Ubuntu Manpage: ntfsresize - resize an NTFS filesystem without data loss

Provided by: ntfs-3g_2013.1.13AR.1-2ubuntu2_amd64

NAME

       ntfsresize - resize an NTFS filesystem without data loss

SYNOPSIS

       ntfsresize [OPTIONS] --info(-mb-only) DEVICE
       ntfsresize [OPTIONS] [--size SIZE[k|M|G]] DEVICE

DESCRIPTION

The ntfsresize program safely resizes Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000,
Windows NT4 and Longhorn NTFS filesystems without data loss. All NTFS versions are
supported, used by 32-bit and 64-bit Windows. Defragmentation is NOT required prior to
resizing because the program can relocate any data if needed, without risking data
integrity.

Ntfsresize can be used to shrink or enlarge any NTFS filesystem located on an unmounted
DEVICE (usually a disk partition). The new filesystem will have SIZE bytes. The SIZE
parameter may have one of the optional modifiers k, M, G, which means the SIZE parameter
is given in kilo-, mega- or gigabytes respectively. Ntfsresize conforms to the SI, ATA,
IEEE standards and the disk manufacturers by using k=10^3, M=10^6 and G=10^9.

If both --info(-mb-only) and --size are omitted then the NTFS filesystem will be enlarged
to the underlying DEVICE size.

To resize a filesystem on a partition, you must resize BOTH the filesystem and the
partition by editing the partition table on the disk. Similarly to other command line
filesystem resizers, ntfsresize doesn't manipulate the size of the partitions, hence to do
that you must use a disk partitioning tool as well, for example fdisk(8). Alternatively
you could use one of the many user friendly partitioners that uses ntfsresize internally,
like Mandriva's DiskDrake, QTParted, SUSE/Novell's YaST Partitioner, IBM's EVMS, GParted
or Debian/Ubuntu's Partman.

IMPORTANT! It's a good practice making REGULAR BACKUPS of your valuable data, especially
before using ANY partitioning tools. To do so for NTFS, you could use ntfsclone(8). Don't
forget to save the partition table as well!

Shrinkage
If you wish to shrink an NTFS partition, first use ntfsresize to shrink the size of the
filesystem. Then you could use fdisk(8) to shrink the size of the partition by deleting
the partition and recreating it with the smaller size. Do not make the partition smaller
than the new size of NTFS otherwise you won't be able to boot. If you did so
notwithstanding then just recreate the partition to be as large as NTFS.

Enlargement
To enlarge an NTFS filesystem, first you must enlarge the size of the underlying
partition. This can be done using fdisk(8) by deleting the partition and recreating it
with a larger size. Make sure it will not overlap with an other existing partition. You
may enlarge upwards (first sector unchanged) or downwards (last sector unchanged), but you
may not enlarge at both ends in a single step. If you merge two NTFS partitions, only one
of them can be expanded to the merged partition. After you have enlarged the partition,
you may use ntfsresize to enlarge the size of the filesystem.

Partitioning
When recreating the partition by a disk partitioning tool, make sure you create it at the
same starting sector and with the same partition type as before. Otherwise you won't be
able to access your filesystem. Use the 'u' fdisk command to switch to the reliable sector
unit from the default cylinder one.

Also make sure you set the bootable flag for the partition if it existed before. Failing
to do so you might not be able to boot your computer from the disk.

OPTIONS

Below is a summary of all the options that ntfsresize accepts. Nearly all options have
two equivalent names. The short name is preceded by - and the long name is preceded by
--. Any single letter options, that don't take an argument, can be combined into a single
command, e.g. -fv is equivalent to -f -v. Long named options can be abbreviated to any
unique prefix of their name.

-c, --check
By using this option ntfsresize will only check the device to ensure that it is
ready to be resized. If not, it will print any errors detected. If the device is
fine, nothing will be printed.

-i, --info
By using this option without --expand, ntfsresize will determine the theoretically
smallest shrunken filesystem size supported. Most of the time the result is the
space already used on the filesystem. Ntfsresize will refuse shrinking to a smaller
size than what you got by this option and depending on several factors it might be
unable to shrink very close to this theoretical size. Although the integrity of
your data should be never in risk, it's still strongly recommended to make a test
run by using the --no-action option before real resizing.

Practically the smallest shrunken size generally is at around "used space" +
(20-200 MB). Please also take into account that Windows might need about 50-100 MB
free space left to boot safely.

If used in association with option --expand, ntfsresize will determine the smallest
downwards expansion size and the possible increments to the size. These are exact
byte counts which must not be rounded. This option may be used after the partition
has been expanded provided the upper bound has not been changed.

This option never causes any changes to the filesystem, the partition is opened
read-only.

-m, --info-mb-only
Like the info option, only print out the shrinkable size in MB. Print nothing if
the shrink size is the same as the original size (in MB). This option cannot be
used in association with option --expand.

-s, --size SIZE[k|M|G]
Resize filesystem to fit in a partition whose size is SIZE[k|M|G] bytes by shifting
its end and keeping its beginning unchanged. The filesystem size is set to be at
least one sector smaller than the partition. The optional modifiers k, M, G mean
the SIZE parameter is given in kilo-, mega- or gigabytes respectively. Conforming
to standards, k=10^3, M=10^6 and G=10^9. Use this option with --no-action first.

