#1 2018-05-22 13:30:43

jimjamz

Member

From: Nagasaki, Japan

Registered: 2016-04-04

Posts: 189

[SOLVED] Reclaim unallocated partition using GParted?

I have a Macbook with a dual-boot setup (macOS/BL).  GRUB is installed on the first /efi partition, which BL automatically boots into.  To select the macOS partition, the <OPTION/ALT> has to be held to boot into the Mac's boot loader.

During the initial setup of this, a data (FAT32) partition was created to serve as an intermediary of sharing data between the two systems.  This has since been removed and I would like to reclaim the partition and it's unallocated space for my BL installation.

Here is the configuration according to GParted:

However, when trying to resize my BL partition, there is no space preceding it:

How can I use GParted to reclaim the partition in front of my BL partition so that the BL partition can be enlarged?

Last edited by jimjamz (2018-06-01 22:04:49)

verndog

Member

Registered: 2018-05-22

Posts: 49

Re: [SOLVED] Reclaim unallocated partition using GParted?

Sometimes resizing using gparted can take some time. You could instead, clone bl partition using fsarchiver, then delete bl partition and then format the unallocated space. fsarchiver will restore into the new partition. It keeps your UUID intact.

nobody

The Great

Registered: 2015-08-10

Posts: 3,655

Re: [SOLVED] Reclaim unallocated partition using GParted?

Sometimes resizing using gparted can take some time. You could instead, clone bl partition using fsarchiver, then delete bl partition and then format the unallocated space. fsarchiver will restore into the new partition. It keeps your UUID intact.

True. Though making the process more complex also makes it more fragile.

Except for extending into empty space, resizing the above partition using space in front of it means to first copy all blocks from the relative offset of the original partition to the offset of the new partition, and then extend the end into the now-empty space, finally expand the contained file system. On SSD it should be pretty fast, but of course on HDD it can take quite a while. One of the prime reasons to use LVM is to abstract from the physical geometry of the disk.

jimjamz

Member

From: Nagasaki, Japan

Registered: 2016-04-04

Posts: 189

Re: [SOLVED] Reclaim unallocated partition using GParted?

Looks like the partition is still mounted (guess that's what the lock symbol means

D'oh! Of course, you're right.  I completely looked past the lock symbol and it did not occur to me I was booting into the very partition that I wished to resize.  I think it was just one of those 'braindrain' days.

Running BL Live from a USB stick and resizing the partition with GParted did the trick.  Thanks again!