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I had previously installed windows 8.1 on my hard drive, then I later unallocated some space like 15GB and installed linuxmint separately on that partition, How to extend the 15GB volume that I have allocated for linuxmint without any loss of data?

Screenshot

Samir
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CrossBones
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  • Do you have any unallocated space left now on the disk? – Samir Apr 22 '15 at 10:40
  • 1. you need to create some free space (make windows partition smaller) 2. You need to download live ISO of GParted, burn it and boot from it. 3. Extend the Mint partition. 4. Boot mint. 5. Check this tutorial on commands that will allow you to extend the linux partition table so that Mint will see the newly added free space: https://www.howtoforge.com/linux_resizing_ext3_partitions. Note: GParted worked perfectly every time for me. – mnmnc Apr 22 '15 at 10:42
  • Which one is Windows on? The sda1? You have 18 GB on sda6. Can you take some of that? – Samir Apr 22 '15 at 10:46
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    Is it OK if I post your screenshot here on SU? – Samir Apr 22 '15 at 10:47
  • On a second thought, this is better tutorial on commands that you will need in step 5 (look at my previous comment): http://litwol.com/content/fdisk-resizegrow-physical-partition-without-losing-data-linodecom – mnmnc Apr 22 '15 at 10:49
  • Why would he need a Live system when he appears to be able to boot into Mint Linux? – Samir Apr 22 '15 at 10:52
  • Windows 8.1 is on sda1 @sammyg – CrossBones Apr 22 '15 at 10:54
  • cant I just use gparted preinstalled in linuxmint? @mnmnc – CrossBones Apr 22 '15 at 10:54
  • @sammyg -- attempting to manipulate partitions in this way from a running install is ill-advised if not impossible givent the partition layout shown. – linuxdev2013 Apr 22 '15 at 10:54
  • @suriya, as I mentioned to sammyg since Windows is ACTIVELY using all the other partitions that is NOT possible indeed a live installer/media is the only way without possible data loss (UNLESS you have sufficient space on a spare HDD to house a backup of one or both systems then you could more sanely (properly / organizedly) partition the drive and restore the data to the respective partitions... IF you go that route I HIGHLY recommend using a gpt table not mbr (much more flexible). – linuxdev2013 Apr 22 '15 at 11:06
  • I'm afraid a GPT partition table may be impossible to boot up Windows from. I believe it requires that the system is UEFI based, or EFI based at least. It won't work with BIOS based systems. I believe Linux will, but not Windows. – Samir Apr 22 '15 at 11:17
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    Since data preservation is one of the objectives here, I would strongly recommend that you backup any important files to an external disk. – Samir Apr 22 '15 at 11:23
  • @sammyg AS long as bios is set to CSM (legacy mode) GPT is wind/linux/(even older pre2009 mac) friendly – linuxdev2013 Apr 22 '15 at 19:14

1 Answers1

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To assume you have enough space of the win 8.1 install:

1) boot into (or use a install cd) for windows and shrink its partition to the desired extension size then boot into a mint install cd/usb

(DO NOT ATTEMPT FROM INSTALLED MINT)

2) mount and "chroot" the mint install (which has both fdisk / gparted -- for newer users gparted is hands down safer option --its also gui based.

3) then extend the 15Gb mint install by the newly re-un-allocated space and click apply.

4) then from mint installer -- open a terminal (Clt-Alt-F2 by default) and run:

sudo update-initramfs -u -k all && sudo update-grub

(FOR THIS ENSURE YOU ARE IN THE "CHROOT" --change(d) root) -- can confirm by running lsblk (which should NOT show /mnt/...... only native /, /home,etc etc.

5) exit the "chroot" via Clt_d or typing exit TWICE)

6) reboot --removing install media prior to restart

7) enjoy newly enlarged mint install on your dual booted system.

linuxdev2013
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  • To shrink a partition should I use an install disk or can I just shrink it with Windows installed on my pc? – CrossBones Apr 22 '15 at 11:01
  • To take some space from your Windows partition, you should be able to do that inside Windows. You can use Disk Management for this. – Samir Apr 22 '15 at 11:22
  • @sammyg -- possible sure BUT you seem to be missing the data loss avoidance that method is not likely to not muck things up (use another system aka live/install media and mess with the UN MOUNTED partitions – linuxdev2013 Apr 22 '15 at 12:30