I want to extend my disk partition for Ubuntu

moe

11/19/23, 2:41 PM

I have 2 main partitions, p3 is the Windows partition and p4 is my Ubuntu partition. I'd like to allocate free space in p3 and move it to p4. However, since Ubuntu is adjacent to Windows, I'm not sure how I can move the unallocated space to Ubuntu. You can view my GParted below

Partition

130

1 + 1

partitioning

dual-boot

gparted

oldfred

11/19/23, 3:25 PM

Do not leave Windows too small. It really likes to have 30% unallocated, if down to 10% defrag can take forever. Moving partition left is a bit more risky as any interruption, power failure, battery drained, or other issue totally corrupts it. Best to have good backups of both Windows & Ubuntu. You can use gparted to move left make sure it works and then expand right. Some alternatives are to use data partition(s). You can use NTFS for shared data or ext4 for Linux data. But then you have more partitions to manage size of and backup.

Score:1

Ubuntu

Will

11/19/23, 3:23 PM

Your Windows and Ubuntu partitions aren’t actually adjacent: there’s 390 GB of unallocated data between them.

You’re asking about shrinking your Windows partition - you don’t need to do that if you’re happy to use the unallocated space - it’s clearly much safer not to mess with your Windows partition unless you have to. If you really want to shrink Windows let me know in a comment and I’ll post back.

Back everything up first: your Ubuntu partition is at highest risk as that’s the one you’ll be moving / resizing, but there’s always risk to anything on the drive when manipulating partitions (mostly due to human error, but bad things do happen) - so make sure you have good backups.

You’ll need to use a live usb session with gparted: you can’t resize / move a mounted partition. Pop your usb with Ubuntu in, start the computer and enter bios (often holding down f2 / f10/ f12 / Del or Esc whilst it’s powering on - check your hardware’s documentation or search online), get it to boot from usb, select Try Ubuntu.

Open gparted. You should then be able to move the partition and resize it - it’s pretty self explanatory. Ensure you’ve got the correct drive selected if more than one, highlight your Ubuntu partition, select Resize/Move from the Partition menu, and make the changes.

You can expect it to take a long time as the entirety of the data in your Ubuntu partition has to be moved to the left.

Please do ensure you have backups before you resize / move partitions.

+ 3

moe

11/22/23, 1:36 PM

Hello, when you say pop a USB in with Ubuntu, is that necessary if my PC is currently double bootable?

Will

11/22/23, 4:04 PM

@moe - yes - what you want is for neither of your os partitions to be mounted, so you can move them. In theory you might be able to boot into Windows and use Windows tools to move the Ubuntu partition, but I wouldn’t risk that (and AU isn’t the place to advise on that). Use the live usb session, your internal ssd’s partitions won’t be mounted and you can manipulate them. You definitely can’t move partitions that are mounted - as others on this site have said, a bit like changing a tyre while driving!

moe

11/22/23, 5:01 PM

Hi Will, thanks for you answer. I did exactly what you told me and all worked out fine. I was definitely nervous during the "moving" process haha, answer accepted!

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