How To Resize And Create Partitions With Gnome Partition Editor (GParted)

Damien — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 13:39:16 +0000

For simple resizing of your existing Windows partition, Norm has done a good job in showing you how to get it done with Easus. If you want to do more, such as creating new partitions of different file format (such as Ext3 or HFS), then Gnome Partition Editor (Gparted) is the one for you.

GParted is a powerful application that you can use to change the partition organization therein, while preserving the partition contents. It allows you to resize, move, create and format your partition to various file formats. The file formats that it supports include ext2, ext3, fat16, fat32, hfs, hfs+, jfs, linux-swap, ntfs, reiser4, reiserfs, ufs and xfs. While most partition management software are restricted to a particular platform, GParted is cross-platform compatible and can be used regardless you are using Windows, Mac or Linux.

There ae two ways that you can use GParted – as an application within Linux or as a LiveCD (GParted is also included in the Ubuntu LiveCD). By using it as an application within Linux, you can use it to resize or format a second partition or USB drive. You won’t be able to modify the base partition though.

In this tutorial, we will demonstrate how to use the GParted Lived CD to resize your existing partition and create two other partitions of different file formats.

Important: Before you proceed, please backup all your important documents. Meddling with hard drive partition is not safe and it could potentially destroy all the data in the hard disk. If you need help on backing up your system, here are some articles that you can reference to:

Windows: Backing up Your Windows Data the Simple Way – with Cobian Backup.
Linux (Ubuntu): How To Backup Your Ubuntu System With Remastersys
Others – http://maketecheasier.com/tag/backup

1) Download the latest stable of version GParted iso here. Burn the iso image in a CD.

2) Insert in your newly created LiveCD and boot up your computer into GParted (You will have to configure your computer to boot from CD).

3) On the boot screen, select the first option (Default Setting)

4) GParted will now start to load. When it prompts you to select keymap, choose the default option (Don’t load keymap)

When it prompts you to enter the language, just press Enter to select the default (US English). Press Enter again to start the graphical interface. You will now arrive at the main screen with the GParted window at the center of the screen.

Before we proceed, let’s assume the following scenario: my default partition is of Linux format (ext3) and now I wanted to build a hackintosh and triple boot my PC with Mac, Windows and Linux. In this case, on top of the existing partition, I need to create 2 more partitions – one NTFS partition for Windows and another HFS+ partition for Mac. (This scenario is meant to serve as a illustration of what I am going to do in this tutorial. You can change the setting according to your own situation. The step will be the same.)

5) Highlight the ext3 partition and click on the Resize/Move. Assuming I need 5 GB for Windows and 5GB for Mac, in the field “Free space following“, enter 10000 (Once again, this is for illustration purpose. You will need more than 5 GB to install Windows or Mac.). Click Resize/Move.

6) Back to the main screen, you will now see a new field with unallocated filesystem.

7) We need to further split the new partition to two 5GB partitions. Highlight the unallocated field and click New. Enter 5GB on the “Free space following” field. On the right, choose ntfs from the Filesystem dropdown bar. In the Label, enter Window. This is for identification purpose. You can specify your own label. Click Add.

8) Back to the main screen, you will see a ntfs field and an unallocated field. Similarly, highlight on the unallocated field and click New. On the right, choose hfs+ under the Filesystem dropdown bar. Enter Mac in the Label field. Click Add.

9) You should now see the ntfs and hfs+ fields. Click Apply.

10) As usual, GParted will ask for confirmation before it proceed. Make sure you have already backed up your system. Click Apply to proceed.

11) Once it finishes, you should see the completed changes in the main screen

That’s it.

Note: You can also perform the above procedure with the Ubuntu LiveCD. Simply boot up your Ubuntu LiveCD and access GParted via System -> Administration -> Partition Editor.

How To Resize And Create Partitions With Gnome Partition Editor (GParted) originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

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How To Resize And Create Partitions With Gnome Partition Editor (GParted)