Loading ...Resize Windows Partition with Open Source Software
You would like to install Linux/BSD Os but windows partition is taking up your whole hard disk space. Or you don't want to pay money to resize hard disk partition (tools like partition magic costs money). Not to worry you can resize partition with KNOPPIX Live Linux CD.
RESIZE PARTITION with Knoppix Live CD
Step #1 : Visit official Knoppix site and download live CD.
Step #2 : Burn Knoppix Live CD to DVD/CD media
Step #3 : Boot from CD
Step #4 : Boot into Knoppix > Open terminal > type command qtparted >
Step #5: Follow on screen instructions to resize your windows partition
Update: We are updating this howto. Please come back later or browse all our latest tips & tricks from home page. You may also try out following softwares for resize windows partition :
- SystemRescueCd
- BootitNG
- Ntfsresize (for NTFS partitions)
- GParted
Related articles:
- Maximum Partition size supported by Linux
- Mount remote windows partition (windows share) under Linux
- The importance of Linux partitions
- Restore Debian Linux Grub boot loader
- Series: Understanding UNIX/Linux file system
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Tags: bsd os, disk partition, hard disk space, install linux, knoppix, linux cd, partition magic, partition tools, resize partition
Are you absolutely sure none of my files will be corrupted/destroyed/deleted!?
Are you absolutely sure none of my files will be corrupted/destroyed/deleted!?
>Are you absolutely sure none of my files will be corrupted/destroyed/deleted!?
No matter what operation you do, first you need to *backup all DATA
* then you should try these instruction. Resizing partition is a complex operation and DON”T try without backup.
Anonymous above, if a “yes” by whoever is going to make you feel safe and not back things up before doing that, you deserve to have your files corrupted/destroyed/deleted
Actually, use BootitNG.
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html
I used this to put Ubuntu on my Windows box. It can resize a Fat32/NTFS partition and probably starts up a lot faster than Knoppix.
The unregistered version is all you need, since you’re only using the partition utils and not the multi-boot functionality.
just get rid of windows period…. or wait till vista comes out… get mad… and then switch to linux…. if you do it now youll save yourself a lot of time later…
Intresting stuff
I had no idea one can do such wonderful work with knoppix, thanks for this article.
A safer way would be to use Norton Ghost, which can resize on the fly safely. I have done this several times (usually to increase disk space). In a two step processes, create a partition image and then restore it to the size of your choosing. Then you have already performed a backup, and a defrag is not necessary since it will do that on the restoration (since it is file-based image, not bit-for-bit backup).
The downside is it is not free utility, but excellent to have.
I must agree with above anonymous poster, Norton Ghost is really good but it is not free, however your solution is good if you are using knoppix
well you can get norton 2002 off ebay inexpensively it has norton ghost on it.
Tom, thanks for pointing out BootitNG
I love BootitNG! It’s so easy to use.
thats what i did before when i installed linux, QtParted is a good program
thats what i did before when i installed linux, QtParted is a good program
It is worth noting that the standard Windows XP (and 2000?) disk defragmentation tool does *not* seem to completely compress the location of the files on an NTFS partition. I recently split a ~150 GB NTFS partition under XP into two ~equal size partitions (one for Linux). The NTFS partition only had about 23GB allocated but I could not pack all of the NTFS files into the first ~25GB. I still had some files in the NTFS partition positioned at around 50-55 GB on the partition which prevented shrinking it to say 32 GB (unless I wanted to trust a non-Microsoft utility to relocate files on a NTFS partition). Linux has had a history of problems writing to NTFS partitions. The latest version of Gentoo (2.6.12-r10) still documents contraints on writing to NTFS files. If Linux cannot properly write to NTFS files I would question whether they could properly do file relocations on NTFS partitions.
The Windows XP defragmentation utility (even when re-run multiple times) did properly defragment the files but would not completely compress them into one allocation set at the beginning of the partition. You can view this by running the defragmentation utility and viewing the file allocation map.
Perhaps the Linux utilities can manage this now but I would be very very careful. Splitting the disk, making sure I didn’t start the Linux partition so it overlapped the end of the files in the NTFS partition did seem to work (I can run both XP and Gentoo without any problems on the machine). I’m using Grub as the boot loader to allow booting either O.S.
So many people pointed out the need to backup, I think it would be worth editing the article and elevating backups to “Step 0″.
Making it step zero makes it stand out in a way that making it step 1 (or just saying it up front) never would.
It is already pointed out before step # one:
“Cauation Since resizing partition is complex operation, readers are advised to make backup of data first, then proceed the instruction outlined here/below.”
But I will make it as step zero
thanks for suggestion
nixCraft: You say that the lastest Knoppix version is 3.7 (2004-12-08), but it may not be available anymore as several versions have been out since : 3.8, 3.8.1, 3.8.2, 3.9, 4.0, 4.0.1 and now the latest is KNOPPIX_V4.0.2CD-2005-09-23-EN.iso . (OK this one was available after your article, but the V4.0.1 was already out). You should maybe update your page.
Best regards.
James.
James, you are right I will update information for Knoppix version 4.0.2. Thanks for pointing it out, appreciate your post.
If QTParted whines about your disk device being busy, make sure you aren’t swapping on the disk. If Knoppix detects a Linux swap partition it will automatically start to use it. Check with:
# swapon -s
Shut it off with:
# swapoff /dev/whatever
Can you pls teach me how to use “partimage” to backup a partition onto another partition on the Same HD using Knoppix 4?
