Resize NTFS partition?

[Tom Metro]

Jerry Feldman wrote:
> Scott R Ehrlich wrote:
>> ...bootable CD/DVD...distro that will...[resize]...NTFS partition.
>
> I have successfully resized Windows XP NTFS partitions with Knoppix
> 4.0 using qtparted.

qtparted is also included on the smaller SystemRescueCd:

http://www.sysresccd.org/

The two projects share developers, so SystemRescueCd usually has the 
latest qtparted.

However, for the definitive list look here:
http://mlf.linux.rulez.org/mlf/ezaz/ntfsresize.html

The site seems to be down at the moment, but on that site you'll find a 
table of all the live CD distributions that include NTFS Resize, which 
is the underlying tool used by all the open source partition managers 
for resizing NTFS partitions.

I'd also recommend becoming acquainted with the NTFS Resize command line 
tool. There are only a few options to learn, and the docs are fairly 
good, but most importantly, even if you don't use it to do the final 
resize, running a trial resize with the command line tool will show any 
potential errors you might encounter when you try doing it through the 
GUI, which usually hides the details of the errors.

Also be aware that there are limitations to how these tools can move 
NTFS partitions. They can shrink and grow them - which effectively moves 
the tail-end of the partition, but currently they can't move the 
front-end of the partition. So if you currently have a drive with 50% 
going to partition A, and 50% going to partition B, you can't shrink A, 
and then grow B to fill up the freed up space. You can get around this 
by cloning partition B to another drive, recreating the partition, and 
restoring.


> The procedure I use is:
> 1. Make sure you backup the system. This is always important. 

The companion ntfsclone is a good tool for that.


> 2. Use Windows to defrag its NTFS partition. NTFS can get quite
> fragmented.

This step is no longer needed with recent (last few years) versions of 
NTFS Resize. It's now smart enough to move files to accomplish the resize.


> 5. Boot into Windows and let it run chkdisk if it wants to.

NTFS Resize sets the "dirty" flag on the partition to force chkdisk to 
run on the next boot of Windows.


Samuel Baldwin wrote:
> ...is it possible to resive Vista partitions?
> I don't think they use NTFS.

My understanding is that it is just another version of NTFS, the same 
way Microsoft tweaked the file system between NT and W2K. But the NTFS 
Resize FAQ above probably addresses this.

  -Tom

-- 
Tom Metro
Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA
"Enterprise solutions through open source."
Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/

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