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GParted "ERROR: Volume is full. To shrink it, delete unused files." when I'm trying to enlarge (NTFS)

cn flag
Chris H

GParted is giving me a wrong error message, which makes troubleshooting rather hard.

I've got an NTFS partition, 100% full with one file (the .vdi for a Win10 VM using VirtualBox). I'm trying to resize it, and have freed up some space before the partition - it's at the end of the disk. But if I try to enlarge it, or simply to move it left into the unused space, I get the error in the title.

How can I extend this partition? I've copied it as a backup, so as a last resort I'd delete the file from it and recreate, but really I'd like to make another backup before doing that and I don't have room to do so.

Full GParted output:

GParted 0.30.0 --enable-libparted-dmraid --enable-online-resize

Libparted 3.2
Move /dev/sdb2 to the left and grow it from 117.79 GiB to 133.42 GiB  00:00:01    ( ERROR )
        
calibrate /dev/sdb2  00:00:01    ( SUCCESS )
        
path: /dev/sdb2 (partition)
start: 65546240
end: 312580095
size: 247033856 (117.79 GiB)
check filesystem on /dev/sdb2 for errors and (if possible) fix them  00:00:00    ( ERROR )
        
ntfsresize -i -f -v '/dev/sdb2'  00:00:00    ( ERROR )
        
ntfsresize v2017.3.23 (libntfs-3g)
Device name : /dev/sdb2
NTFS volume version: 3.1
Cluster size : 4096 bytes
Current volume size: 126481330688 bytes (126482 MB)
Current device size: 126481334272 bytes (126482 MB)
Checking for bad sectors ...
Checking filesystem consistency ...
100.00 percent completed
Accounting clusters ...
Space in use : 126482 MB (100.0%)
Collecting resizing constraints ...
ERROR: Volume is full. To shrink it, delete unused files.
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Keith5001 avatar
pw flag
Keith5001
Consider buying a external USB drive. Always useful. And booting from a live Distro. Create your other backup. Try starting the vdi from the external drive.
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cn flag
Chris H
@Keith5001 I have two or three that are big enough, and a USB-SATA cable. They're not here. They wouldn't really help deal with the incorrect error message anyway. I could start the vdi from my copy, but that doesn't help much either
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AlexOnLinux avatar
ng flag
AlexOnLinux
my advise: do a backup and recreate the partitions from scratch. use lvm for the partitions so in the future resizing will be way easier. I dont know if lvm supports ntfs. i wouldn't use ntfs anyway.
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oldfred avatar
cn flag
oldfred
With NTFS better to use Windows tools. After any resize it will need chkdsk anyway and that can only be done from Windows. Moving left is always higher risk as it has to copy all data. And depending on size and amount moved can take a very long time. Any interruption totally corrupts data or you do need good backups, just in case.
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cn flag
Chris H
@oldfred when the windows VM won't boot because it's filled its own partition, I can't use windows tools. Whether windows tools can resize the partition their OS is booted from is another question
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