Hey,
When I loaded opensuse 11.3 for the first time, I used the automatic partitioner and have been loading app’s onto my ~8GB boot partition, and now that it’s full, I have ~15 GB free on my home partition and need to install a few more app’s to get my laptop fully functional. Is there a way (other than copying the boot partition to the home partition and then repartitioning, copying again to the repartitioned drive, and then recopying again to the freed up space) to get the new app’s I install to redirect to my home partition? Thanks in advance for the help (pwweeeeessseeeeee!) and kudos to the OpenSuse team for the great job they do. Best to you all.
So taking space from one partition and adding it in to another is very tricky and can not be done while running this copy of openSUSE. You will need a live CD to boot from like the GNOME version and the program GPARTED to change your partitions. I can only say good luck with that task. If we can assume that the two partitions are next to each other, you would decrease the /home partition, then move the whole thing away from the / partition, giving room for its expansion. This will not work if the two partitions are not the same type and right next to each other. For instance, one can not be a primary partition and the other is a Logical Partition. Really, it would be faster to just blow them both away and start over, providing more space for both. In the mean time, perhaps the actual problem is the /tmp folder is filling up on you.
The usual way of removing the content of /tmp folder while booting (which is not default on SuSE),
is to open the text configuration file /etc/sysconfig/cron, search for a line saying:
CLEAR_TMP_DIRS_AT_BOOTUP="no"
…and edit “no” to “yes”. This could also be done via GUI: YaST → SYSTEM → “Editor for /etc/sysconfig”, which might be a better choice for someone not into manual editing of configuration files.
/System/Cron/CLEAR_TMP_DIRS_AT_BOOTUP
If you have a power failure and no UPS, clearing the /tmp folder will make it impossible to recover an incomplete document you did not save, but running out of space will stop everything from working.
Thank You,
On 02/05/2011 03:36 PM, p0s1Tron wrote:
> Is there a way
after backing up all data on the hard drive you wish to protect from
accidents:
-
boot from a (for example) openSUSE Live CD (that will allow you to
NOT try to partition a drive partition which is in use–a big no-no) -
first shrink the home partition
-
then expand the root partition
most partitioners are easy to use correctly…they are also VERY easy
to use incorrectly…
they are somewhat complicated and VERY unforgiving if you do it
wrong…know what you are doing before you do it, or . . .
–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[NNTP posted w/openSUSE 11.3, KDE4.5.5, Thunderbird3.0.11, nVidia
173.14.28 3D, Athlon 64 3000+]
“It is far easier to read, understand and follow the instructions than
to undo the problems caused by not.” DD 23 Jan 11
Thanks for the head’s up on the temp folder, but it’s a no go on the freeing up of space. I may have to the live boot and see what’s what. The thing that puzles me though is why the default configuration would be to install app’s etc to the smallest partition. I have around 15 GB left on my home partition, yet my boot folder is the one that’s being filled up. I’m going to attach a screenshot so you (et al) can see. http://i899.photobucket.com/albums/ac196/mincheyproperties/snapshot1.png
This is totally normal if the only partition you break out is the /home folder. No applications install in /home by default. A few exceptions do exist, but it is very uncommon. /home are for documents files, media files and personnel configurations. If removing temp files does not help, repartitioning is the only solution then. I have found that 20 GB as a minimum for the root / partition, depending on what you are loading. If your original install was OK, then your recent installs sent you over the top and the space in /home is not going to help you. If you plan on sticking with your original setup then give more disk space to the / root partition.
Thank You,
There might be another solution that does involve neither resizing the root partition nor deleting stuff.
It is possible after all to have several of the directories in / on their own dedicated partition. Commonly this is already the case with /home. But it doesn’t stop there of course.For instance /tmp could get its own partition.
Of course this would require that there is room to create these partitions, it would require that things are moved over, it would need to be reflected in fstab etc.
ETA: Wait a minute. That screenshot …
You are running out of space on your /boot (!) partition. And not on / .
That means, that this whole thread and all its discussion is totally moot. You have plenty of room left for installing programs and so on (6.4 GB out of 10.2 GB). It is just this smallish, dedicated /boot that is causing you the trouble.
On 02/05/2011 06:36 PM, Lord Emsworth wrote:
>
> There might be another solution that does involve neither resizing the
> root partition nor deleting stuff.
and, there may be a runaway log file grabbing space on the root…
take a look in /var/log/ any file in there over a few (say under 5) MB
should be inspected to see if there is a constantly repeating error
message…if so, the log could swell to many GBs (note i wrote two
different measures, MB and GB)
fix the problem causing the runaway messages, and institute a better
logrotate…job done…
but i guess a huge log is only possible, not probable…
–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[NNTP posted w/openSUSE 11.3, KDE4.5.5, Thunderbird3.0.11, nVidia
173.14.28 3D, Athlon 64 3000+]
“It is far easier to read, understand and follow the instructions than
to undo the problems caused by not.” DD 23 Jan 11
No. The root partition (‘/’) is not the problem.
There is a small, 67MB large /boot partition, and this is the one that is full.
The root partition is fine. With only 37% out of 10.2GB used there is (a) plenty of room left for installing things, and (b) does not seem to be any problem with runaway log files.
