Hardware - Support > Hard Drives and SSDs
Allocating entire hard drive to Linux Lite
bobw:
Hi pauloz,
Just adding my contribution to try to clarify things for you.
If you do decide on a completely fresh install to replace the existing Lite 2.2 installation, the installer will allocate the full hard drive to LL apart from a small Linux swap partition which it will set up. It would give you a tidier installation, with LL on sda1. However, it shouldn't be necessary to do this if you prefer to keep your current installation.
Your present LL partition, being sda6, is a logical partition within an extended partition, as gold_finger said, since the file system will only support 4 primary partitions, one of which can be an extended partition. An extended partition can contain many logical partitions. I think your swap partition will also be a logical partition.
You will need to boot and work from the live CD or USB stick that you used to install LL initially, as you can't resize your LL partition when that system is running. I think you will then find that your sda1, sda6 etc partitions will appear as sdb1, sdb6, etc when you look at them in gparted (listed as "Partition Drives" in LL System menu).
Working in gparted, you will need to:
- Ensure all the partitions are unmounted.
- Select the linux-swap partition, right click and select Swapoff.
- If your "unallocated partition" is shown as a grey block with the word "unallocated" in gparted, then it is unallocated space rather than a partition. If, on the other hand, it is an unused partition, then you should delete it.
- Select the extended partition and use the Resize/Move option to extend it into the unallocated space.
- Select your LL partition and use the Resize/Move option to extend it into the resultant free space within the extended partition.
Having said all that, if I were you I would create a large separate data partition for all your files and reduce the size of your LL partition to about 10 or 15Gb. The process is similar in principle to that described above, but if you needed more help I'm sure you'd only need to ask.
Good luck!
Wirezfree:
Hi pauloz,
Yes you are correct, I just booted my LL Live usb stick, and there is no "Use Entire Disk"
I re-checked the Help Manual, and that shows the option on the screen shot..!!!
Maybe that option only comes up if it is "new and/or empty" disk.?
gold_finger is far more skilled at this than me, so I would follow/see what he recommends.
Other than that,
You could just delete all the partitions whilst you are in gparted,
You will need to do a "swap off" on the "swap partition"
When they are all deleted,
Use the "Device" menu, and create "New" partition table.
Then do the install.
gold_finger:
--- Quote from: pauloz on February 10, 2015, 08:26:43 PM ---... however it's the next step that always stumps me. In the Resize/Move window, the following is displayed:
Free space preceding (MiB) = 0 (default)
New size (MiB) = 56253 (This is the partition I want to increase the size of, but it won't let me. It states this is the maximum size)
Free space following (MiB) = 0 (default)
Align to = MiB (default)
The rest of the space is showing as an unallocated partition 93.12 GiB, but it looks like I need to do something to this unallocated partition to allow me to increase my sda6 (Linux Lite) partition.
--- End quote ---
Haven't seen any screenshot or terminal output showing your partitions, so just making educated guesses here.
1. If "rest of space" is an actual "partition" instead of being un-partitioned free space, then delete that partition before trying to expand the other into the space.
More likely what is happening ...
2. I'm guessing that /dev/sda6 is a logical partition contained within an expanded partition (probably sda4). If so, you need to first resize the boundary of the expanded partition into the free space; then you will be able to expand sda6.
P.s. The expanded partition doesn't have to be called "sda4" -- that's just an example. It could also be sda3, 2, or 1 depending on how partitioning was first done on drive.
pauloz:
Hi Wirezfree
Thanks for your suggestion - I've already considered that but the options given to me were:
1. Installing alongside existing Lite 2.2 (obviously no point)
2. Replace existing Lite 2.2 (I considered this option but it gave me no guarantee I would have access to all of the hard drive)
3. Something else, which is resizing the partitions, which is where I'm at.
The other 2 options were to encrypt the new Linux installation for security and use LVM with the new Linux installation. Not sure what would have happened if I had checked these - I'm still in the beginner stage of my knowledge of Linux!
I have no issues wiping the floor again and trying a fresh reinstall, however I want to know beforehand I will have access to all of the hard drive.
Any further suggestions appreciated.
Paul
Wirezfree:
Hi pauloz,
If you have not done to much configuration, or installed many program.?
It maybe just easier to start from scratch, boot your LL Live media, and select "Use Entire Disk" during install.
You could spend more time trying to figure out what's going on with gparted than it will take you to re-install.
just my thoughts...
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