Baslinux mailing list

[sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>]

On Sun, 7 Nov 2004, Joel wrote:

> hda1 takes up all the space other than hda3, so I guess I would have to 
> resize it. Q: Can I do this?
>
> -Joel

I did a search on partition resizer and linux and found the following but 
have not tried it.  Another list member suggested some other free program 
that I think was supposed to resize DOS, Windows and maybe also linux 
partitions.  Has anyone tried resize2fs?  It is 1998, might possibly have 
been compiled somewhere for SW40.  Should this be run from some partition 
other than the one being resized (from a BL2 or BL3 2-floppy set)?

I was able to copy my entire BL2 installation between computers after 
making it into one big .tgz file (tar -czvf temp.tgz *), using plip 
(parallel port) or ethernet connection.  You might want to do this before 
trying to resize, or do it and then just reformat instead and copy it back 
to the new smaller first partition.

You would need a parallel transfer cable for plip.  Or a nullmodem cable 
for a serial connection.  Or an ethernet connection.  You can make your 
own parallel or serial cables if you can solder, see online instructions.

You could also just save all your BL3 settings (all the files you have 
altered) to floppy disk and reformat, reinstall, then copy over the 
changed files. People suggested this to me - put them all into a temporary 
directory, make them into a .tgz file, save that file (if it is small 
enough, on floppy disk, or transfer to another computer, or split the file 
into two smaller ones, or upload it somewhere such as sending it to 
yourself via email and retrieving it later.....).


Here is info on the resizer which you need to use together with fdisk:
------------
resize2fs(8) - Linux man page

NAME

   resize2fs - ext2 file system resizer

SYNOPSIS

   resize2fs [ -d debug-flags ] [ -f ] [ -F ] [ -p ] device [ size ]

DESCRIPTION

   The resize2fs program will resize ext2 file systems. It can be used to
   enlarge  or  shrink  an  ext2  file system located on device. The size
   parameter  specifies  the  requested new size of the filesystem. If no
   units  are  specified,  the  units  of the size parameter shall be the
   filesystem blocksize of the filesystem. Optionally, the size parameter
   may  be  suffixed  by one of the following the units designators: 's',
   'K',  'M',  or  'G',  for  512  byte sectors, kilobytes, megabytes, or
   gigabytes,  respectively.  The  size  of  the  filesystem may never be
   larger  than  the  size  of  the  partition.  If size parameter is not
   specified, it will default to the size of the partition.

   The  resize2fs  program does not manipulate the size of partitions. If
   you  wish  to  enlarge  a filesystem, you must first make sure you can
   expand  the  size  of the underlying partition first. This can be done
   using  [1]fdisk(8)  by deleting the partition and recreating it with a
   larger  size.  When  recreating the partition, make sure you create it
   with  the same starting disk cylinder as before! Otherwise, the resize
   operation  will  certainly  not  work,  and  you  may lose your entire
   filesystem.  After  running  [2]fdisk(8),  run resize2fs to resize the
   ext2  filesystem  to  use  all  of  the  space  in  the newly enlarged
   partition.

   If you wish to shrink an ext2 partition, first use resize2fs to shrink
   the  size  of  filesystem.  Then you may use [3]fdisk(8) to shrink the
   size  of the partition. When shrinking the size of the partition, make
   sure  you  do  not  make  it  smaller  than  the  new size of the ext2
   filesystem!

OPTIONS

   -d debug-flags
          Turns  on  various  resize2fs  debugging features, if they have
          been  compiled  into the binary. debug-flags should be computed
          by  adding  the  numbers  of  the  desired  features  from  the
          following list:
          1 - Print out all disk I/O
          2 - Debug block relocations
          8 - Debug inode relocations
          16 - Debug moving the inode table
   -p
          Prints  out  a  percentage  completion  bars for each resize2fs
          operation,  so that the user can keep track of what the program
          is doing.
   -f
          Forces   resize2fs   to  proceed  with  the  filesystem  resize
          operation,   overriding  some  safety  checks  which  resize2fs
          normally enforces.
   -F
          Flush  the  filesystem device's buffer caches before beginning.
          Only really useful for doing resize2fs time trials.

AUTHOR

   resize2fs was written by Theodore Ts'o <[4]tytso AT mit.edu>.

COPYRIGHT

   Resize2fs  is Copyright 1998 by Theodore Ts'o and PowerQuest, Inc. All
   rights  reserved.  As  of  April,  2000 Resize2fs may be redistributed
   under the terms of the GPL.

SEE ALSO

   [5]fdisk(8), [6]e2fsck(8), [7]mke2fs(8)