1

I just expanded a basic disk on a Windows XP VM from 15gb to 40 gb using GPARTED LiveCD (0.5.2-11). I didn't notice anything unusual during the expansion; but after I rebooted back into Windows, the disk capacity doesn't match the disk size as it should (only 1 volume on the disk). The disk shows as 40gb; but the C: volume still shows the original size.

I've tried expanding the disk again with GPARTED (no change), and using VMware converter and have it adjust the size of the volume during the process (complains about a lack of space of snapshot error inside the os). The volume has 27% free space so I don't think it is a space issue.

Chkdsk doesn't seem to find anything wrong either. The OS seems to run just fine, it doesn't see the additional space however.

Any ideas?

Kara Marfia
  • 7,892
  • 5
  • 32
  • 56
Cybersylum
  • 126
  • 2
  • 7
  • I assume this means you increased the disk space in VMWare, and then booted the live cd to grow the partition. In the GParted live cd, does the partition show up as using the entire disk now that you've resized it, or does it still show up as only 15GB of the 40GB? If GParted shows 15 still, then GParted isn't resizing correctly. – Paul Kroon Jun 10 '10 at 02:04

2 Answers2

1

You may need to use diskpart to tell XP to grow the filesystem. This KB article goes through the process.

3dinfluence
  • 12,409
  • 2
  • 27
  • 41
  • +1 because this should work, too. GParted would be a replacement for this process, but this would work as well. – Paul Kroon Jun 10 '10 at 02:04
1

I believe (G)parted only expands a limited selection of filesystems: FAT, ext2/3. It has probably successfully increased the size of the container (partition) but the NTFS is still only 15GB. If you were to run the Windows disk administrator it'll probably confirm that: a 15GB volume in a 40GB partition.

You can use the Linux ntfsprogs, specifically ntfsresize . These (command-line) tools are on the Gparted LiveCD (per http://sourceforge.net/projects/gparted/files/gparted-live-stable/0.5.2-9/packages-0.5.2-9.txt/download ). I think Gparted is supposed to call ntfsresize automatically, so it's probably worth booting it again and checking what happens when you run ntfsresize manually. Otherwise, if your virtual machine host is Linux (a 'proper' distribution, not VMware's "Service Console") you have the option of accessing the VM disk (with partx if you need it, and while the guest is shut down) and running ntfsresize from the host.

Norky
  • 849
  • 4
  • 14
  • From my own experiences, the GParted live cd handles any sized NTFS partition (at least up to 250gb, for sure). This could still mean that Gparted had some issue resizing, although it usually spits out an error if it did. – Paul Kroon Jun 10 '10 at 02:07