Forum folks:

As I mentioned in my other thread about IW failing to launch after update/upgrade . . . and the recent discovery that somehow another swap partition was created and flagged as the main swap partition . . . without my participation . . . I have been trying to get that 263MB partition back into the main partition without too much success other than to delete it, turn it into free space and reflag the original 1GB swap partition as swap. But, question is, when booted in the system in Gparted when I click on either of those two partitions neither one lights up the "resize/move" tab in the GParted toolbar, and it doesn't show up in the "partition" drop down menu either . . . . It seems like I might be able to manually change the size of the now "Free space" partition from 263 MB to perhaps zero, but then trying to modify the existing home/main partition while booted in it . . . can't be done. I booted a Lubuntu LiveDVD and launched GParted and seemingly had the same issues. I then booted the Mint11 install mini.iso and went through 45 mins. of preparing to "install" to get to the disc partitioning section . . . the Free space was there and it gave me a couple of options like I could re-partition it . . . so I went to the main partition and clicked "re-size" and then got a window saying . . . "All the previous changes have to be written to disc first before this operation can be done . . . ." Since I didn't want to erase the data (re: 4 hour installation time for Mint11) . . . in that partition, and also didn't want to add any more data into the already quite full partition . . . I "aborted installation." Is there any way to get this 263 MB melded back into the main partition, one that is simple, straightforward, easy, not hard, not complicated, non-force?? without erasing all of the partitions and re-installing? In OSX installation discs you can boot up in the install disc and then you can mouse to a drop down menu that gives you QUICK access to Disc Utility and you can do stuff to the disc, easily . . . repair, but in PPC maybe not repartition the disc, but possibly might be able to get the free space added back into the main disc?? Anything like that in MintPPC? Or am I stuck with this Free space off to the side which was before part of the main partition? It just cuts down on the amount of stuff that can be added, etc . . . .

Thanks for any insights,
e.e.p.

I never tried such things, I would be very careful though.

OK . . . that sounds like prudent advice. But, it doesn't seem like it is possible to modify partitions that have data in them, or is it? In OSX in PPC you can only resize/partition discs that are empty or they have data that you don't mind losing because to re-size them they are erased. Is that the same in Linux or is it possible to resize a partition that contains data . . . without damaging the data? Or, the answer is unknown? It's interesting to think about "being careful" without knowing what is considered possible to do . . . . The saga of Mint11 on my various computers continues . . . .

e.e.p.

I don't know whether you can resize partitions with data in it. I never tried it. I would ask for some advise on this from experienced users.

Assuming the partition is a supported format:
-You can enlarge to however much free space you have up to the maximum supported by either partition format or partition map type.
-You can usually shrink to a size just a few MB over your current data on the disk.

You cannot do any of this while the disk is mounted.

thanks Theos

The debian installer allows you to resize, as does, ubiquity the ubuntu installer. Resizing partitions was a testcase that we had to complete before the ubuntu ISOs could be released. It certainly works for ext4 (that's what I tested it on), although it is still a good idea to backup any important data first.

I still think it is best to use gparted though. For hfsplus you have to install extra packages. I'm not entirely sure how well it works on Mac partitions. If anybody knows I would be interested to hear so I can include it in the Ubuntu PowerPC FAQ. If you are messing with swap partitions then you have to turn off swap (gparted has an option for this).

Attached is a screenshot of what is supported by gparted

@theos911: OK, thanks for the follow up . . . all the Mint partitions were created in GParted . . . and somehow this 263 MB partition was created and is now Free Space, but I haven't been able to expand the main partition to use the Free Space, even when booted up in the Mint install disc as I mentioned . . . or even using GParted when booted up in a LiveDVD . . . . It's hard to know what the installer disc means when it says, "all changes have to be written to the disc before the partition can be modified" . . . does that mean all the steps in the installer that went on before the disc partitioner part? Or would that just refer to the few different decisions made in selecting "manual" over "Guided" and so forth? In theory I'm using only 3.6 GB of a theoretical 4.8 GB partition, but when I tried to download a 697 MB file when it got to 300 MB an error window opened saying, "there is only 200 MB available" . . . so it reduces the system to just being able to support itself w/o room for any other data in the home folder . . . like for photos, tunes . . . it's more or less just a terminal to access the "cloud" at this point.

e.e.p.

@ojordan: Thanks for the pictures . . . mongo like pictures . . . . What system is that DE that you are running? Anyway, from what you are saying in theory I should be able to increase the adjacent main partition to absorb the free space using GParted . . . . The fastest way seems to be using a LiveDVD . . . I was able to "turn off" the swap flag that had been moved to the smaller oddly made somehow partition and then I could turn it to Free Space . . . but didn't have luck expanding the home folder to absorb the new free space. I'll have to try again. In terms of "backing up" . . . the only things to back up are what? documents, there is no system cloner in Linux, right? No Carbon Copy Cloner so I could copy the whole system onto an Ext HD as we can in OSX . . . and then I'm only gambling with the 4 hour install time to get me back to Mint11 . . . . Makes for a bit of a "sticky wicket" as they say in olde England . . . .

e.e.p.

I'm not sure what you mean by mongo (flash gordon reference?!?), but mongrel may be more apt...

The top panel and background is from xfce. The temperature applet is from gnome. The window manger is kwin from KDE.

Just me messing about seeing what is best.

I have to say the more I use kubuntu (the kde variant of ubuntu), the more I am excited by it (gosh that sounds sad). Kwin is great - it does transparency really well and I like the blue halo it puts on things.

I'm going to use a global menu (appmenu) and have been experimenting with setting up a 'wing panel'. I have something in my head (sort of a tab effect) that I want to create to minimise space. I might top it off with a brushed metal look as a nod to Mac OS X.

I just need to speed up the startup time of kde (it seems to auto start a load of stuff by default). I'm still very much finding my feet with kde. Once it is up and running then it is really fast considering the fancy stuff it does. The secret is to get your graphics setup well.