[ale] Resizing GPT Partitions Online

Brian Pitts brian at polibyte.com
Wed Nov 3 16:18:09 EDT 2010


On 11/01/2010 11:22 PM, Michael B. Trausch wrote:
> On Mon, 2010-11-01 at 20:05 -0400, Brian Pitts wrote:
>> With MBR partitions, I've always used fdisk to delete the partition
>> and then created a new, larger one with the same starting sector. Then
>> I would use resize2fs to grow the filesystem online. fdisk doesn't
>> understand GPT-labeled disks, so I'm trying GNU parted. However, its
>> 'resize' and 'delete' commands fail with a message that I can't use
>> them on an active device. 
> 
> You might want to try GPT fdisk (gdisk).  There is an Ubuntu package
> (gdisk).  The Web site is available online at
> http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/ which appears to be exactly what you're
> looking for.  I have not used GPT-partitioned media yet, so I cannot say
> for sure.  But, here is the second paragraph from the Web site:
[snip]
> So, it looks like services your requirement rather nicely.

I built this on CentOS 5 and was able to fix the partition table (i.e.
move the backup GPT to the new end of the disk, recreate the partition
using the entire space). However, when exiting the program I get a
message that the kernel is still using the old partition table. Running
partprobe didn't fix this. :-(

I may try this on a Fedora 14 VM to see if it behaves the same way.

-- 
All the best,
Brian Pitts


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