1 Topic by mjleavitt

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Topic: increase size of final partition

Years ago I entered the world of Linux, loading Linux Mint to my 500GB hard drive (sda4), preserving WIN-10 (sda2). I want to increase the partition size for Linux(currently 281 GiB) and decrease the partition size for WIN-10 (currently 195 GiB). However, when I try to increase the size of sda4, I see that it is already at it's maximum. I can reduce the size of sda2, creating unallocated space, but can't figure out how to add that to sda4. Also, I see that sda4 (containing Linux OS) includes: sda5 with warning label, unknown file system, 512 MiB; plus sda6 ext4 281 GiB. I am willing to delete sda5, but the program won't permit that. Thank you for any advice.

[img]/home/mitch/Desktop/gparted table.png[/img]

2 Reply by mfleetwo

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Re: increase size of final partition

Your picture didn't appear.

Run these commands from Linux and report the output so I can see how your hard drive is currently partitioned:

sudo lsblk -o name,maj:min,rm,size,ro,type,fstype,label,mountpoint /dev/sda
sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda

3 Reply by mjleavitt

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Re: increase size of final partition

I'll try to post the screenshot once more, and I'll also reply in separate message with the reports from the terminal commands. Thanks for offering to help!

[img]/home/mitch/Desktop/gparted table.png[/img]

4 Reply by mjleavitt

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Re: increase size of final partition

I hope this is what you wanted. I'm completely ignorant in using the terminal, learning by trail and error. Thanks again.

mitch@mitch-Satellite-M640:~$ sudo lsblk -o name,maj:min,rm,size,ro,type,fstype,label,mountpoint
NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE FSTYPE  LABEL           MOUNTPOINT
loop0    7:0    0     4K  1 loop squashf                 /snap/bare/5
loop1    7:1    0 349.7M  1 loop squashf                 /snap/gnome-3-38-2004/1
loop2    7:2    0  63.5M  1 loop squashf                 /snap/core20/1974
loop3    7:3    0  91.7M  1 loop squashf                 /snap/gtk-common-themes
loop4    7:4    0 349.7M  1 loop squashf                 /snap/gnome-3-38-2004/1
loop5    7:5    0  63.5M  1 loop squashf                 /snap/core20/1950
loop6    7:6    0    79M  1 loop squashf                 /snap/icloud-for-linux/
loop7    7:7    0  78.4M  1 loop squashf                 /snap/icloud-for-linux/
loop8    7:8    0  49.4M  1 loop squashf                 /snap/weasis/12
loop9    7:9    0  53.3M  1 loop squashf                 /snap/snapd/19361
loop10   7:10   0  49.4M  1 loop squashf                 /snap/weasis/11
loop11   7:11   0  53.3M  1 loop squashf                 /snap/snapd/19457
sda      8:0    0   477G  0 disk                         
├─sda1   8:1    0   100M  0 part ntfs    System Reserved 
├─sda2   8:2    0 194.7G  0 part ntfs                    
├─sda3   8:3    0   642M  0 part ntfs                    
├─sda4   8:4    0     1K  0 part                         
├─sda5   8:5    0   512M  0 part                         
└─sda6   8:6    0   281G  0 part ext4                    /
sr0     11:0    1  1024M  0 rom                          

mitch@mitch-Satellite-M640:~$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda
Disk /dev/sda: 476.96 GiB, 512110190592 bytes, 1000215216 sectors
Disk model: TOSHIBA THNSNJ51
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x5e281c63

Device     Boot     Start        End   Sectors   Size Id Type
/dev/sda1  *           63     204862    204800   100M  7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2          204863  408488311 408283449 194.7G  7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3       408489984  409804799   1314816   642M 27 Hidden NTFS WinRE
/dev/sda4       409806846 1000214527 590407682 281.5G  5 Extended
/dev/sda5       409806848  410855423   1048576   512M 83 Linux
/dev/sda6       410857472 1000214527 589357056   281G 83 Linux

5 Reply by mjleavitt

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Re: increase size of final partition

I have a screenshot of my gparted partition structure diagram. I just can't figure out how to paste it into this reply, or link it. If someone can clarify that procedure for me (no doubt, it's obvious to most users), I can reply with that image.

6 Reply by mfleetwo

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Re: increase size of final partition

See thread [SOLVED] put screenshot into post? for details on how to post images.

7 Reply by mfleetwo

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Re: increase size of final partition

Your disk uses the MSDOS partition table and has an extended partition (/dev/sda4), and you Linux partition (/dev/sda6) is a logical partition
within it.

On the GParted web site Moving Space Between Partitions documents an example of how to shrink a logical partition, extended partition containing it and grow a primary partition.

You need to do the following:
1. Shrink (move end to the left) /dev/sda2 by an amount.
2. Move /dev/sda3 to the left as much as possible.
3. Move start of extended partition /dev/sda4 to the left as much as possible.
4. Delete /dev/sda5.
5. Move start of logical partition containing Linux (now /dev/sda5) to the left as much as possible.

I recommend composing one operation and pressing apply before moving on to the next.  Step 5 will take a while because it will have to move all the file data in the file system to the left.

8 Reply by mjleavitt

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Re: increase size of final partition

Dear mfleetwo, (developer),
Thanks so very much for your replies (all of them). After a long day, I'm too tired to begin the project now, but will begin tomorrow and report on my progress. Thanks very much.

