[Linux4christians] Repartitioning the hard way...

[Eddy Martin]

On 06/06/2011 07:55 AM, Daniel Reurich wrote:
> I'd strongly recommend you get a good backup of the information you need
> to retain - 2 backups if you can afford it.  Your asking for pain if you
> don't have a backup.

Believe me, I've been there!
I've also been saving up for an external drive for backups and hopefully 
I can eventually swing for a larger hard drive to put in the home server 
for another backup location.
Right now, it's just used to transfer files between me, my wife, and my 
son, so it doesn't need to be very large.

> Short answer: resize2fs.

I just looked it up; resize2fs works on ext4 partitions as well.
Very nice.

> Fragmentation won't be a problem for you unless you've filled your hdd
> nearly full with data and then deleted it.
> Run: `resize2fs -P /dev/<partition>  to find out the minimum filesystem
> size you can reduce too.

I wasn't actually worried about fragmentation, it's just that's how they 
accomplish live resizing on the Windows.
resize2fs reports I can go to 19 gigs.
Not bad, not bad at all.

> You'll be wanting to undertake this sort of operation from a live-cd|
> dvd|flashdisk, and that means GUI tools may not be a realistic option.
>
> Command line is usually the chosen environment for these sorts of
> invasive changes.

All the *buntu live desktop disks have some sort of parted installed, 
IIRC, and I've got a bunch of those lying around so it shouldn't be a 
problem.

> Don't do anything without a good backup or 2 of your data!!

Right.
I wouldn't go wiping the original until I had a confirmed and checked 
backup first.

My hope is in the next life, not this, so if I HAD to lose all my data 
(whether by force or accident matters little) I'm sure the sun will rise 
again the next day.
Either way, I'll do what I can to keep what I have.

Thanks for all the info...

-Eddy