From: nospam@needed.invalid
On Fri, 1/2/2026 6:46 AM, Axel wrote:
> lisa wrote:
>> On Fri, 2 Jan 2026 18:51:00 +1100, Axel wrote:
>>
>>
>>> (a) Use Gparted from a live disk to reduce the size of the source disk.
>>> Illustration: https://auslink.info/linux/gpart.png
>>>
>>> *However, would I be risking data loss doing this?
>> ( search answer )
>> Yes, there is a potential risk of data loss when shrinking a disk with
>> GParted, especially if there are software bugs, hardware issues, or
>> power failures during the process. It is highly recommended to back up
>> your data before making any changes to disk partitions.
>>
>> https://gparted.org/display-doc.php%3Fname%3Dhelp-manual
>>
>> half way : Resizing a Partition
>>
>> it has some usefull hints to avoid potential problems.
>> Like Defragment the file system first before you shrink your
>> partition.
>>
>> I take the risk using this method ( yeah, I have a backup; but not for
>> this kind of operations ).
>
> think I'll use option (b), the simplest and safest method. and in future
> when I format a disk I'll make the main partition slightly smaller to avoid
this issue.
I use GParted all the time. I also use it to fix Windows problems,
but knowing there are caveats by doing so (setting the Dirty Bit on
NTFS, is just part of it). I'm not fearful of it. But the author of it,
and I, know GParted has its limits. (The reason the author of it, rewrote it
from scratch, is he felt he was "stepping outside his lane", so he knows
some of the material-capability isn't really all that safe.)
I would not (now) feed a MacOS disk drive to it, as it can utterly destroy
such items.
Any off-the-wall materials, now you're in "extreme danger country". But for
conventional
materials, shrinking an NTFS or an EXT4, it's fine.
If you examine the log window details during a GParted "Apply",
you will see how conservative the shrink procedure is. For example, it
uses a "simulation step", before it runs the "actual" operation.
There are some other tools (Paragon Partition Manager for Windows,
Acronis Disk Doctor for Windows), that scare me more than GParted does, from
a safety aspect. On ADD, ADD promised to "change the cluster size on a disk",
which is very dangerous and unheard of. It's the ONLY routine in the
commercial software, which is unique to them, and not just using some
system capability that is already there. I backed up the partition
before trying it. After it was finished, it initially looked "sorta OK".
Then by accident, I listed some files in a System32 folder, and some
of the files had zero size. And the content was effectively "ruined".
Cosmetically close, but ruined. So yes, there are lots of things out
there, that would give you pause, as to why the company thought
they should release their stuff.
GParted is OK. But it's not the Flying Wallendas. It really needs to work
with a net. Don't feed it foreign stuff, because... it will eat it,
but you may not like the results. When I fed it a Mac disk, it was
"no problemo, yes sir, we do this one". But afterwards, when the partition
table had received a severe beating and nothing on the disk worked
any more... I was then glad I had my backup (a "dd" backup!!! hahaha!).
I eventually wrote my own code, 300 lines, to handle the Mac disk and
do what I needed. I used a single TechNote TN from Apple, for the details
of the partition table. My code worked. But it took several days, to test and
make sure it worked. A lot of test cases. And as I can barely write code,
this is some kind of miracle :-)
For any conventional work (staying in its lane), GParted is fine, great even.
But if you feed it the disk drive off a PDP-11, it's on your head if it breaks.
Paul
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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