-x, --expand
Expand the filesystem to the current partition size, shifting down its beginning
and keeping its end unchanged. The metadata is recreated in the expanded space and
no user data is relocated. This is incompatible with option -s (or --size) and can
only be made if the expanded space is an exact multiple of the cluster size. It
must also be large enough to hold the new metadata.

If the expansion is interrupted for some reason (power outage, etc), you may
restart the resizing, as the original data and metadata have been kept unchanged.

Note : expanding a Windows system partition and filesystem downwards may lead to
the registry or some files not matching the new system layout, or to some important
files being located too far from the beginning of the partition, thus making
Windows not bootable.

-f, --force
Forces ntfsresize to proceed with the resize operation either without prompting for
an explicit acceptance, or if the filesystem is marked for consistency check.
Double the option (-ff, --force --force) to avoid prompting even if the file system
is marked for check.

Please note, ntfsresize always marks the filesystem for consistency check before a
real resize operation and it leaves that way for extra safety. Thus if NTFS was
marked by ntfsresize then it's safe to use this option. If you need to resize
several times without booting into Windows between each resizing steps then you
must use this option.

-n, --no-action
Use this option to make a test run before doing the real resize operation. Volume
will be opened read-only and ntfsresize displays what it would do if it were to
resize the filesystem. Continue with the real resizing only if the test run
passed.

-b, --bad-sectors
Support disks having hardware errors, bad sectors with those ntfsresize would
refuse to work by default.

Prior using this option, it's strongly recommended to make a backup by ntfsclone(8)
using the --rescue option, then running 'chkdsk /f /r volume:' on Windows from the
command line. If the disk guarantee is still valid then replace it. It's defected.
Please also note, that no software can repair these type of hardware errors. The
most what they can do is to work around the permanent defects.

This option doesn't have any effect if the disk is flawless.

-P, --no-progress-bar
Don't show progress bars.

-v, --verbose
More output.

-V, --version
Print the version number of ntfsresize and exit.

-h, --help
Display help and exit.

EXIT CODES

       The exit code is 0 on success, non-zero otherwise.

KNOWN ISSUES

No reliability problem is known. If you need help please try the Ntfsresize FAQ first (see
below) and if you don't find your answer then send your question, comment or bug report to
the development team:
ntfs-3g-devel@lists.sf.net

There are a few very rarely met restrictions at present: filesystems having unknown bad
sectors, relocation of the first MFT extent and resizing into the middle of a $MFTMirr
extent aren't supported yet. These cases are detected and resizing is restricted to a safe
size or the closest safe size is displayed.

Ntfsresize schedules an NTFS consistency check and after the first boot into Windows you
must see chkdsk running on a blue background. This is intentional and no need to worry
about it. Windows may force a quick reboot after the consistency check. Moreover after
repartitioning your disk and depending on the hardware configuration, the Windows message
System Settings Change may also appear. Just acknowledge it and reboot again.

The disk geometry handling semantic (HDIO_GETGEO ioctl) has changed in an incompatible way
in Linux 2.6 kernels and this triggered multitudinous partition table corruptions
resulting in unbootable Windows systems, even if NTFS was consistent, if parted(8) was
involved in some way. This problem was often attributed to ntfsresize but in fact it's
completely independent of NTFS thus ntfsresize. Moreover ntfsresize never touches the
partition table at all. By changing the 'Disk Access Mode' to LBA in the BIOS makes
booting work again, most of the time. You can find more information about this issue in
the Troubleshooting section of the below referred Ntfsresize FAQ.

AUTHORS

       ntfsresize  was written by Szabolcs Szakacsits, with contributions from Anton Altaparmakov
       and Richard Russon.  It was ported to ntfs-3g by Erik Larsson and Jean-Pierre Andre.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

       Many  thanks  to  Anton  Altaparmakov  and  Richard  Russon  for  libntfs,  the  excellent
       documentation and comments, to Gergely Madarasz, Dewey M. Sasser and Miguel Lastra and his
       colleagues at the University of Granada for their continuous  and  highly  valuable  help,
       furthermore  to  Erik  Meade,  Martin Fick, Sandro Hawke, Dave Croal, Lorrin Nelson, Geert
       Hendrickx, Robert Bjorkman and Richard Burdick for beta testing the relocation support, to
       Florian  Eyben,  Fritz  Oppliger,  Richard  Ebling, Sid-Ahmed Touati, Jan Kiszka, Benjamin
       Redelings, Christopher Haney, Ryan Durk, Ralf Beyer, Scott  Hansen,  Alan  Evans  for  the
       valued  contributions  and  to Theodore Ts'o whose resize2fs(8) man page originally formed
       the basis of this page.

AVAILABILITY

       ntfsresize is part of the ntfs-3g package and is available from:
       http://www.tuxera.com/community/

       Ntfsresize related news, example of usage, troubleshooting, statically linked  binary  and
       FAQ (frequently asked questions) are maintained at:
       http://mlf.linux.rulez.org/mlf/ezaz/ntfsresize.html