1 Topic by matenders

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Topic: resize fails says opened by other program

I am trying to resize an ext3 partion on a debian etch machine and the resize fails with the error
Filesystem mounted or opened exclusively by another program?

Here is the saved data from the attempt:

GParted 0.3.4

Libparted 1.8.8

Shrink /dev/hda3 from 31.22 GiB to 17.66 GiB  00:00    ( ERROR ) 
     calibrate /dev/hda3  00:00    ( SUCCES ) 
     path: /dev/hda3
start: 2923830
end: 68388704
size: 65464875 (31.22 GiB) 

calculate new size and position of /dev/hda3  00:00    ( SUCCES ) 
     requested start: 2923830
requested end: 39969719
requested size: 37045890 (17.66 GiB) 
new start: 2923830
new end: 39969719
new size: 37045890 (17.66 GiB) 

check filesystem on /dev/hda3 for errors and (if possible) fix them  00:00    ( ERROR ) 
     e2fsck -f -y -v /dev/hda3 
     Filesystem mounted or opened exclusively by another program?

e2fsck 1.40.3 (05-Dec-2007)
e2fsck: Device or resource busy while trying to open /dev/hda3

2 Reply by class413

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Re: resize fails says opened by other program

You can't resize a mounted partition. Use the livecd that doesn't mount any partition.
If you used the livecd:  Did you mount the partition?

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

3 Reply by matenders

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Re: resize fails says opened by other program

class413 wrote:

You can't resize a mounted partition.

I knew that thanks anyway

class413 wrote:

Use the livecd that doesn't mount any partition.

I used the live CD hence the post in the live media section.  You would think that it would not mount anything yet we still have the error.

class413 wrote:

If you used the livecd:

See above answer.

class413 wrote:

Did you mount the partition?

No I did not mount anything (see first answer).

Thank you for your help it however does not solve the problem.

4 Reply by class413

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Re: resize fails says opened by other program

We often see messages in the wrong section, so I had to make it clear smile

Could you please try a previous version (0.3.4-8 or 0.3.4-9)?
Versions 10 and 11 use a newer parted version (1.8.8). I don't know if there is anything wrong with that.

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

5 Reply by matenders

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Re: resize fails says opened by other program

This was a server that I was hoping to aviod having to reinstall from the ground up but could not wait any longer so I reinstalled and it is now back in production.  If I need the tool again I will try one of the earlier versions you recommend however it still does not explain the failure.

Thank You
Mat

6 Reply by munk3h

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Re: resize fails says opened by other program

I am having the same problem. I will try 0.3.4-8 first.

7 Reply by munk3h

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Re: resize fails says opened by other program

I have tried 0.3.4-8 and the same problem exists. It is a shame that this project has no lead developer any more. I rather thought it was very useful. Well, mad props to those that have kept it alive this long. They have done a far better job than I could have.

8 Reply by munk3h

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Re: resize fails says opened by other program

I am instead using the gparted that comes on the Ubuntu (Gutsy) version 7.10 i386 installer CD. This takes quite some time in scanning in the state of the drives and their partitions, about 5mins, but the
e2fsck -f -y -v
command seems to work. This is version 0.3.3-2ubuntu6 (gutsy) with e2fsck version 1.40.2 (12-July-2007) using EXT2FS Library of the same version.

9 Reply by class413

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Re: resize fails says opened by other program

Gparted development is on again.
The livecd development is stopped.
Gparted is already included in a number of livecds, rescue tools and Linux distros, so the development team thinks it is better to work more in Gparted itself rather than in the various problems related to the boot system.

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

10 Reply by northshorefiend

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Re: resize fails says opened by other program

If you are trying to resize a partition that is part of a RAID set (device mapper raid / linux software raid) then you need to remove the kernel boot paramater

dodmraid

from your chosen kernel choice at the grub menu by pressing 'e' twice.

Then mapper doesn't get in the way and give you the above message from fsck.