Partitialoning HD with Fedora utility

bwagner62 · #1 28th June 2011, 02:43 AM

I have installed Fedora 14 along with Libre Office along with some other applications so I am learning slowly, re-learning really. However I am having a difficult time understanding partitioning. I would like to make another partition for Windoze. I also cannot get a USB mouse to work. I have run some commands to gather disk info I will refrain from list it here as it is a lot of data. At least until asked to do so. What I have run so far is fdisk -l , df, blkid, & cat fstab

Thanks to anyone who can help.

lightman47 · #2 28th June 2011, 06:06 PM

parted magic is free and does a great job. However, I suspect you're going to run into problems attempting to resize the default logical volume (LV) that Fedora 14 configured. I've tried following various forums' instructions twice and had to do a clean install both times. I've learned not to mess with it.

weitjong · #3 28th June 2011, 06:51 PM

For partitioning, "parted" in text mode or gparted in graphical UI. If your system uses LVM, you will need "system-config-lvm" as well. Tips: Don't confuse between partition and filesystem, they are two different things.

lightman47 · #4 28th June 2011, 06:57 PM

weitjong: Thanks for that tip; greatly appreciated. That said, I've had NO luck resizing a LV using the tool mentioned - it always got hosed. Ideas? (solely for my future info). Thanks. Also - sorry for detracting from the thread.

jroa1 · #5 28th June 2011, 09:44 PM

Are you sure you do not currently have Windows on a partition already? If you are not sure you could run the following commands.

Code:

su -
parted
print

If you do have Windows on there, it will show up as a ntfs partition.

If you do need to make a new partition for Windows, you can use gparted from the live cd. Even if you can access the program from the gui, it is best to run it from the live cd, that way the installed OS is not being used when you start making changes. Make the new partition a ntfs file system for best results.

weitjong · #6 29th June 2011, 05:24 PM

lightman47, you are welcome. You don't say whether you are growing or shrinking. Growing is always easy. Also note that you cannot safely perform any operation on the filesystem when it is still mounted. I think it would be more appropriate if you start a new thread for your own.

bwagner62 · #7 29th June 2011, 06:36 PM

Weitjong if I boot off a Linux cd will I be able to re-size the current LV That is what I really want/need to do. Also if I do that and install Windoze will I be able to boot it?

jroa1 · #8 29th June 2011, 08:47 PM

Booting off of the live cd, you should be able to make some unallocated space that you can load Windows onto. When you install Windows, it will over write the MBR and it will boot, but nothing else is likely to boot after that. You will need to reinstall GRUB onto the MBR or some other boot loader in order to boot into Linux.

If you are ok with it, you may just want to do a fresh install of Windows onto the entire drive, then make some unallocated space with the live cd, and then finally reinstall Linux (Fedora or whatever) onto the unallocated space. This should make both Windows and Linux bootable.

weitjong · #9 30th June 2011, 04:44 PM

I agree with jroa1, mostly. The fresh installation of Fedora sounds like a bit drastic but comparing that to what you have to go through as I outlined below, it may be the right advice for you.

Fixing the MBR after Windows installation is really not an issue at all. I see your issue is more with resizing the LV if its containing partition has taken up all your disk space. It is a lesser problem if you still have unallocated space, for which you can just either use gparted or Windows installer to create a new Windows partition out of the unallocated space. But if you have let Fedora installer take all your entire disk during Fedora installation then it would be a more trickier to solve your issue. Before you proceed, you may want to check with "df -h" to see how much you can shrink your filesystem. I would also assume you have backup all your important data. The step you need to do, I think:
- resize the filesystem to shrink it size.
- shrink the LV containing your filesystem.
- shrink the associated PV.
- and finally shrink the partition containing the PV to make space (which later you can use in Windows)
All these could only be done while your filesystem is not mounted. So, yes you need to boot using a live cd or recovery cd or what have you that has the necessary tools to perform the above steps. Remember, the point of booting from CD is not to mount your filesystem in your disk. So, be careful not to chose a wrong option during booting that inadvertently mount your filesystem in your disk back.

In the OP, you said you want to learn so I just give you the direction but not the exact command. I think the actual command to extend/shrink things are available in net. Let us know if you need more hand holding.

Good luck.