Date: Sun, 12 Aug 2001 03:17:03 -0700 From: Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com> To: Marc Fonvieille <fonvi@easynet.fr> Cc: freebsd-fs@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Can i grow any partitions with growfs(8) ? Message-ID: <3B76579F.EBEECCA2@mindspring.com> References: <20010812114737.A36490@gothic.blackend.org>
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Marc Fonvieille wrote: > > Hello, > > I used growfs(8) to grow the last partition (f which is used by /usr) on > a slice and all is running fine. > Now i want to grow /var which is the e partition, is it possible? I > wonder if i have to "play" with /usr offset in the disklabel or growfs(8) > does it for me? The only way to grow a partition that is stuck between two other partitions is to move the following partitions further toward the end of the disk -- growfs will not do this for you, and it is not an easy task. The easiest way to do this right now is to back them up (including the one you want to move), and then edit the disklabel, and then newfs the relocated/resized partitions, and restore. I would have to check the sources, but from memory (and _you_ should check the sources to verify my memory is correct), the disklabel partition size is used as the device size (this I know to be true), but that value is _not_ used by the FS, which uses its own stored copy instead. This would mean that you could get away _without_ including the one you want to move, and be able to use "growfs" on it later (you would still need the backup/restore on the partitions following it). In the future, you might look to using "Vinum", which would let you create a bunch of physical parittions, and include them in arbitrary volume sets later, depending on which FS you want to grow. AFAIK, there is no PP driver, though, so you will not be able to "do the AIX" trick, where you add to FS's 4M at a time simply by giving them unallocated PP's, or by telling the partition that it can grab PP's as needed. This would probably be worthwhile to work on, but I personally don't have the time right now, nor can I dedicate a scratch machine to the task. -- Terry To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-fs" in the body of the message
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