When I run “partimage”, it complains about not running in Root. If I run “partimage” using System Rescue CD, it says my target is wrong or something.
Thank you!
You can simply use dd command as follows (assuming that you are looking to back /dev/hda3 to /backup partition (mounted on /dev/hda6)):
dd if=/dev/hda3 of=/backup/hda3
OR
dd if=/dev/hda3 of=/dev/hda6 noerror
This works only if the hard drive (/dev/hda6) has enough storage to accommodate the /dev/hda3 filesystem. The advantage of this is that you do not have to mount the hard drive to make a backup. Be careful with dd command if == input device and of == output device.
I can just boot to a partition magic cd within a BartPE environment.
@Anonymous
I can just boot to a partition magic cd within a BartPE environment
Partition magic is not free software, like knoppix and qtparted
Good article for newbies, IMPO!
Defragmentation is a waste of time before resizing because ntfsresize (what qtparted uses) can relocate anything, even the “unmovable” files. This is also documented in the manual and the Ntfsresize FAQ.
I have HP DL360 SCSI. tried using knoppix 4.0. doesn’t recognize my hard drive. tried systemresourceCD too and it saw the drives but when I tried to resize it said ntfs_mount failed: so such file or directory. Any ideas?
For me, the best solution was to download the 33 MB Gparted LiveCD:
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php
Fast download, modest system requirements, minimal dependencies, intuitive interface (good, since there is no documentation 8-), and safe operation. I used it to enlarge my WinXP partition because the upgrate to SP2 required another gigabyte of disk space.
(I tried Ubuntu Live 5.10, but for some reason the desktop was extremely sluggish and couldn’t open any menus (Compaq Presario 5686, 128 MB RAM, 450 MHz Pentium III). With Knoppix 4.0.2 Live CD, QtParted failed with an empty “i”/OK dialog.)
you can just type in qtparted in the run commmand ,atleast on knoppix 4.0.2 im gonna pop in my older version and see if it works the same way it probaly does
Thanks Tom BootitNG worked for me (5 mins), I didn’t have time to download knoppix’s 700MB ISO just to resize my NTFS partition to squish Linux on, the 720kb of http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html was much betetr.
I can’t resize my partition because qtparted says it’s busy, though when I try to unmount it it says it’s already unmounted. How do I make it work?
Hi
I have a 40 GB Sata emulated as a SCSI device and Im migrating from Win2k to CentOS.
I am facing a mighty problem with the NTFS partition (E:) which is sitting on an Extended partition.
Whenever I try to resize with ntfsresize it is showing a max of 32MB . The partition size is 34 GB and 8.7GB is already free.
I want to move away from Win2k and onto CentOS as at work the Desktop Project is in full swing with WinXP (USB driver disabled) and AD with Exchange.
I want Linux as our Servers are Linux and there’s no cost associated with migeating to CentOS.
Help Me.
Aaaaaaa…. For those who want to read crap from me… PartitionMagic 8.0 has a folder in program files right?
There if you search you will find a folder named DOS and there are the Dos commands for partitioning hard drives…
PQMAGIC.exe it is perfect on a sistem diskette
My Compaq Mouse is not Functioning at all.
My compaq laptop mouse is not functioning. I am forced to install another mouse (PS2 mouse) because my on board Mouse is not working.
I wait for your response.
Thanks.
Thanks for the info, works
Great article and discussion. I just got a new laptop and wanted to create a data partition so when Windoze dies it won’t take my data with it. I ended up using QParted, it worked a treat, no issues at all.
Man says:
“I want Linux as our Servers are Linux and there’s no cost associated with migeating to CentOS.
Help Me.”
that’s the cost right there. reduced to the mercy of others for help. this is your linux.
this is second time to try “qtparted” under linux to resize a windows partition, and second time to fail. I seems that qtparted is extremely limited to expand the partition to fit the size already allocated. I have 27GB of unallocated free space, and qtparted can’t expand my C: drive beyond the 15GB it already has, since there’s a 15GB D: drive already there. am I missing something? I read all I could find for “qtparted” and i have to say, it looks like a joke.
so - i had to copy all files off of the logical partition, delete the logical partition, delete the extended partition, resize the primary partition, re-create the extended partition, recreate the logical partition, and copy all the files back onto the logical partions. All of which I could have accomplished much quicker with fdisk (and steps which pro software like partition magic doesn’t require). So what’s the big deal with gparted and qtpared? What did I miss?
You may also be interested in…
coLinux - Run Linux as a Windows program
http://www.colinux.org/
Run most versions of Linux
http://colinux.wikia.com/wiki/Linux_Distributions
And it’s various spinoffs
andLinux - Add Linux to WinXP toolbar
http://www.andlinux.org/downloads.php
coMomonga Linux 3
http://www.momonga-linux.org/20061031.html.ja
I wanted to add 3 GB to my 5 GB windows W: system drive.
After this drive was a X: 20GB drive, where only 16GB were used:
- copied the 16 GB X: drive data in a safe place
- downloaded knoppix and made a CD
- booted on knoppix
- run gparted
- deleted X:
- enlarged W: from 5 to 8GB
Started windows: no problem.
Recreated a 17 GB X: NTFS drive (in windows)
Copied back the 16GB data to X:
Everything worked like a charm, thanks a lot
Yves
[a few visual bugs in gparted, but was not a problem actually, as gparted is outdated in knoppix]