Ubuntu Manpage: ntfsresize - resize an NTFS filesystem without data loss

Provided by: ntfs-3g_2022.10.3-1.2ubuntu3_amd64

NAME

       ntfsresize - resize an NTFS filesystem without data loss

SYNOPSIS

       ntfsresize [OPTIONS] --info(-mb-only) DEVICE
       ntfsresize [OPTIONS] [--size SIZE[k|M|G]] DEVICE

DESCRIPTION

The ntfsresize program safely resizes Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000, Windows NT4 and
Longhorn NTFS filesystems without data loss. All NTFS versions are supported, used by 32-bit and 64-bit
Windows. Defragmentation is NOT required prior to resizing because the program can relocate any data if
needed, without risking data integrity.

Ntfsresize can be used to shrink or enlarge any NTFS filesystem located on an unmounted DEVICE (usually a
disk partition). The new filesystem will fit in a DEVICE whose desired size is SIZE bytes. The SIZE
parameter may have one of the optional modifiers k, M, G, which means the SIZE parameter is given in
kilo-, mega- or gigabytes respectively. Ntfsresize conforms to the SI, ATA, IEEE standards and the disk
manufacturers by using k=10^3, M=10^6 and G=10^9.

If both --info(-mb-only) and --size are omitted then the NTFS filesystem will be enlarged to match the
underlying DEVICE size.

To resize a filesystem on a partition, you must resize BOTH the filesystem and the partition by editing
the partition table on the disk. Similarly to other command line filesystem resizers, ntfsresize doesn't
manipulate the size of the partitions, hence to do that you must use a disk partitioning tool as well,
for example fdisk(8). Alternatively you could use one of the many user friendly partitioners that uses
ntfsresize internally, like Mandriva's DiskDrake, QTParted, SUSE/Novell's YaST Partitioner, IBM's EVMS,
GParted or Debian/Ubuntu's Partman.

IMPORTANT! It's a good practice making REGULAR BACKUPS of your valuable data, especially before using
ANY partitioning tools. To do so for NTFS, you could use ntfsclone(8). Don't forget to save the
partition table as well!

Shrinkage
If you wish to shrink an NTFS partition, first use ntfsresize to shrink the size of the filesystem. Then
you could use fdisk(8) to shrink the size of the partition by deleting the partition and recreating it
with the smaller size. Do not make the partition smaller than the new size of NTFS otherwise you won't
be able to boot. If you did so notwithstanding then just recreate the partition to be as large as NTFS.

Enlargement
To enlarge an NTFS filesystem, first you must enlarge the size of the underlying partition. This can be
done using fdisk(8) by deleting the partition and recreating it with a larger size. Make sure it will
not overlap with another existing partition. You may enlarge upwards (first sector unchanged) or
downwards (last sector unchanged), but you may not enlarge at both ends in a single step. If you merge
two NTFS partitions, only one of them can be expanded to the merged partition. After you have enlarged
the partition, you may use ntfsresize to enlarge the size of the filesystem.

Partitioning
When recreating the partition by a disk partitioning tool, make sure you create it at the same starting
sector and with the same partition type as before. Otherwise you won't be able to access your
filesystem. Use the 'u' fdisk command to switch to the reliable sector unit from the default cylinder
one.

Also make sure you set the bootable flag for the partition if it existed before. Failing to do so you
might not be able to boot your computer from the disk.

OPTIONS

Below is a summary of all the options that ntfsresize accepts. Nearly all options have two equivalent
names. The short name is preceded by - and the long name is preceded by --. Any single letter options,
that don't take an argument, can be combined into a single command, e.g. -fv is equivalent to -f -v.
Long named options can be abbreviated to any unique prefix of their name.

-c, --check
By using this option ntfsresize will only check the device to ensure that it is ready to be
resized. If not, it will print any errors detected. If the device is fine, nothing will be
printed.

-i, --info
By using this option without --expand, ntfsresize will determine the theoretically smallest
shrunken filesystem size supported. Most of the time the result is the space already used on the
filesystem. Ntfsresize will refuse shrinking to a smaller size than what you got by this option
and depending on several factors it might be unable to shrink very close to this theoretical size.
Although the integrity of your data should be never in risk, it's still strongly recommended to
make a test run by using the --no-action option before real resizing.

Practically the smallest shrunken size generally is at around "used space" + (20-200 MB). Please
also take into account that Windows might need about 50-100 MB free space left to boot safely.

If used in association with option --expand, ntfsresize will determine the smallest downwards
expansion size and the possible increments to the size. These are exact byte counts which must not
be rounded. This option may be used after the partition has been expanded provided the upper
bound has not been changed.

This option never causes any changes to the filesystem, the partition is opened read-only.

-m, --info-mb-only
Like the info option, only print out the shrinkable size in MB. Print nothing if the shrink size
is the same as the original size (in MB). This option cannot be used in association with option
--expand.

