[lug] re-partition the primary master

[D. Stimits]

Paul Bille wrote:
> 
> I'm in the process of upgrading to from RedHat7.0 Guiness to RedHat7.3
> Valhalla.  After scanning for the packages to upgrade, I get a message
> to the effect
>     /usr partition is too small, need 550+ mb
> 
> Can I re-partition the primary master without loosing all the data on
> the drive?

I haven't used it, but partd should be able to expand some filesystem
types, including ext2. It is always considered risky, but in theory you
can expand /usr without losing files...on the other hand, the partition
that has its front moved (the location where /usr expands into) will be
lost (looks like /var, but you'd have to actually know cylinder
boundaries to be sure). If you expanded beyond /var, then you'd also
lose /home.

> 
> It's a dual boot system with LINUX and Windows installed on the master
> 10gb drive partitioned as follows: Primary Master 10GB
>         hda1    2048mb          /dos
>         hda2     104mb          /
>         hda3     104mb          LINUX swap
>         hda5    1542mb          /usr
>         hda7      54mb          /var
>         hda8    6063mb          /home
> 
> There is a 1.6GB slave with Windows data and an unused Win operating
> system: Secondary Slave 1.6GB
>         hdb1    1584mb          Win FAT32
> 
> I have a /usr partition with 1.5GB that is only %72 utilized with RH 7.0
> but apparently RH 7.3 needs > 2GB.  I wonder if I'll be able to
> re-partition to take some of the space from /home and use it for /usr
> without loosing all the data in /usr.

I don't know the exact situation, but it seems that /home does not have
a way to contribute to /usr. So far as I know, most of the partition
resizers can expand the upper cylinder, but cannot touch the lower
cylinder boundary...they can be expanded upwards at the upper cylinder,
the lower cannot be touched without destroying partition records. And if
something is in use in a node that is part of an upper cylinder of a
given partition, then you can't reduce size without destroying files, so
it is more or less a one-way deal.

> 
> I'd like to preserve the LINUX system configuration information as well
> as the Windows installation on the primary master, hence I prefer to do
> a LINUX upgrade rather than a clean install.
> 
> Anyone been down this road?

Perhaps you could think of a way to use the windows partition (after
formatting it) as a temporary backup, and going ahead and doing
destructive partitioning on hda5 and 7. You might even think of putting
a swap partition into hdb's fat32, removing the hda swap, and
transferring swap over to open up another 104 MB on hda, then you could
(destructively) reform /usr out of the old swap, /usr, and /var.

D. Stimits, stimits at idcomm.com