See the screenshot in post #4. Or, if it is some help for you and other who are accessing the board over NNTP:
Howdy,
You could move /var and /usr to /home and make two soft links from /usr and /var to /home/usr and /home/var, without having to do the risky repartitioning.
On 02/06/2011 11:06 AM, Lord Emsworth wrote:
> See the screenshot in post #4. Or, if it is some help for you and other
> who are accessing the board over NNTP:
> http://tinyurl.com/6cbhxga
well, he is NOT trying to install programs to the TINY boot
partition…his written complaint is that root is too small and home
is too large…
i can’t help it if in fact he still has plenty of room–he wants to
‘fix’ it…and asked how…
–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[NNTP posted w/openSUSE 11.3, KDE4.5.5, Thunderbird3.0.11, nVidia
173.14.28 3D, Athlon 64 3000+]
“It is far easier to read, understand and follow the instructions than
to undo the problems caused by not.” DD 23 Jan 11
That won’t create any room on /boot .
He is wrong. 
please show us fdisk l using code tags
Most likely, my suggestion after seeing fdisk -l (or a screen shot from a GUI partitioning tool, which ever you find easer. ), and after the backup of important data, will be resize/move using parted/gparted. My experience with these tools used correctly has given a 100% success rate, when done properly… NOT hard to do.
Thanks for the head’s up on the temp folder, but it’s a no go on the freeing up of space. I may have to the live boot and see what’s what. The thing that puzles me though is why the default configuration would be to install app’s etc to the smallest partition. I have around 15 GB left on my home partition, yet my boot folder is the one that’s being filled up. I’m going to attach a screenshot so you (et al) can see.
http://i899.photobucket.com/albums/ac196/mincheyproperties/snapshot1.png
What puzzles me is, why would the default install (of openSUSE) include a /boot partition?, Are you really sure this is not a decision made during the choices while installing? ie. not the default?
You do realise that as kernel upgrades for example, are installed, you do need to manage that /boot partition? If you choose to have one!
On 2011-02-06 12:02, DenverD wrote:
> On 02/06/2011 11:06 AM, Lord Emsworth wrote:
>> See the screenshot in post #4. Or, if it is some help for you and other
>> who are accessing the board over NNTP:
>> http://tinyurl.com/6cbhxga
>
> well, he is NOT trying to install programs to the TINY boot
> partition…his written complaint is that root is too small and home
> is too large…
Actually, he did say “boot” partition, not root partition (see the subject
line in your thunderbird 
). But we mistakenly understood he really
meant “root”.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 11.2 x86_64 “Emerald” at Telcontar)
On 02/08/2011 12:20 AM, Carlos E. R. wrote:
> Actually, he did say “boot” partition, not root partition (see the subject
> line in your thunderbird ). But we mistakenly understood he really
> meant “root”.
you are right! pass me some window cleaner for my glasses!!
–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[NNTP posted w/openSUSE 11.3, KDE4.5.5, Thunderbird3.0.11, nVidia
173.14.28 3D, Athlon 64 3000+]
“It is far easier to read, understand and follow the instructions than
to undo the problems caused by not.” DD 23 Jan 11
On 2011-02-08 15:04, DenverD wrote:
> On 02/08/2011 12:20 AM, Carlos E. R. wrote:
>> Actually, he did say “boot” partition, not root partition (see the subject
>> line in your thunderbird ). But we mistakenly understood he really
>> meant “root”.
>
> you are right! pass me some window cleaner for my glasses!!
I think we all made that mistake, except Lord_Emsworth, and not immediately 
But the OP caused the confusion because wasn’t clear when he said “~8GB
boot partition” in his first post. It is a 68 MB boot partition and a 10 GB
root partition.
(And in this case it is not possible to use symlinks to home or root.)
Well, the OP should get us the listing of /boot so that we can suggest what
to delete and how. The output of “rpm -qa | grep -i kernel” would be useful
as well.
I wonder why he got such a small “/boot”?
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 11.2 x86_64 “Emerald” at Telcontar)
What happens if we move the entire /boot directory into the gigantic / partition? How does grub find the boot files? Does it start at / and follow the tree, or does it have the physical address of the files embedded somewhere?
Moving /boot:
: Create new subdirectory /bootnew
: Since /bootnew is directly under /, it will reside in the / partition
: Copy all files from /boot to /bootnew
: Rename /boot as /bootold and /bootnew as /boot
: Find and test rescue disk (by booting from it)
: Reboot system from hard-drive and see what happens
On 2011-02-11 06:06, NonZ wrote:
>
> What happens if we move the entire /boot directory into the gigantic /
> partition?
It will not boot.
You would have to reinstall grub, and depending on what was the reason for
having a separate /boot partition, it will be possible or impossible.
> How does grub find the boot files? Does it start at / and
> follow the tree, or does it have the physical address of the files
> embedded somewhere?
The later.
At least, for stages 1, 1.5 and 2. They are not files, but data stored raw
outside of the filesystem at the partition start. What you see in
/boot/grub is a copy.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 11.2 x86_64 “Emerald” at Telcontar)