-s, --size SIZE[k|M|G]
Resize filesystem to fit in a partition whose size is SIZE[k|M|G] bytes by shifting its end and
keeping its beginning unchanged. The filesystem size is set to be at least one sector smaller than
the partition. The optional modifiers k, M, G mean the SIZE parameter is given in kilo-, mega- or
gigabytes respectively. Conforming to standards, k=10^3, M=10^6 and G=10^9. ki=2^10, Mi=2^20 and
Gi=2^30 are also allowed. Use this option with --no-action first.

-x, --expand
Expand the filesystem to the current partition size, shifting down its beginning and keeping its
end unchanged. The metadata is recreated in the expanded space and no user data is relocated. This
is incompatible with option -s (or --size) and can only be made if the expanded space is an exact
multiple of the cluster size. It must also be large enough to hold the new metadata.

If the expansion is interrupted for some reason (power outage, etc), you may restart the resizing,
as the original data and metadata have been kept unchanged.

Note : expanding a Windows system partition and filesystem downwards may lead to the registry or
some files not matching the new system layout, or to some important files being located too far
from the beginning of the partition, thus making Windows not bootable.

-f, --force
Forces ntfsresize to proceed with the resize operation either without prompting for an explicit
acceptance, or if the filesystem is marked for consistency check. Double the option (-ff, --force
--force) to avoid prompting even if the file system is marked for check.

Please note, ntfsresize always marks the filesystem for consistency check before a real resize
operation and it leaves that way for extra safety. Thus if NTFS was marked by ntfsresize then it's
safe to use this option. If you need to resize several times without booting into Windows between
each resizing steps then you must use this option.

-n, --no-action
Use this option to make a test run before doing the real resize operation. Volume will be opened
read-only and ntfsresize displays what it would do if it were to resize the filesystem. Continue
with the real resizing only if the test run passed.

-b, --bad-sectors
Support disks having hardware errors, bad sectors with those ntfsresize would refuse to work by
default.

Prior using this option, it's strongly recommended to make a backup by ntfsclone(8) using the
--rescue option, then running 'chkdsk /f /r volume:' on Windows from the command line. If the disk
guarantee is still valid then replace it. It's defected. Please also note, that no software can
repair these type of hardware errors. The most what they can do is to work around the permanent
defects.

This option doesn't have any effect if the disk is flawless.

-P, --no-progress-bar
Don't show progress bars.

-v, --verbose
More output.

-V, --version
Print the version number of ntfsresize and exit.

-h, --help
Display help and exit.

EXIT CODES

       The exit code is 0 on success, non-zero otherwise.

KNOWN ISSUES

No reliability problem is known. If you find a bug please send an email describing the problem to the
development team at:
ntfs-3g-devel@lists.sf.net

There are a few very rarely met restrictions at present: filesystems having unknown bad sectors, reloca‐
tion of the first MFT extent and resizing into the middle of a $MFTMirr extent aren't supported yet.
These cases are detected and resizing is restricted to a safe size or the closest safe size is displayed.

Ntfsresize schedules an NTFS consistency check and after the first boot into Windows you must see chkdsk
running on a blue background. This is intentional and no need to worry about it. Windows may force a
quick reboot after the consistency check. Moreover after repartitioning your disk and depending on the
hardware configuration, the Windows message System Settings Change may also appear. Just acknowledge it
and reboot again.

The disk geometry handling semantic (HDIO_GETGEO ioctl) has changed in an incompatible way in Linux 2.6
kernels and this triggered multitudinous partition table corruptions resulting in unbootable Windows sys‐
tems, even if NTFS was consistent, if parted(8) was involved in some way. This problem was often attrib‐
uted to ntfsresize but in fact it's completely independent of NTFS thus ntfsresize. Moreover ntfsresize
never touches the partition table at all. By changing the 'Disk Access Mode' to LBA in the BIOS makes
booting work again, most of the time. You can find more information about this issue in the Troubleshoot‐
ing section of the below referred Ntfsresize FAQ.

AUTHORS

       ntfsresize was written by Szabolcs Szakacsits, with contributions from  Anton  Altaparmakov  and  Richard
       Russon.  It was ported to ntfs-3g by Erik Larsson and Jean-Pierre Andre.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

       Many  thanks  to  Anton Altaparmakov and Richard Russon for libntfs, the excellent documentation and com‐
       ments, to Gergely Madarasz, Dewey M. Sasser and Miguel Lastra and his colleagues  at  the  University  of
       Granada  for  their  continuous  and highly valuable help, furthermore to Erik Meade, Martin Fick, Sandro
       Hawke, Dave Croal, Lorrin Nelson, Geert Hendrickx, Robert Bjorkman and Richard Burdick for  beta  testing
       the  relocation  support, to Florian Eyben, Fritz Oppliger, Richard Ebling, Sid-Ahmed Touati, Jan Kiszka,
       Benjamin Redelings, Christopher Haney, Ryan Durk, Ralf Beyer, Scott Hansen, Alan  Evans  for  the  valued
       contributions and to Theodore Ts'o whose resize2fs(8) man page originally formed the basis of this page.

AVAILABILITY

       ntfsresize is part of the ntfs-3g package and is available from:
       https://github.com/tuxera/ntfs-3g/wiki/