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  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 parti-
       tion). 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 filesystem 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 ta-
       ble  on the disk. Similarly to other command line filesystem resizers, ntfsresize doesn't manipulate the size of the par-
       titions, 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 an other
       existing partition.  Then  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 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  recom-
              mended 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.

              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).

       -s, --size SIZE[k|M|G]
              Resize filesystem to SIZE[k|M|G] bytes.  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.

       -f, --force
              Forces ntfsresize to proceed with the resize operation even if the filesystem is marked for consistency 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 need help please try the Ntfsresize 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-develATlists.net

       There are a few very rarely met restrictions at present: filesystems having unknown bad sectors, relocation 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 consis-
       tency 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 systems, 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 inde-
       pendent of NTFS thus ntfsresize. Moreover ntfsresize never touches the partition table at all. By changing the 'Disk  Ac-
       cess  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  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:
       http://www.tuxera.com/community/

       The manual pages are available online at:
       http://man.linux-ntfs.org/

       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 2011.4.12                                         February 2006                                            NTFSRESIZE(8)