Grow a filesystem

[James Michael Fultz]

* "Karl F. Larsen" <klarsen1 at gmail.com> [2009-09-29 18:46 -0600]:
>James Michael Fultz wrote: 
>> * "Karl F. Larsen" <klarsen1 at gmail.com> [...]:
>>> So I made /dev/sda12 twice as large and the used dd to put 
>>> /dev/sda5 on /dev/sda12. It did but, it made /dev/sda12 
>>> smaller, in fact the same size as /dev/sda5. 
>> 
>> Using dd to copy the filesystem to a new partition does only 
>> that.  The filesystem is the same size as before, though there is 
>> more space on the new partition for the filesystem to grow.  
>> GParted (System>Administration>Partition Editor) can be used to 
>> grow supported filesystems as well as resize2fs for an ext3 
>> filesystem. 
[...]
>> Looks like using the Partition Editor performed a resize on 
>> the filesystem which had not been done earlier. 
>> 
>First it was a PARTITION SIZE! I made it 20 GB. I checked and 
>it was according to fdisk 20 GB. I used dd to put the old 
>/dev/sda5 at 8 GB on the new place. When dd was done I checked 
>and /dev/sda5 = /dev/sda12. I got that fixed with the LiveCD and 
>the partioner. 

Since you're replying only to the second half of my reply, 
perhaps you missed the first part?  Copying a filesystem to a 
larger partition does not increase the size of the filesystem 
automatically.  The filesystem still "thinks" that it is the same 
size.  It must be resized or grown to use the new available free 
space of the new partition.  This is what the Partitioner on the 
LiveCD did automatically when used to again tweak the new 
partition.

Anyway, I am glad that you were able to solve your problem.