTFS?

Test case:
We have a non-GPT HDD of size 500GB without any partitions. Create one primary NTFS partition (250GB) in the second half of the disk. Apply changes. Mount the partition and copy some data into it. Unmount the partition. Now try to extend this partition to total HDD capacity.

Current behaviour:
GParted performing "move" and "extend" operations

Desired behaviour:
GParted perform "extend" operation only (without useless "move"), so we have a huge time economy

I think that "move" operation in this case is useless because NTFS partition header structures have pointers to MFT copies, so we can extend MFTs and bitmaps, correct pointers to filesystem datastructures and so on (that is exactly what "extend" does)... leaving data in place untouched.

2 Reply by class413

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Re: Don't perform move operation when extending NTFS

I think this is rather a request to the "ntfsresize"developers.
GParted performs ntfs resize operations by using these tools.
I don't know how easy would be to follow this approach, given that the ntfs specification is a trade secret of microsoft.

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

3 Reply by gedakc

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Re: Don't perform move operation when extending NTFS

I have heard that there is a new ntfsresize "-x" flag to expand NTFS file systems downwards, but do not know if this functionality has been well tested.

4 Reply by javier.puche

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Re: Don't perform move operation when extending NTFS

Hello,

I had the same problem but with an ext4 filesystem, trying to enlarge it to the left will do a 'move' and 'resize' taking a long time to perform. Does ext4 not allow growing to the left?

Thanks for telling me to who I should address this issue.  I used 0.11  on ubuntu 12.04

Regards,

Javier.

class413 wrote:

I think this is rather a request to the "ntfsresize"developers.
GParted performs ntfs resize operations by using these tools.
I don't know how easy would be to follow this approach, given that the ntfs specification is a trade secret of microsoft.

5 Reply by class413

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Re: Don't perform move operation when extending NTFS

I had the same problem but with an ext4 filesystem, trying to enlarge it to the left will do a 'move' and 'resize' taking a long time to perform. Does ext4 not allow growing to the left?

(This is rather a support issue, not a feature request)
Sometimes, the move operation comes from the wrong align setting. If your partition is cylinder aligned (as in most older systems) and you try to resize with the MiB align option selected (that is the default for GParted since long), a move operation is often needed.

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

6 Reply by gedakc

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Re: Don't perform move operation when extending NTFS

javier.puche wrote:

Does ext4 not allow growing to the left?

Information about the latest versions of e2fsprogs (the tools used to create and work with ext2/ext3/ext4 file systems) can be found at the following link:  E2fsprogs: Ext2/3/4 Filesystem Utilities.

As far as I know, ext4 does not support "growing to the left".  If I am wrong, please correct me and point me to any relevant documentation.