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I've got a virtual Ubuntu 18.04 server which is running low on disk space. As this is a virtual server I increased the hard disk size in vSphere. I can see the free space in cfdisk but am unsure how to expand the filesystem partition to take advantage of the new space. I can see there is a resize option for the partition but I'm unclear on whether or not that will also format the partitions and lose my data... Bit of a linux n00b, any help would be greatly appreciated.

cfdisk output:

Device Start End Sectors Size Type /dev/sda1 2048 4095 2048 1M BIOS boot /dev/sda2 4096 41940991 41936896 20G Linux filesystem Free space 41940992 104857566 62916575 30G

Thanks!

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3 Answers 3

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For the n00b: Connect with X forwarding enabled (ssh -X yourserver), install gparted and use the user-friendly GUI to resize /dev/sda2.

A more advanced user would probably fire up parted /dev/sda, then enter resizepart 2. The end of the partition will automatically be selected to match the end of the disk. This will only resize the partition, though. The file-system can be resized to span the whole partition with the appropriate tool, like resize2fs /dev/sda2 for ext2/3/4.

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As an additional note: In this case (free space after the end of the partition which will be resized) it should be possible to resize the partition by:

growpart /dev/sda 2

You can install growpart by installing the package: cloud-guest-utils.

Just as a note: There is always a risk of losing data when performing this kind of operations on disks/partitions.

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  • Good point. Yet I want to add that data-loss during online growing is so very unlikely, I consider it safe. Commented Feb 1, 2020 at 15:44
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I was seeking to do the same as the OP. My only difference is that I am using Ubuntu 20.04 LTS server.

I had not tried cfdisk yet to see such info (I tried df and lsblk), so I went ahead and ran cfdisk.

I was surprised that cfdisk itself had an option to [Resize] my disk right there. No need to use other tools, I just went and navigated to my sda, and selected the [Resize] Option. Including a screenshot for reference:

enter image description here

Of course now one has to resize the actual filesystem, etc.. I didn't recall exactly how to do it, but I did remember that I wrote an answer here a month ago where I summed up such steps (sharing it in case it helps someone else) https://askubuntu.com/a/1393329/658154

Basically resize the Physical Volume (pvresize), and then resize the Logical Volume (lvextend) to finally resize the filesystem (resize2fs).

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    If you use lvresize -r -l 100%FREE /dev/mapper/... after the pvresize the file system will be extended without any further commands. Commented Mar 29, 2022 at 21:17
  • @doneal24 thanks for the tip :) will try it next time I have to resize a machine Commented Mar 29, 2022 at 21:24
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    If you do it right you can resize the disk in vSphere and expand the lv from the command line with no downtime. Very useful for production servers. Commented Mar 29, 2022 at 21:27
  • @doneal24 I have ESXI, but not the vSphere suite (yet?). I've heard that vSphere is quite useful, and your comment confirmed that to me. Thus why I have to do it more manually: edit the machine, expand the vdisk, and then the steps mentioned inside the machine... Thanks for that observation, as it makes me realize vSphere is something we should get :) Commented Mar 29, 2022 at 23:26

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