Resizing an XFS partition!!??

[lazaras]

I have a question concerning the rezing of of partitions. When i created my current setup, I was attempting to move from windows reliance to an only linux system to get used to using linux. The only problem now is I need windows for some things so I need to add windows XP to the mix.

My question is, is it possible to resize (shrink) my root directory (xfs) to make room for a FAT partition and winXP!!?


My current setup is:
hda1: linux boot partition - aprox 100 MB
hda2: swap partition - approx 500 MB
hda3: linux root partition- approx 18 GB (xfs)
hdb1: win stuff (videos, mp3s, install programs etc..) -approx 60GB (ntfs)

I need to keep the NTFS drive because I cannot delete any of the stuff on it and I have no time to back it up. So I want to resize the xfs partition down to like say 6 GB, create a 2GB partition for Windows XP and then another approx 10GB FAT partition to be shared between the two.

Is it possible to do this, without, starting from scratch in my gentoo install!?!? If so can anyone suggest the best way and safest way of attempting this!!

[m0pr0be]

hi,

unfortunatly it is not possible to shrink a XFS partition without loosing the data on it. you can only expand an XFS partition.

so you have to backup your root partition to some other place, maybe your hdb drive. i leave it to your excercise how to write to your ntfs partition (i guess this is considered very experimental under linux)

then edit your partition table to fit your new needs. create a filesystem for your new root partition. when your done just restore your root partition to your new root partition.

i would suppose to use tar for backing up your root partition. if you have ACLs on your XFS, then you cant backup the ACLs with tar. only xfsbackup and xfsrestore handle the ACLs.

maybe you have another machine where you can copy your root backup to. or you can use a tape drive.