Re: [gentoo-user] Resizing ext3

[charlyghislain <charlyghislain@gmail.com>]

On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 14:19:47 +0200, James Hiscock <boxroot@gmail.com>  
wrote:

>> Hi James
>
> Just for clarification, I'm not the one trying to resize an ext3
> partition: Bruno is...
>
> <snip>
>> You can make your ext3 an ext2 partition by
>> removing the "has_journal" feature (tune2fs -O ^has_journal
>> /dev/partition).
> </snip>
>
> ...and your advice was similar to the advice I gave him (but you
> actually managed to write the command out correctly, whereas I didn't
> ;), but he's still running into problems (parted is complaining that
> there's an "unsupported filesystem feature enabled", which is why he
> posted the output of tune2fs).
>
> I'm at a loss to help, but I've also been suggesting using parted
> (which I've used successfully in the past)... maybe resize2fs will
> work better as both you and Richard have suggested, but I've got no
> experience with it...
>

I used to get trouble with parted (and qtparted), so i managed to find  
another solution. Its the resize2fs & fdisk one. DONT FORGET TO MAKE  
BACKUP. I will describe here the method i used (saw in the resize2fs  
manual) for everyone who want to know:

1 - remove the has_journal feature from your ext3 partition. It is now an  
ext2 partition and resize2fs can operate.
   # tune2fs -O ^has_journal /dev/partition

2 - a) If you want to shrink the partition, start by shrinking the  
filesystem as described in the resize2fs manual page.
   # resize2fs /dev/partition xxxs (s for 512bytes sectors)
     b) If you want to enlarge the partition, start by enlarging the  
partition itself with fdisk. You will have to delete the partition then  
recreate it STARTING FROM THE SAME CYLINDER.

3 - For this step, check several times what youre going to do before  
pressing enter!
     a) After having shrinked the filesystem, shrink the partition with  
fdisk. Start by deleting the partition then recreate it STARTING FROM THE  
SAME CYLINDER. Dont make the partition smaller than the filesystem. You  
can make fdisk print size in sectors (press u). You should keep a marge to  
be sure.
     b) After having enlarged the partition, enlarge the filesystem with  
resize2fs and DONT MAKE IT GREATER THAN THE PARTITION. You should make it  
1 or 2 mo smaller to be sure.
    # resize2fs /dev/partition xxxs (s for sectors)

4 - You can now re-enable the 'has_journal' feature to convert your ext2  
to ext3 back.
    # tune2fs -j /dev/partition.

With this method, the first block of the partition cant be moved :(

Hope this help. this is somewhat a manual method, but it works. Be sure to  
have a pen and paper next to you :)
(and excuse my poor english)

charly
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