1NTFSRESIZE(8) System Manager's Manual NTFSRESIZE(8)
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6 ntfsresize - resize an NTFS filesystem without data loss
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9 ntfsresize [OPTIONS] --info(-mb-only) DEVICE
10 ntfsresize [OPTIONS] [--size SIZE[k|M|G]] DEVICE
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13 The ntfsresize program safely resizes Windows XP, Windows Server 2003,
14 Windows 2000, Windows NT4 and Longhorn NTFS filesystems without data
15 loss. All NTFS versions are supported, used by 32-bit and 64-bit Win‐
16 dows. Defragmentation is NOT required prior to resizing because the
17 program can relocate any data if needed, without risking data
18 integrity.
19 Ntfsresize can be used to shrink or enlarge any NTFS filesystem located
21 on an unmounted DEVICE (usually a disk partition). The new filesystem
22 will have SIZE bytes. The SIZE parameter may have one of the optional
23 modifiers k, M, G, which means the SIZE parameter is given in kilo-,
24 mega- or gigabytes respectively. Ntfsresize conforms to the SI, ATA,
25 IEEE standards and the disk manufacturers by using k=10^3, M=10^6 and
26 G=10^9.
27 If both --info(-mb-only) and --size are omitted then the NTFS filesys‐
29 tem will be enlarged to the underlying DEVICE size.
30 To resize a filesystem on a partition, you must resize BOTH the
32 filesystem and the partition by editing the partition table on the
33 disk. Similarly to other command line filesystem resizers, ntfsresize
34 doesn't manipulate the size of the partitions, hence to do that you
35 must use a disk partitioning tool as well, for example fdisk(8).
36 Alternatively you could use one of the many user friendly partitioners
37 that uses ntfsresize internally, like Mandriva's DiskDrake, QTParted,
38 SUSE/Novell's YaST Partitioner, IBM's EVMS, GParted or Debian/Ubuntu's
39 Partman.
40 IMPORTANT! It's a good practice making REGULAR BACKUPS of your valu‐
42 able data, especially before using ANY partitioning tools. To do so for
43 NTFS, you could use ntfsclone(8). Don't forget to save the partition
44 table as well!
45 Shrinkage
47 If you wish to shrink an NTFS partition, first use ntfsresize to shrink
48 the size of the filesystem. Then you could use fdisk(8) to shrink the
49 size of the partition by deleting the partition and recreating it with
50 the smaller size. Do not make the partition smaller than the new size
51 of NTFS otherwise you won't be able to boot. If you did so notwith‐
52 standing then just recreate the partition to be as large as NTFS.
53 Enlargement
55 To enlarge an NTFS filesystem, first you must enlarge the size of the
56 underlying partition. This can be done using fdisk(8) by deleting the
57 partition and recreating it with a larger size. Make sure it will not
58 overlap with an other existing partition. Then you may use ntfsresize
59 to enlarge the size of the filesystem.
60 Partitioning
62 When recreating the partition by a disk partitioning tool, make sure
63 you create it at the same starting sector and with the same partition
64 type as before. Otherwise you won't be able to access your filesystem.
65 Use the 'u' fdisk command to switch to the reliable sector unit from
66 the default cylinder one.
67 Also make sure you set the bootable flag for the partition if it
69 existed before. Failing to do so you might not be able to boot your
70 computer from the disk.
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73 Below is a summary of all the options that ntfsresize accepts. Nearly
74 all options have two equivalent names. The short name is preceded by -
75 and the long name is preceded by --. Any single letter options, that
76 don't take an argument, can be combined into a single command, e.g.
77 -fv is equivalent to -f -v. Long named options can be abbreviated to
78 any unique prefix of their name.
79 -c, --check
81 By using this option ntfsresize will only check the device to
82 ensure that it is ready to be resized. If not, it will print any
83 errors detected. If the device is fine, nothing will be
84 printed.
85 -i, --info
87 By using this option ntfsresize will determine the theoretically
88 smallest shrunken filesystem size supported. Most of the time
89 the result is the space already used on the filesystem. Ntfsre‐
90 size will refuse shrinking to a smaller size than what you got
91 by this option and depending on several factors it might be
92 unable to shrink very close to this theoretical size. Although
93 the integrity of your data should be never in risk, it's still
94 strongly recommended to make a test run by using the --no-action
95 option before real resizing.
96 Practically the smallest shrunken size generally is at around
98 "used space" + (20-200 MB). Please also take into account that
99 Windows might need about 50-100 MB free space left to boot
100 safely.
101 This option never causes any changes to the filesystem, the par‐
103 tition is opened read-only.
104 -m, --info-mb-only
106 Like the info option, only print out the shrinkable size in MB.
107 Print nothing if the shrink size is the same as the original
108 size (in MB).
109 -s, --size SIZE[k|M|G]
111 Resize filesystem to SIZE[k|M|G] bytes. The optional modifiers
112 k, M, G mean the SIZE parameter is given in kilo-, mega- or
113 gigabytes respectively. Conforming to standards, k=10^3, M=10^6
114 and G=10^9. Use this option with --no-action first.
