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I'm planning to resize one of the server partition from 40GB to 1900GB. The current partition has files on it while the space to be added is unallocated. Will my existing files be deleted?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

MadHatter
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Jan Mark
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  • Specify an OS where you want to perform disk extension. Is the unallocated space on the same physical disk? W2k8 supports disk extension of the fly. – Volodymyr Molodets Nov 19 '12 at 09:43
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    It doesn't matter because you have recent backups of any data you care about and you regularly make sure you can restore from them because you know a disk can fail any time with no warning anyway. Right? – David Schwartz Nov 19 '12 at 10:04
  • please specify a an operating system, and the filesystem you're using... not all work the same – Waleed Hamra Nov 19 '12 at 10:07
  • the server is running CentOS5. Filesystem is ext3. the unallocated space is on the same disk. You can take a look also on my related question here http://serverfault.com/questions/450014/extend-size-of-partition. Sorry I did not notice this comment right away. Thanks for replies. – Jan Mark Nov 19 '12 at 10:14
  • At least with LVM no data is going to be lost (did it hundreds of times). – Dejan Menges Nov 19 '12 at 11:19
  • @Dejan Menges I want to avoid lvm as much possible because I experienced problem with corrupt lvm metadata before. I just want to resize it is on the same disk anyway. Thanks. – Jan Mark Nov 19 '12 at 11:54
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    @HopelessN00b May I know your idea on resizing the partition? Thanks – Jan Mark Nov 19 '12 at 11:55

3 Answers3

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Generally resizing does not delete any files. This is certainly the case for

  • Using a GParted LiveCD
  • "Live" resizing in Windows Server 2008

Those are the two most likely scenarios but if you are using some other tools then please update your question so you can receive the correct answer

Phil
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  • Thanks @Phil. The server is running CentOs. So it won't have problem with deleting the files? I have my related question here http://serverfault.com/questions/450014/extend-size-of-partition. Thanks. – Jan Mark Nov 19 '12 at 10:08
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No data will be deleted during extension.

As it was mentioned earlier W2k8 supports disk extension on the fly for system and non-system partitions.

W2k3 doesn't support disk extension on the fly for the system partition, volume with pagefile and some other rare cases. On W2k3 machines I prefer using extpart from DELL which does support extension of the system partitions on the fly which means no downtime and it's extremely easy to use, see example below:

For example:

To extend the g: volume by 1 GB (1024 MB) use the following command:

extpart g: 1024

Volodymyr Molodets
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The above discussion seem to assume that the space to be added is CONTIGIOUS to that of the space you want to increase. If this is true you don't have problems.

The system will NOT allow non-contiguous spaces to be expanded easily. It will essentially be two areas that you'll have to balance yourself. Of course, you will not lose any data unless you delete the original partition.

mdpc
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