Re: [Linux-NTFS-Dev] ntfsresize and windows disk administrator

[Szakacsits S. <sz...@si...>]

Hi Bala,

On Tue, 29 Oct 2002, Arumugam Balamurugan wrote:

Cluster size       : 4096
Current volume size: 1419744 clusters (5545 MB)
New volume size    : 731649 clusters (2858 MB)
[...]
> ==> NTFS had been successfully resized on device /dev/sda2.
> ==> Now you can go on to resize/split the partition.
[...]
> I restarted the box and booted into 'Windows 2000
> Professional', the drive is shrunk to 2687MB approx,
> but the 'Windows Disk Administrator' is showing the
> original size (5545MB). What could be the problem?

Resizing a filesystem basically takes two steps.

If you shrink a device/volume:
- shrink the filesystem (e.g. using ntfsresize)
- edit/shrink the partition the filesystem is on (e.g. using fdisk)

If you enlarge a device/volume you must do the opposite way:
- edit/enlarge the partition the filesystem is on (e.g. using fdisk)
- enlarge the filesystem

ntfsresize works just like any other filesystem resizer: it doesn't
resize the disk partition itself, only the filesystem. I copy-paste
the relevant parts from the ext[23] resize2fs manual, just replace
resize2fs with ntfsresize and you get what I mean:

"The resize2fs program does not manipulate the size of partitions. If
you wish to shrink an ext2 partition, first use resize2fs to shrink
the size of filesystem.  Then you may use fdisk(8) to shrink the size
of the partition.  When shrinking the size of the partition, make sure
you do not make it smaller than the new size of the ext2 filesystem!"

In short, you're half done and everything looks ok so far but you need
to edit the partition table as well, shrinking /dev/sda2. The new
partition size must be minimum 2996834304 bytes (cluster size * number
of clusters), e.g. you could use 2859 MB (2858 + 1) as the new disk
partition size.

Of course the most convenient way would be using 'parted' that takes
care about these lower level issues but it doesn't support ntfs resize
yet [most importantly because e.g. ntfsresize misses some issues that
are needed for integration].

	Szaka