kids-toy

Sometimes computer owners face questions about how to change the size of a logical drive, how to make one out of two logical drives or, conversely, make two out of one drive, how to change the file system. It so happened that for many years I have been using the GParted program for these purposes, or rather the Live CD version of this program. In the article I will pay attention to this particular version of the program.

As a standalone application GParted works for Linux distributions Debian, Fedora, OpenSUSE and ubuntu (commands for installation can be found here). In all other cases, for example, if you have installed on your computer Windows, Android or other operating system, you can use Live CD program distribution kit GParted Live. The beauty of using Live CD version is that there is absolutely no difference what operating systems are installed on the computer. The main thing is that the file systems are supported by the program GParted.

Features of GParted

Here is a list of operations that the program can perform GParted:

– Create a partition table;
– Partition management: create, move, copy, resize, check, set label, change ID and delete;
– Setting and removing partition flags (boot or hidden);
– Alignment of partition sizes by mebibytes or cylinders;
– Ability to recover data from lost partitions.

Program GParted works with hard drivesSATA, IDE, SCSI), flash devices such as USB flash drives and solid state drivesSSD), RAID devices (hardware RAID, BIOS RAID on motherboards and software Linux RAIDs). All sector sizes are supported (512, 1024, 2048, 4096 and others).

Currently 21 file systems are supported. Most of them have limitations, but major file systems are fully supported, these are NTFS, FAT32, FAT16, ext2, ext3, ext4, NILFS and ReiserFS. The list of supported operations for file systems can be found here.

In addition to everything listed in the pros of the version GParted Live you can add more and that you get a complete Linux systemwith which you can, for example, configure bootloader files GRUBview content on discs, etc.

Creating a GParted Live Boot Disk

Create a bootable CD disc with the program GParted the easiest. You need to download the disk image from the program download page (there is a stable or test version of your choice) and burn it to CD blank. It is better to use a rewritable disk so that you can update to the latest versions of the program using the same CD disc.

Except CD disc you can create bootable USB flash drive With GParted Live (see how to do it here), use PXE server (how to do this, see here) or install GParted Live to your hard drive (how to do this, see here). How to create an installation flash drive with an image file on hand using the program UNetbootin was described in our article “Installing Android on a netbook or computer” in the part “Create an Android installation flash drive“.

Booting your computer with GParted Live

After the boot disk has been created, inserted into the computer and in BIOS boot from it is enabled, you can boot your computer. All the details on how to boot a computer using a boot disk GParted Live described on the official website here. In the article I will describe only the main points.

After downloading, the first screen you will see will be the choice of download method. First point “GParted Live (Default settings)” is the default boot, with standard questions and program launch GParted at the end of the download. Inside the second menu item “Other modes of GParted Live» you will be able to choose different download options. The third paragraphLocal operating system in hard drive (if available)“starts the operating system installed on your computer (or starts the bootloader if there are several systems). The last item “Memory test using Memtest86+» starts the program Memtest86+ to check your computer’s RAM. In this step, select the first menu item.

The first question you’ll see upon boot up will be which keyboard layout to use. Leave the item “Don’t touch keymap”, if you do not need to change the layout and press Enter.

In the next step, you will need to select a language. To select Russian, enter the number 24 and press Enter.

The next step is to select the video mode. To start the standard graphics mode and use the application GParted leave 0 and press Enter.

After downloading, you will see the desktop and the running application GPartedwhich immediately after launch shows information on physical disks connected to the computer.

Working with disks in the GParted application

Application work GParted simple and intuitive, so I will not dwell on this in detail. You can read the application documentation in Russian here.

Consider just one example: partition partitioning NTFSon which the system is installed Windowsfor two NTFS section. To do this, click on the desired section with the right mouse button and select “Resize or move“.

In the dialog that appearsResizing or moving» Grab the right edge of the disk with the mouse and drag to reduce the size of the partition to the desired size. This will reduce the size of the disk and free space for the new disk will appear to the right of it. All this is clearly visible, which is very convenient. In the same way, you can resize by grabbing the left edge with the mouse, then the empty space will appear on the left.

And you can, by grabbing the section with the mouse, move it to the left and right, adjusting the free space on the left and right, see the picture.

Once you have finished, click on the “Resize or move“. Then you need to decide how the resulting empty space will be marked up. Click on the unallocated area with the right mouse button and select the context menu item “New“.

In the dialogue “Create a new section» indicate which file system you want to create and click the button «Add“.

Please note that all actions with sections are not performed, but only planned. All scheduled actions are listed in the list at the bottom of the application window. Scheduled operations can be canceled (menu items “Edit -> Undo last operation” and “Edit -> Clear list of operations“).

To perform all scheduled actions, click on the menu item “Edit -> Apply All Operations“.

Confirm your desire to apply all partition operations by pressing the “apply‘ in the dialogue.

Operations may take a long time to complete.

After performing the operations, you will see the result, see the picture. Here you can view and save the details.

After performing the operations, you can see how the partitions on the disk now look.

Shutting down GParted Live

After the program is completed. Click on the label “exit» on the desktop and select in the dialog «shutdown” to turn off the computer, or “Reboot‘ to reload.

Be sure to remove the boot disk before turning on the computer again. GParted Live.

The result of communication with GParted Live

In conclusion, I would like to say that the program GParted is a powerful and simple disk management tool that you can use absolutely free of charge. At the same time, in the case of using a boot disk, the program does not need to be installed on a computer, which is very convenient. But when working with GParted you should always remember that the developers are not responsible for the safety of data on your disks, so before all manipulations with disks, make copies of the necessary data or the entire disk. You can use the following free software to back up an entire drive (including all partitions): Clonezilla, doClone, FSArchiver, G4L, g4u, Partimage, or Partclone.