[SOLVED] Is it safe to resize my Slackware partitions after removing my Mint 10 partitions?
SlackwareThis Forum is for the discussion of Slackware Linux.
Notices
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
Is it safe to resize my Slackware partitions after removing my Mint 10 partitions?
Hello:
I've reached a point in my Slackware journey where I feel confident enough to remove my Mint 10 linux. It used to be my 'go to distro' when I trashed my Slackware installation. Now, I have Slax on a USB and I think that is enough.
Mint 10 occupies /dev/sda5 (root) and /dev/sda6 (home) while Slackware occupies /dev/sda7 (root) and /dev/sda8 (home).
If I delete the /dev/sda5 & /dev/sda6 partitions, can I very safely resize /dev/sda7 and /dev/sda8 to use the space freed up?
I've had quite good luck using parted to re-size ext partitions, your mileage may vary. Back up your PC *before* you attempt deleting, re-sizing in the event that things go awry. Good luck.
I may be wrong but I believe you can only resize into adjacent partitions, so that may give you issues. LVMs make resizing a much more pleasurable experience but they obviously add another level of complexity to deal with.
I am waiting for my 'dd' back ups of /dev/sda7 & /dev/sda8 to complete.
Is the fact that sda5 & sda6 are before my Slackware partitions a problem?
Would it be better to, after my backups complete, delete all 4 of my linux partitions and then create 2 new ones and then restore from my back up, or, is this even possible from a 'dd' back up living on my external hard drive?
In the past I did backup of Windows XP system using dd command. The result wasn't satisfactory. When I tried to restore the system with dd command on the partition smaller than the original one Windows XP refused to work. On the other hand when I tried to restore it on the bigger partition then the original one I wasted some space because I wasn't able to resize that partition.
Linux can cause other problems. Assuming the system you backed up was on /dev/sda7 partition and the bootloader was installed on the same partition and you try to restore it on /dev/sda5 partition the result will be a mess.
So I suggest to use tar to backup system partition and rsync to backup data partition.
If you create a successful `dd` backup you can delete the other partitions and create two new ones of satisfactory size (though they must be at least as big as they are now) and restore the filesystem onto the new partitions. However, when you first boot, the filesystem has not been resized so although it is living in a bigger partition you will not have access to more space. Luckily ext4 filesystems can be resized using resize2fs as stated, so you can then resize the filesystem to take up the rest of the room in each partition and then you're golden. However since the partition names may be different you may have to modify /etc/fstab and /etc/lilo.conf (don't forget to run lilo) to accommodate the new device names.
If you do make a mistake or can't figure it out, you should be able to reinstall Slackware on the resized partitions and get at any data stored in the dd backups by mounting the images and pulling any files you need.
if /tmp/USBdrv/ is where your external is mounted, then that's just fine.
I had Ubuntu on /dev/sda1, Windows on /dev/sda2, and slackware on /dev/sda3, and I deleted my Ubuntu partition, and moved the other two over, and I've had no problems. (Although I have no /dev/sda1 :P)
... Luckily ext4 filesystems can be resized using resize2fs as stated, so you can then resize the filesystem to take up the rest of the room in each partition and then you're golden. However since the partition names may be different you may have to modify /etc/fstab and /etc/lilo.conf (don't forget to run lilo) to accommodate the new device names...
Thank you.
Do I need to down load and install resize2fs before doing any of this? If so, I will have to do new back ups, right?
Also, am I to use the installed 'KDE Partition Manager' to do all this?
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.