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NTFSRESIZE(8)							 NTFSRESIZE(8)

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 Win‐
       dows.  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 have 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  filesys‐
       tem will be enlarged to 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 valu‐
       able 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  notwith‐
       standing 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 an other 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 fac‐
	      tors 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 par‐
	      tition 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 SIZE[k|M|G] bytes by shifting its  end  and
	      keeping its beginning unchanged.	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. 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	 relo‐
	      cated.  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 meta‐
	      data.

	      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 down‐
	      wards  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 filesys‐
	      tem 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  consis‐
	      tency  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  dis‐
	      plays  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 need help please try the Ntfs‐
       resize FAQ first (see below) and if you don't  find  your  answer  then
       send your question, comment or bug report to the development team:
       ntfs-3g-devel@lists.sf.net

       There  are  a  few very rarely met restrictions at present: filesystems
       having unknown bad sectors, relocation of the first MFT extent and  re‐
       sizing 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  multitudi‐
       nous  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 attributed 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 Troubleshooting
       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  comments,	 to Gergely Madarasz, Dewey M.
       Sasser and Miguel Lastra and his colleagues at the University of Grana‐
       da  for	their continuous and highly valuable help, furthermore to Erik
       Meade, Martin Fick, Sandro Hawke, Dave Croal, Lorrin Nelson, Geert Hen‐
       drickx,	Robert Bjorkman and Richard Burdick for beta testing the relo‐
       cation 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  contri‐
       butions	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:
       http://www.tuxera.com/community/

       Ntfsresize related news, example of usage, troubleshooting,  statically
       linked binary and FAQ (frequently asked questions) are maintained at:
       http://mlf.linux.rulez.org/mlf/ezaz/ntfsresize.html

SEE ALSO
       fdisk(8),   cfdisk(8),  sfdisk(8),  parted(8),  evms(8),	 ntfsclone(8),
       mkntfs(8), ntfsprogs(8)

ntfs-3g 2012.1.15AR.8		 February 2006			 NTFSRESIZE(8)
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