Linux - Shrinking a Partiition to Create Free Space

[n2ize]

Hi, I am currently running Fedora 22. Since I first partitioned my disc and installed Linux on this system my /var folder (which is on the root partition) has been growing in size, to the point where it's next to impossible to do upgrades because the cache under /var is too small. I want to move /var to it's own separate partition. I currenntly have a partition containing the filesystem "/mnt/volume1" that I use for projects, storing files, videos, etc. It is quite a large partition and only about 10% full. I would like to shrink this partition by about 25% - 30% and use the free space to create a new partition which will contain /var .

From what I have read I believe I can use the "parted" or "gparted" utility to change the partition size. The question I have is once I shrink the partition will the reclaimed space show up as free space such that I can use parted (or fdisk) to make the new partition for /var ? If I can accomplish this successfully then I can copy the contents of /var to the new partition and format it (ext4) and then change fstab so that it will mount as /var boot time.

Any suggestions ? Would the parted utility and fdisk be the best utilities for this of is their a better solution these days ?

[ad4mg]

Gparted should do the job for you John. Below is Gparted showing an NTFS partition on one of my HDD's. Note the orange arrow in the lower row of icons.
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Clicking that brings up the resizing window:
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You can resize the beginning or end of the partition by either dragging the arrow on either end of the partition, or you can enter the sizes manually.

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The empty space created becomes "free space", which can become a new partition, or provide space for expanding an existing partition.

Gparted is about as user-friendly as it gets, as long as you understand the various partitioning schemes!

[n2ize]

Okay. This is exactly what I need. It will do exactly what I want. I used Gparted a long time ago when I had to re-partition a drive on a Windows machine to make room for Linux and I remember it worked fine. I'll give it go. Thanks for the help.

[N2CHX]

Yep. Gparted is the standard, proven tool for this.

[n2ize]

I might be able to simply shrink the /mnt/volume1 partition and then allocate the free space to the root partition which will mean there will automatically be more space for the /var directory which lies on the root partition. That will save me the trouble of having to create a new partition and move /var over to it and then change fstab.

[n6hcm]

yup ... that should do the trick.