9 Reply by mjleavitt

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Re: increase size of final partition

No success so far. I hope that, with your advice, I can now insert an image. Here's the GParted partition image that I start with: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ofirvf5e6yl1su60d9yjc/gparted-table.png?rlkey=gbhb1ojjg5609fww06k8r5cxu&dl=0

When I try to reduce the size of sda2, I see this image:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/q7wsteat57ojt2znucn6m/attempt-to-shrink-dev-sda2.png?rlkey=v4elyet6tqleai1x0zzjxsfic&dl=0

I waited for an hour then canceled the operation. Then I tried again, waiting for 2 hours, finally cancelling. I notice that clicking on the 'details' box to view the activity doesn't open a window.

I'll try again tomorrow. Obviously I'm doing something wrong.

10 Reply by mjleavitt

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Re: increase size of final partition

retry to submit image:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/q7wsteat57ojt2znucn6m/attempt-to-shrink-dev-sda2.png?rlkey=v4elyet6tqleai1x0zzjxsfic&dl=0

11 Reply by mfleetwo (edited by mfleetwo 2023-08-15 11:10:41)

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Re: increase size of final partition

Dropbox seems to be making it hard to post images.  The URLs used in the forum have to only return the image and nothing else.  The above URLs go to Dropbox web pages with a menu and includes a preview of each image.  Mouse over the image, [Right click] > [Copy Image Link] to get needed URLs for use in this forum.

These are the links to your images:
https://ucae3cfe621febd2fc819c85188d.pr … 7JxI/p.png
https://ucf60d03b4a17e2d01b76a9eec97.pr … BebE/p.png

And your images look like this:
https://ucae3cfe621febd2fc819c85188d.previews.dropboxusercontent.com/p/thumb/AB_78G1mbxxmjNcyk0rwfsFXmhHfMBSmp0rwpICDwL8n9HNZY-Yr-P7lMT2McpoSMbAOSrVTfl-k_gq3MBD63AILD6Q8STZ71NE9UnQyduCDAz00lvnIoNhvJqPaOUKFd-tznJLXNOL0p5T3g0znbxIARBYCEhlwxtVQH2zKnzcaR9RzLEYIWoTftST5PyuDTHnRiLVH5DG-T1iLIc_sIEXMRlkW7vyj-_dAoEGoBl5MMK037LcqkGD6N9ZUklE271eJMnL2eXPZAxr2hcXd-Devlue6JoDL1eFxVOhoJfF4j0vLo6tz3-pK0yw_gYNBlDkhgqKrqgzpw8nbpQetcRNGjWWwqZvM0Qot1SFFuVONFRFbigs2lsDNEZaBuDo7JxI/p.png
https://ucf60d03b4a17e2d01b76a9eec97.previews.dropboxusercontent.com/p/thumb/AB8T9OYaFc1o2x8wPOC4S-_RgTRrrru041d_HWruIGNRqYibYEMSqddKBZsZ-8sb1uZWZFoDhvXXNwKqo3EdHzcLQR9gV2KqSaVpNs_I5hqdVfg2Uz5R_naCuRQKXQK2f4kf_ZWhUAn4RI3xyKzKupIxYC3llOIrcgW__V9bHskgyLTHobrRyQ9ah8s7j3aiVlyZpbhraA7Aa8fYJCboCl7QP2H9_4kSwA1GC7_6zE2btQxuHM1hgSyFc4oGiOPfrnQncFuJDkuhz9IVu7mtDvPbjFHd3GD4U6fCNeDrWXa67Y-uVGbPqfYOjclnO2okUV4jCqY-xgZ3CP0KwPlAgVX_xsgQUoV3zcuC9YU4EhGlTApf7LnH_gbRho7eV2jBebE/p.png

12 Reply by mfleetwo

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Re: increase size of final partition

Clicking on > Details in the Applying pending operations dialog is meant to display details of the ongoing operations which can be expanded to see more details.  If that is not working something is very wrong and it would be very hard to guide you through debugging it!

What release of what distribution are you using?
What version of GParted are you using (Help > About)?

I recommend booting your machine using either GParted Live or System Rescue and running GParted application from there instead.

13 Reply by mjleavitt

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Re: increase size of final partition

Once again, thanks very much for your time, patience and support. I'll answer your questions, but can't work on this for a fe days due to other commitments. I am using Linux Mint 20 (not yet updated to current 21) and GParted 1.0.0.  Perhaps I should simply uninstall GParted and reinstall it.

And I'll download GParted Live to a flashdrive.

And thanks for clarifying my failure to load images.

14 Reply by mjleavitt

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Re: increase size of final partition

I installed Gparted-Live on a flashdrive and can boot it. Unfortunately it also 'stopped working' soon after beginning the process. I was able to open the 'details >' window to see identification of the first operation. And the moving green 'band' indicating activity moved half way across the page before stopping...then didn't move again for an hour.
      I suspect my Linux Mint OS is corrupt. I tried to update to the latest edition but that failed to install. Perhaps my OS (corrupt?) is preventing GParted from working properly on my machine. I DID successfully update Linux Min t(authenticity and integrity verified) on a different computer, so I think my download is good.
      I may simply try to remove my current Linux Mint and start from scratch. Thank you again for your efforts to solve my problem. GParted is obviously a valuable utility, very well designed. I look forward to using it.

15 Reply by mfleetwo

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Re: increase size of final partition

It sounds like GParted app (whether run from your Linux Mint OS or GParted Live flashdrive) is hanging at the same place.  From the above screen shots that is file system checking the Windows sda2 partition before shrinking it.

Boot your Linux Mint OS, run this to check the file system in partition sda2 and report the output.

sudo ntfsresize -i -f -v /dev/sda2

Expect it to hang after a while like GParted app does.