115 -f, --force
117 Forces ntfsresize to proceed with the resize operation even if
118 the filesystem is marked for consistency check.
119 Please note, ntfsresize always marks the filesystem for consis‐
121 tency check before a real resize operation and it leaves that
122 way for extra safety. Thus if NTFS was marked by ntfsresize then
123 it's safe to use this option. If you need to resize several
124 times without booting into Windows between each resizing steps
125 then you must use this option.
126 -n, --no-action
128 Use this option to make a test run before doing the real resize
129 operation. Volume will be opened read-only and ntfsresize dis‐
130 plays what it would do if it were to resize the filesystem.
131 Continue with the real resizing only if the test run passed.
132 -b, --bad-sectors
134 Support disks having hardware errors, bad sectors with those
135 ntfsresize would refuse to work by default.
136 Prior using this option, it's strongly recommended to make a
138 backup by ntfsclone(8) using the --rescue option, then running
139 'chkdsk /f /r volume:' on Windows from the command line. If the
140 disk guarantee is still valid then replace it. It's defected.
141 Please also note, that no software can repair these type of
142 hardware errors. The most what they can do is to work around the
143 permanent defects.
144 This option doesn't have any effect if the disk is flawless.
146 -P, --no-progress-bar
148 Don't show progress bars.
149 -v, --verbose
151 More output.
152 -V, --version
154 Print the version number of ntfsresize and exit.
155 -h, --help
157 Display help and exit.
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160 The exit code is 0 on success, non-zero otherwise.
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163 No reliability problem is known. If you need help please try the Ntfs‐
164 resize FAQ first (see below) and if you don't find your answer then
165 send your question, comment or bug report to the development team:
166 ntfs-3g-devel@lists.sf.net
167 There are a few very rarely met restrictions at present: filesystems
169 having unknown bad sectors, relocation of the first MFT extent and re‐
170 sizing into the middle of a $MFTMirr extent aren't supported yet. These
171 cases are detected and resizing is restricted to a safe size or the
172 closest safe size is displayed.
173 Ntfsresize schedules an NTFS consistency check and after the first boot
175 into Windows you must see chkdsk running on a blue background. This is
176 intentional and no need to worry about it. Windows may force a quick
177 reboot after the consistency check. Moreover after repartitioning your
178 disk and depending on the hardware configuration, the Windows message
179 System Settings Change may also appear. Just acknowledge it and reboot
180 again.
181 The disk geometry handling semantic (HDIO_GETGEO ioctl) has changed in
183 an incompatible way in Linux 2.6 kernels and this triggered multitudi‐
184 nous partition table corruptions resulting in unbootable Windows sys‐
185 tems, even if NTFS was consistent, if parted(8) was involved in some
186 way. This problem was often attributed to ntfsresize but in fact it's
187 completely independent of NTFS thus ntfsresize. Moreover ntfsresize
188 never touches the partition table at all. By changing the 'Disk Access
189 Mode' to LBA in the BIOS makes booting work again, most of the time.
190 You can find more information about this issue in the Troubleshooting
191 section of the below referred Ntfsresize FAQ.
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194 ntfsresize was written by Szabolcs Szakacsits, with contributions from
195 Anton Altaparmakov and Richard Russon. It was ported to ntfs-3g by
196 Erik Larsson and Jean-Pierre Andre.
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199 Many thanks to Anton Altaparmakov and Richard Russon for libntfs, the
200 excellent documentation and comments, to Gergely Madarasz, Dewey M.
201 Sasser and Miguel Lastra and his colleagues at the University of Grana‐
202 da for their continuous and highly valuable help, furthermore to Erik
203 Meade, Martin Fick, Sandro Hawke, Dave Croal, Lorrin Nelson, Geert Hen‐
204 drickx, Robert Bjorkman and Richard Burdick for beta testing the relo‐
205 cation support, to Florian Eyben, Fritz Oppliger, Richard Ebling,
206 Sid-Ahmed Touati, Jan Kiszka, Benjamin Redelings, Christopher Haney,
207 Ryan Durk, Ralf Beyer, Scott Hansen, Alan Evans for the valued contri‐
208 butions and to Theodore Ts'o whose resize2fs(8) man page originally
209 formed the basis of this page.
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212 ntfsresize is part of the ntfs-3g package and is available from:
213 http://www.tuxera.com/community/
214 The manual pages are available online at:
216 http://man.linux-ntfs.org/
217 Ntfsresize related news, example of usage, troubleshooting, statically
219 linked binary and FAQ (frequently asked questions) are maintained at:
220 http://mlf.linux.rulez.org/mlf/ezaz/ntfsresize.html
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223 fdisk(8), cfdisk(8), sfdisk(8), parted(8), evms(8), ntfsclone(8),
224 mkntfs(8), ntfsprogs(8)
225ntfs-3g 2011.4.12 February 2006 NTFSRESIZE(8)