resize2fs(8)

1RESIZE2FS(8)                System Manager's Manual               RESIZE2FS(8)
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NAME

6       resize2fs - ext2/ext3/ext4 file system resizer
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SYNOPSIS

9       resize2fs  [  -fFpPM  ]  [ -d debug-flags ] [ -S RAID-stride ] device [
10       size ]
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DESCRIPTION

13       The resize2fs program will resize ext2, ext3, or ext4 file systems.  It
14       can  be  used  to enlarge or shrink an unmounted file system located on
15       device.  If the filesystem is mounted, it can be  used  to  expand  the
16       size  of  the  mounted filesystem, assuming the kernel supports on-line
17       resizing.  (As of this writing, the Linux 2.6 kernel  supports  on-line
18       resize for filesystems mounted using ext3 and ext4.).
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20       The  size parameter specifies the requested new size of the filesystem.
21       If no units are specified, the units of the size parameter shall be the
22       filesystem blocksize of the filesystem.  Optionally, the size parameter
23       may be suffixed by one of the following  the  units  designators:  's',
24       'K',  'M', or 'G', for 512 byte sectors, kilobytes, megabytes, or giga‐
25       bytes, respectively.  The size of the filesystem may  never  be  larger
26       than the size of the partition.  If size parameter is not specified, it
27       will default to the size of the partition.
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29       Note: when kilobytes is used above, I mean real, power-of-2  kilobytes,
30       (i.e.,  1024 bytes), which some politically correct folks insist should
31       be  the  stupid-sounding  ``kibibytes''.   The  same  holds  true   for
32       megabytes,  also sometimes known as ``mebibytes'', or gigabytes, as the
33       amazingly silly ``gibibytes''.  Makes you want to gibber, doesn't it?
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35       The resize2fs program does not manipulate the size of  partitions.   If
36       you wish to enlarge a filesystem, you must make sure you can expand the
37       size of the  underlying  partition  first.   This  can  be  done  using
38       fdisk(8) by deleting the partition and recreating it with a larger size
39       or using lvextend(8),  if  you're  using  the  logical  volume  manager
40       lvm(8).   When  recreating  the partition, make sure you create it with
41       the same starting disk cylinder as before!  Otherwise, the resize oper‐
42       ation will certainly not work, and you may lose your entire filesystem.
43       After running fdisk(8), run resize2fs to resize the ext2 filesystem  to
44       use all of the space in the newly enlarged partition.
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46       If  you wish to shrink an ext2 partition, first use resize2fs to shrink
47       the size of filesystem.  Then you may use fdisk(8) to shrink  the  size
48       of  the partition.  When shrinking the size of the partition, make sure
49       you do not make it smaller than the new size of the ext2 filesystem!
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OPTIONS

52       -d debug-flags
53              Turns on various resize2fs debugging features, if they have been
54              compiled  into  the  binary.   debug-flags should be computed by
55              adding the numbers of the desired features  from  the  following
56              list:
57                   2    - Debug block relocations
58                   4    - Debug inode relocations
59                   8    - Debug moving the inode table
60                   16   - Print timing information
61                   32   - Debug minimum filesystem size (-M) calculation
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63       -f     Forces  resize2fs  to  proceed with the filesystem resize opera‐
64              tion, overriding some safety  checks  which  resize2fs  normally
65              enforces.
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67       -F     Flush  the  filesystem  device's buffer caches before beginning.
68              Only really useful for doing resize2fs time trials.
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70       -M     Shrink the filesystem to the minimum size.
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72       -p     Prints out a percentage completion bars for each resize2fs oper‐
73              ation  during an offline resize, so that the user can keep track
74              of what the program is doing.
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76       -P     Print the minimum size of the filesystem and exit.
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78       -S RAID-stride
79              The resize2fs program  will  heuristically  determine  the  RAID
80              stride that was specified when the filesystem was created.  This
81              option allows the user to explicitly specify a RAID stride  set‐
82              ting to be used by resize2fs instead.
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KNOWN BUGS

85       The  minimum  size  of  the filesystem as estimated by resize2fs may be
86       incorrect, especially for filesystems with 1k and 2k blocksizes.
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AUTHOR

89       resize2fs was written by Theodore Ts'o <tytso@mit.edu>.
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COPYRIGHT

92       Resize2fs is Copyright 1998 by Theodore Ts'o and PowerQuest, Inc.   All
93       rights  reserved.   As  of  April,  2000 Resize2fs may be redistributed
94       under the terms of the GPL.
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