From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: from lists.gentoo.org (pigeon.gentoo.org [208.92.234.80]) (using TLSv1.3 with cipher TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (256/256 bits) key-exchange X25519 server-signature RSA-PSS (2048 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by finch.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 80EB5158089 for ; Fri, 22 Sep 2023 06:48:09 +0000 (UTC) Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 22ED92BC036; Fri, 22 Sep 2023 06:48:04 +0000 (UTC) Received: from smtp.hosts.co.uk (smtp.hosts.co.uk [85.233.160.19]) (using TLSv1.3 with cipher TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (256/256 bits) key-exchange X25519 server-signature RSA-PSS (4096 bits) server-digest SHA256) (No client certificate requested) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id D52AE2BC014 for ; Fri, 22 Sep 2023 06:48:03 +0000 (UTC) Received: from host86-155-223-197.range86-155.btcentralplus.com ([86.155.223.197] helo=[192.168.1.99]) by smtp.hosts.co.uk with esmtpa (Exim) (envelope-from ) id 1qjZxK-000BeU-DY for gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org; Fri, 22 Sep 2023 07:48:02 +0100 Message-ID: Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2023 07:48:01 +0100 Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org X-Auto-Response-Suppress: DR, RN, NRN, OOF, AutoReply MIME-Version: 1.0 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:102.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/102.15.1 Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Re: How to move ext4 partition To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org References: <20230920221647.5e3f00e7@digimed.co.uk> Content-Language: en-GB From: Wols Lists In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Archives-Salt: 1cc45bbc-90cf-46a3-9413-6b349dc72f9f X-Archives-Hash: 2dccb792b13ccb1ba3562171ffdc8fe8 On 20/09/2023 23:39, Grant Edwards wrote: > Assuming GParted is smart enough to do overlapping moves, is it smart > enough to only copy filesystem data and not copy "empty" sectors? > According to various forum posts, it is not: moving a partion copies > every sector. [That's certainly the obvious, safe thing to do.] Seeing as it knows nothing about filesystems, and everything about partitions, it will treat the partition as an opaque blob and move it as a single object ... > > The partition in question is 200GB, but only 7GB is used, so I think > backup/restore is the way to go... You would think so :-) I use ext4, and make heavy use of hard links. Last time I tried a straight copy (not backup/restore) I think the copied partition would have been three times the size of the original - that is if it hadn't run out of space first :-) But it sounds like that would work well for you. Cheers, Wol