Gparted

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@@GJC@@

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Hi all

So when I first installed Windows I made two partitions, one +- 250GB and the other one 750GB. Everything worked fine untill my Windows crashed and I had to reinstall Windows. So this time I decided to only use 40GB for my Windows partition but it seems that Windows refuses to extend the 750GB partition because it has data on it and prompts me to format first.

So I googled a bit and found Gparted Live CD and by my understanding of the program I should be able boot from the CD, extend the partition, and still have all my data. Is this correct and what are the changes that I might lose data?

Also is there a better program I should consider?

tl;dr version: I have unused space on my HDD and would like to extend an existing partition with data on it with GParted. Will I lose data?

Thanks in advance
 
I recently installed Gparted on a flash drive using Tuxboot as explained in the link below. I haven't tried to extend any of my partitions but it was very simple to install on a flash drive. I did have one or two problems with video drivers but I did manage to get them to install correctly by installing them manually when booting.
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/liveusb.php
 
well with any repartitioning the risk of losing data is always there. in theory it should work.
 
AFAIK you can only grow and shrink a partition at the end, not the beginning, so if you made the first partition smaller you cannot grow the last partition to fill that gap.

I'm not at my PC to test this out, but I recently ran into this problem IIRC, but if will be quite evident when you try doing it that it refuses to do so.
 
Well I will back up the most important data at least just in case and will look at the link Yotch posted tomorrow. Also If I test the same scenario in a VM (creating 2 partitions then shrinking the first and trying to extend the second), if it works in the VM regardless of dataloss will it work in practice?
 
@@GJC@@ said:
Hi all
So I googled a bit and found Gparted Live CD and by my understanding of the program I should be able boot from the CD, extend the partition, and still have all my data. Is this correct and what are the changes that I might lose data?
Click to expand...

Not trying to move this to the philosophy section but your chances of wiping every bit of data on that partition is exactly 50%. Either you do or you don't.

That said: I have had great success with parted, the console version of gparted using knoppix as a bootable. It can, it should work: but backup your data. Do it twice to be safe.
 
I've used GParted in Ubuntu (in a live USB session) to resize partitions every which way. I haven't run into any combination that hasn't worked so far, as long as the partitions have been defragmented.
 
gparted is the best, runs on a stable OS ;) and has many built in safety checks. Don't use partition magic - it crashed in the middle of a resize and the magic turned to tragic
 
Yeah Gparted is pretty solid, haven't had any issues shrinking or enlarging partitions.
Awesome tool but as stated above do a back up just in case. :P
 
bin3 said:
That said: I have had great success with parted, the console version of gparted using knoppix as a bootable. It can, it should work: but backup your data. Do it twice to be safe.
Click to expand...

Right thanks for all the replies so far will definitely use GParted then. Also when you say Do it twice do you mean backup the data twice? Or did I miss something lol.

Anyway trying to decide whether to boot GParted from a disk or a flash drive, which would be better or is there really not much of a difference
 
It does not matter, I have done it both with a flash drive and off course CD, but if it were me I would boot from a CD, much more solid IMHO, and if you do not know your Linux Kung-Fu, less chance of something going wrong.
 
Sorry if this was already answered, didn't read the whole thread.
I've used Gparted (usually off Ubuntu LiveCD, any standard one will do) to move and resize NTFS, FAT(32) and Ext partitions loads of times. It works brilliantly. Also, you can resize partitions into space "to the left" so to speak (at the beginning), but it takes forever, as all the data has to be moved (unless they're empty).
STILL, best backup first.

Edit: if u use the one off the Ubuntu (Or Mint) CD, you get to use the GUI version, which makes it easier to visualise the partitions, IMHO
 
@@GJC@@ said:
Also when you say Do it twice do you mean backup the data twice? Or did I miss something lol.
Click to expand...

Back it up to 2 different locations: and make sure those locations are not on the disk you are repartitioning ... [Yip: I'm a bit paranoid on data loss]
 
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