I have a dual booting laptop with Win7 Ultimate and Ubuntu 14.04 I need to resize the Ubuntu partition, but I prefer not to re install the whole thing. Is it possible? How?
2 Answers
Yes it is. First you are going to want to use GParted to shrink the Ubuntu Partition and make the Windows partition bigger. GPARTED DOES WARN YOU THAT THERE IS A CHANCE OF DATA LOSS IF DONE INCORRECTLY.
First install UNetBootin on your ubuntu distro.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gezakovacs/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install unetbootin
Then download GParted Live ISO. (Direct Link)
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/gparted/gparted-live-0.19.1-4-i486.iso
Now open UNetBootin.
Select DiskImage
Browse to where you put the disc image (.Iso)
Now select your USB
and click install FILES WILL BE DELETED ON USB SO MAKE A BACK UP
Now once done boot up PC and go to boot manager and select USB (So just boot from usb)
then select LIVE or somthing like that.
Now it should boot up.
All you need to do now is take the Ubuntu Partition, click on shrink and shrink it down how u want. Then select the Windows Partition and you will be able to make it bigger!
And now your all done, when you get into ubuntu agian go ahead and format your usb and put all of your files you had before.
GoodLuck!
Sure, it is certainly possible using GParted (Ubuntu) and Disk Management (Windows). However, pay attention! If you want to reduce a Windows partition, the best thing is to do this from Windows.
Preconditions
Make a backup of all important stuffs!!
Take a look at your partitions and how you want to resize them. Simply put, if you have 3 close partitions, namely | A | B | C |, and you want to reduce A and increase B, you have to put all the A clusters at the beginning; in this way, you're sure that the increase process doesn't overwrite important stuffs. If instead you want to reduce C and extend B, you have to put all the C clusters at the end of the partition.
- So, if you want to reduce an Ubuntu partition, the best way to proceed is to execute first the steps of Ubuntu side and then the ones of Windows side. On the other hand, if you want to reduce a Windows partition, the best thing to do is to execute first Windows side and then Ubuntu side
Windows side
Reducing a partition
Make a complete defrag of the partition using some external tool. The best way to do this is before Windows is loaded; ultradefrag is the best choice IMHO. The goal is to move the most clusters at the beginning (or at the end, depends on your actual situation) of the partition.
Open the built-in utility Disk Management (Control Panel>System and Security>Administrative Tools>Computer Management> Disk Management), right click on your partition and select "Shrink volume". In the Shrink dialog, you will want to enter the amount you want to shrink by, not the new size. Then click "Shrink".
- At the end of the process you can see a gray area (called like "Raw partition") in the image on the right.
Extending a partition
- Open Disk Management and take a look at the image on the right. If you have a "Raw partition" close (on the left or on the right) to the one you want to extend, you can continue.
- Right click on your partition and select "Extend volume". On the screen, you can specify the amount that you want to increase the partition by. Then click next and wait.
Ubuntu side
- Boot to a LiveCD or LiveUSB drive in "Try me" mode.
- Launch GParted; then right click on your partition, click resize and follow the instructions. Click apply.
- Reboot, taking out the USB stick or CD when it tells you to.