Can the 9.1 installer resize an NTFS partition?
I just attempted to install SuSE 9.1 on my new Dell Inspiron 1000 laptop. When I got to the point of trying to resize the Windows partition (NTFS), I was prevented from doing so because it was mounted. So I removed the mount point and tried again. This time the resize operation did nothing -- no response when I pressed Alt-S. So I tried using a custom partition, and I got a message to the effect that this type of Windows partition could not be resized. The odd thing here is that several people reported in an earlier thread on this subject that they succeeded in resizing the NTFS partition. So I'm wondering why I got a different result than they did. Fortunately I have a way around it by using Partition Manager, but it would be nice if I could use the provided SuSE tools without having to resort to that. Paul
Paul W. Abrahams wrote:
I just attempted to install SuSE 9.1 on my new Dell Inspiron 1000 laptop. When I got to the point of trying to resize the Windows partition (NTFS), I was prevented from doing so because it was mounted. So I removed the mount point and tried again. Did you umount it first? This time the resize operation did nothing -- no response when I pressed Alt-S. So I tried using a custom partition, and I got a message to the effect that this type of Windows partition could not be resized.
I resized 2 NTFS Windows XP home partitions on 2 e-Machines notebooks with 9.1, after defragging them in Windows.
The odd thing here is that several people reported in an earlier thread on this subject that they succeeded in resizing the NTFS partition. So I'm wondering why I got a different result than they did.
Why would the Windows partitions be mounted on an install? How did you install? Did you boot from the DVD? -- Joe Morris New Tribes Mission Email Address: Joe_Morris@ntm.org Registered Linux user 231871
On Saturday 19 March 2005 1:05 am, Joe Morris (NTM) wrote:
Paul W. Abrahams wrote:
I just attempted to install SuSE 9.1 on my new Dell Inspiron 1000 laptop. When I got to the point of trying to resize the Windows partition (NTFS), I was prevented from doing so because it was mounted. So I removed the mount point and tried again. Did you umount it first?
I couldn't figure out how to do that since there was no obvious way to get to a command line or to use the Yast facilities for it. The best I could do was to remove the mount point.
I resized 2 NTFS Windows XP home partitions on 2 e-Machines notebooks with 9.1, after defragging them in Windows.
The odd thing here is that several people reported in an earlier thread on this subject that they succeeded in resizing the NTFS partition. So I'm wondering why I got a different result than they did.
Why would the Windows partitions be mounted on an install? How did you install? Did you boot from the DVD?
Yast mounted them, for reasons best known to Yast. I did an ordinary install, choosing the defaults except for the partitioning, and I did boot from the DVD. Very puzzling. Paul
For what it's worth I had a similar problem on a Dell Inspiron a few months ago. I can't remember the exact sequence but it was something like: * Tried to install SuSE (8.2 I think) as dual boot but it couldn't re-partition the hard disk (unmoveable files or something like that). * Didn't really wan XP at that time so I just wiped it an d installed SuSE - no problem at all. * Then work meant that I needed XP for remote access. Re-installed XP from the 'rescue' disks and then quite happily installed SuSE dual- boot. Everything's been fine since then. I didn't investigate much but the impression I got was that the default XP installation put something at the top-end of the disk, maybe associated with the suspend/recover functions, and normal partition re-sizing couldn't handle it, but the re-installed XP put this somewhere else and everything was OK then. Hope this helps, Colin Joe Morris (NTM) wrote:
Paul W. Abrahams wrote:
I just attempted to install SuSE 9.1 on my new Dell Inspiron 1000 laptop. When I got to the point of trying to resize the Windows partition (NTFS), I was prevented from doing so because it was mounted. So I removed the mount point and tried again.
Did you umount it first?
This time the resize operation did nothing -- no response when I pressed Alt-S. So I tried using a custom partition, and I got a message to the effect that this type of Windows partition could not be resized.
I resized 2 NTFS Windows XP home partitions on 2 e-Machines notebooks with 9.1, after defragging them in Windows.
The odd thing here is that several people reported in an earlier thread on this subject that they succeeded in resizing the NTFS partition. So I'm wondering why I got a different result than they did.
Why would the Windows partitions be mounted on an install? How did you install? Did you boot from the DVD?
Colin.Fraser wrote:
For what it's worth I had a similar problem on a Dell Inspiron a few months ago. I can't remember the exact sequence but it was something like: Maybe it is something Dell specific, i.e. putting a restore partition after the XP one. * Tried to install SuSE (8.2 I think) as dual boot but it couldn't re-partition the hard disk (unmoveable files or something like that). * Didn't really wan XP at that time so I just wiped it an d installed SuSE - no problem at all. * Then work meant that I needed XP for remote access. Re-installed XP from the 'rescue' disks and then quite happily installed SuSE dual- boot. Everything's been fine since then.
I didn't investigate much but the impression I got was that the default XP installation put something at the top-end of the disk, maybe associated with the suspend/recover functions, and normal partition re-sizing couldn't handle it, but the re-installed XP put this somewhere else and everything was OK then. I guess it is academic now, as I believe Paul used Partition Magic to resize, but it does beg the question, Paul, did it have more than one partition on the disk? I have seen a small restore partition in addition to an XP partition on some laptops (hidden from XP). I think Colin may have this one pegged. -- Joe Morris New Tribes Mission Email Address: Joe_Morris@ntm.org Registered Linux user 231871
On Saturday 19 March 2005 10:46 am, Joe Morris (NTM) wrote:
I guess it is academic now, as I believe Paul used Partition Magic to resize, but it does beg the question, Paul, did it have more than one partition on the disk? I have seen a small restore partition in addition to an XP partition on some laptops (hidden from XP). I think Colin may have this one pegged.
Yes. Dell does put a small restore partition on the hard drive. I didn't realize that that could be the cause of the problem. Paul
On March 19, 2005 11:12 am, Paul W. Abrahams wrote:
On Saturday 19 March 2005 10:46 am, Joe Morris (NTM) wrote:
I guess it is academic now, as I believe Paul used Partition Magic to resize, but it does beg the question, Paul, did it have more than one partition on the disk? I have seen a small restore partition in addition to an XP partition on some laptops (hidden from XP). I think Colin may have this one pegged.
Yes. Dell does put a small restore partition on the hard drive. I didn't realize that that could be the cause of the problem.
On newer machines Dell has 2 hidden partitions. Partition 1 is a small FAT partition with diagnostics (accesses via F10), Partition 2 is NTFS and holds the spyware and virus host Partition 3 is a 3 gig ghost image (via ctrl F11) -- Collector of vintage computers http://www.ncf.ca/~ba600 Machines to trade http://www.ncf.ca/~ba600/trade.html Open Source Weekend http://www.osw.ca
participants (4)
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Colin.Fraser -
Joe Morris (NTM) -
Mike -
Paul W. Abrahams