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 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 and --size are omitted then the NTFS filesystem will be
29 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 -i, --info
81 By using this option ntfsresize will determine the theoretically
82 smallest shrunken filesystem size supported. Most of the time
83 the result is the space already used on the filesystem. Ntfsre‐
84 size will refuse shrinking to a smaller size than what you got
85 by this option and depending on several factors it might be
86 unable to shrink very close to this theoretical size. Although
87 the integrity of your data should be never in risk, it's still
88 strongly recommended to make a test run by using the --no-action
89 option before real resizing.
90 Practically the smallest shrunken size generally is at around
92 "used space" + (20-200 MB). Please also take into account that
93 Windows might need about 50-100 MB free space left to boot
94 safely.
95 This option never causes any changes to the filesystem, the par‐
97 tition is opened read-only.
98 -s, --size SIZE[k|M|G]
100 Resize filesystem to SIZE[k|M|G] bytes. The optional modifiers
101 k, M, G mean the SIZE parameter is given in kilo-, mega- or
102 gigabytes respectively. Conforming to standards, k=10^3, M=10^6
103 and G=10^9. Use this option with --no-action first.
104 -f, --force
106 Forces ntfsresize to proceed with the resize operation even if
107 the filesystem is marked for consistency check.
108 Please note, ntfsresize always marks the filesystem for consis‐
110 tency check before a real resize operation and it leaves that
111 way for extra safety. Thus if NTFS was marked by ntfsresize then
112 it's safe to use this option. If you need to resize several
113 times without booting into Windows between each resizing steps
114 then you must use this option.
115 -n, --no-action
117 Use this option to make a test run before doing the real resize
118 operation. Volume will be opened read-only and ntfsresize dis‐
119 plays what it would do if it were to resize the filesystem.
120 Continue with the real resizing only if the test run passed.
121 -b, --bad-sectors
123 Support disks having hardware errors, bad sectors with those
124 ntfsresize would refuse to work by default.
125 Prior using this option, it's strongly recommended to make a
127 backup by ntfsclone(8) using the --rescue option, then running
128 'chkdsk /f /r volume:' on Windows from the command line. If the
129 disk guarantee is still valid then replace it. It's defected.
130 Please also note, that no software can repair these type of
131 hardware errors. The most what they can do is to work around the
132 permanent defects.
133 This option doesn't have any effect if the disk is flawless.
135 -P, --no-progress-bar
137 Don't show progress bars.
138 -v, --verbose
140 More output.
141 -V, --version
143 Print the version number of ntfsresize and exit.
144 -h, --help
146 Display help and exit.
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149 The exit code is 0 on success, non-zero otherwise.
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152 No reliability problem is known. If you need help please try the Ntfs‐
153 resize FAQ first (see below) and if you don't find your answer then
154 send your question, comment or bug report to the development team:
155 linux-ntfs-dev@lists.sourceforge.net
156 There are a few very rarely met restrictions at present: filesystems
158 having unknown bad sectors, relocation of the first MFT extent and re‐
159 sizing into the middle of a $MFTMirr extent aren't supported yet. These
160 cases are detected and resizing is restricted to a safe size or the
161 closest safe size is displayed.
162 Ntfsresize schedules an NTFS consistency check and after the first boot
164 into Windows you must see chkdsk running on a blue background. This is
165 intentional and no need to worry about it. Windows may force a quick
166 reboot after the consistency check. Moreover after repartitioning your
167 disk and depending on the hardware configuration, the Windows message
168 System Settings Change may also appear. Just acknowledge it and reboot
169 again.
170 The disk geometry handling semantic (HDIO_GETGEO ioctl) has changed in
172 an incompatible way in Linux 2.6 kernels and this triggered multitudi‐
173 nous partition table corruptions resulting in unbootable Windows sys‐
174 tems, even if NTFS was consistent, if parted(8) was involved in some
175 way. This problem was often attributed to ntfsresize but in fact it's
176 completely independent of NTFS thus ntfsresize. Moreover ntfsresize
177 never touches the partition table at all. By changing the 'Disk Access
178 Mode' to LBA in the BIOS makes booting work again, most of the time.
179 You can find more information about this issue in the Troubleshooting
180 section of the below referred Ntfsresize FAQ.
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183 ntfsresize was written by Szabolcs Szakacsits, with contributions from
184 Anton Altaparmakov and Richard Russon.
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187 Many thanks to Anton Altaparmakov and Richard Russon for libntfs, the
188 excellent documentation and comments, to Gergely Madarasz, Dewey M.
189 Sasser and Miguel Lastra and his colleagues at the University of Grana‐
190 da for their continuous and highly valuable help, furthermore to Erik
191 Meade, Martin Fick, Sandro Hawke, Dave Croal, Lorrin Nelson, Geert Hen‐
192 drickx, Robert Bjorkman and Richard Burdick for beta testing the relo‐
193 cation support, to Florian Eyben, Fritz Oppliger, Richard Ebling,
194 Sid-Ahmed Touati, Jan Kiszka, Benjamin Redelings, Christopher Haney,
195 Ryan Durk, Ralf Beyer, Scott Hansen, Alan Evans for the valued contri‐
196 butions and to Theodore Ts'o whose resize2fs(8) man page originally
197 formed the basis of this page.
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200 ntfsresize is part of the ntfsprogs package and is available from:
201 http://www.linux-ntfs.org/content/view/19/37
202 The manual pages are available online at:
204 http://man.linux-ntfs.org/
205 Ntfsresize related news, example of usage, troubleshooting, statically
207 linked binary and FAQ (frequently asked questions) are maintained at:
208 http://mlf.linux.rulez.org/mlf/ezaz/ntfsresize.html
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211 fdisk(8), cfdisk(8), sfdisk(8), parted(8), evms(8), ntfsclone(8),
212 mkntfs(8), ntfsprogs(8)
213ntfsprogs 1.13.1 February 2006 NTFSRESIZE(8)