Struggling with extending volume

[337harvey]

You have two decisions to make. Right now you have it setup to require the shortcut press to change from windows to zorin, it looks like. Do you want a menu at boot to choose or are you keeping this configuration? I can offer both sets of instructions, but I'd rather focus on doing it one way so as not to confuse you.

The other question, and it's a standard practice for many Linux users, do you want your home directory in a separate partition to make it easier to upgrade or reinstall? Or would you like to keep it in the Zorin partition?

Your answers will determine the direction we take next.

Please be specific in your responses. I understand you did the fast boot and hibernation, but it is unclear whether you followed all the steps in the before you install posting (bios secure boot and fast boot) or whether you created the fat32 partition.

[Swat]

Thanks for the reply,

I'll be honest that I do not fully understand the explanation (I probably forgot to mention that I do not know what I am doing). I could not find a definition for "defamed the drive", so I admittingly skipped that step.

I used some space to create a fat32 in my unallocated space, it did not show a star, boot flag or warning. It seems like the partition is not locked by windows.

Currently, I have a little zorin boot menu to pick between windows and zorin, I am not quite sure what you mean regarding a shortcut.

A home directory partition sounds useful, I'd definitely go with that. I originally just followed a quick toturial on dualbooting, I am not experienced in the topic.

I disabled fast boot, hibernation, secure boot and fast startup. I try my best to be as clear as I can, but its all a bit chinese to me right now

[337harvey]

Defragment... phone autocorrected it

I do understand. By the end of this you should understand a little more.

Ok, since windows is taking up a lot of your drive, let's add to that unallocated space. In gparted, the partition ending in n1p1, resize that partition by hitting the gear and choosing resize. In the new size box, drop the number to 350,000, that's 350 gb... more than enough for windows. You'll get a warning, hit yes.

Now you should have 544gb unallocated. Now we're going to move a few things.

Start with the next partition, which is the 500+mb efi partition. Hit the gear, and move. Try left clicking the partition, holding it, and drag it to the left till it stops (should be right against the windows partition, it may have a few mb gap which you won't be able to change).

If that doesn't work, you'll have to do it by numbers. If you wouldn't mind posting a screen shot of that dialog window, it would help. I don't move partitions often. Don't change any of the values if dragging it doesn't work.

You will have to reboot after this change and go back into the live image.

[337harvey]

You're going to do the same with the next partition, select, gear, move. Leave about 100mb between the efi and the Zorin system partition. Again, reboot. At this point boot into windows to make sure there are no errors, then zorin on the hard drive. You shouldn't get any errors. Then boot back into the live image.

If either throw an error, you will have to reinstall that os. Windows shouldn't complain since we only made it smaller.

Once your back in the live image the rest is easy.

The Zorin system partition, n1p4, hit the gear and resize. You want it to go up, to at least 60,000mb if not more. This number is up to you and depends on what you plan on installing software-wise. If you want games that play in steam, make it larger than 100gb. Game sizes range from a few gigs to almost a hundred. Don't use the entire drive though.

In the unallocated space that's left, hit the plus and create a partition (add a name to it if you like). Format it as ext4 (this will be for your /home folder) and make it at least 60gb. This is where all your settings, plugins, documents, pictures, videos, downloads and other such personal data reside... size it accordingly.

If you want to have a shared data partition, a place to store things you want to access from both windows and zorin, or a backup partition, don't use the rest of the drive.

Gparted will show you a UUID for your home partition. Select it by left click and dragging over it, if possible. You'll need this number to put in fstab later. If you can't select and copy, write it down, being very careful to get it right. If one number is off, the mount will fail.

[Swat]

Now I've ran into an issue. My already existing fat32 is unable to move, I am guessing this was what you tried avoid from happening earlier

I am only able to manage flags and view partition details (looks like my screenshot app can not take pictures of context menus oops)

[337harvey]

Paste the uuid into a text file and store it in your home directory (save as uuid.txt, in others, choose your system partition size,
home/[username]/Documents/ changing the[username] to the user id you used to log into zorin).

Reboot.

Go back into the live image. Open your file browser and click other locations. Select the drive size that is the equivalent of your zorin system partition (if you didn't label it). You will see the home folder. Right click and copy.

Click other locations again and you will be able to find the partition you created for home by size again. Double click to mount and access it. Ctrl + v or right click -> paste. If you don't trust what's on the system partition, restore from the usb key. Go back into your zorin system partition. Enter the home folder and boot ctrl + a, shift + delete key. Now you have a clean mount point.

Go back to the root folder and go into etc. Right click and choose open terminal here. In the terminal Type:

sudo gedit fstab

If it asks for a root password hit enter. It probably won't though.

An example to copy and paste, then edit:

UUID={Your-UUID-number-here] /home ext4 defaults 0 2

This can be edited with the number you wrote down or copied into the uuid.txt in your documents folder.

[337harvey]

you can delete the fat32. It was just to check if the partition had a flag

[337harvey]

Don't delete the efi partition.

I thought you had created the fat32 for the test...but I don't see it in the list.

Looks like we'll have to delete it. You can disregard the fstab entry. It will be the only way to move the Zorin system partition. You will have to use the installer, but it won't wipe everything out. I'll get to that.

[337harvey]

So we're on the same page, and I understand what step you are at...did you backup your home folder to usb, or in windows partition even?

[337harvey]

Fyi... if you delete the efi partition you will have to finish everything before rebooting

[Swat]

@337harvey When following the steps,

Once that's done you're going to create a fat32

I created the fat32

click edit then uncheck the boot box

checked for any boot flag

Then select that partition and hit the minus sign next to the gears, this will delete the partition.

and then deleted the fat32 again.

thats why the fat32 no longer shows up. The fat32 you see on the screenshot was already there originally (just to clear up some confusion)

[Swat]

I did not, there is nothing to safe, both my operating systems are basically empty at this point.

[Swat]

I am honestly just considering biting the bullet and going for a clean wipe. I have no reason for my windows to be around anymore. This disk partitioning is quite a hassle, I can only screw things up, even with your incredible guidance. If I ever need windows I have a beefy laptop just for that, or I can install a virtual machine. If I don't enjoy my time with zorin, I can always set back my pc. It just seems like a safer and more practical option right now.

[337harvey]

Ok... then you are going to boot into your live cd when your ready (16 core or pro). Hit the install. Choose the something else method. This will allow you to select all the partitions and delete them. Create three partitions, one fat32 at 500mb this is your efi partition, one ext4 at 60+ gb this is your root partition mounted at /, and another ext4 at 60+ gb this is your home partition mounted at /home.

Optional: create one or two partitions for data storage and backup. These two partitions can be mounted at boot, you just have to think of the mount name. Then choose the mount option for each and it will be under /mnt/[mount name] (without the square brackets).

If you want to use hibernation, create a swap partition which will mount on /swap.

Under the partition window is a drop down list for boot installation location. Click that and choose the efi you created. Hit ok. After you reboot copy over your home directory into home, merging the files/ directories.

If you choose the wipe drive option, your home folder will be in the system partition. This will matter when you want to reinstall or install and use other versions of Linux.

Recommend you use a seperate home partition.

[Swat]

Thank you again for the excelent explanation, just some quick questions: Where should the bulk of the storage go? to the root or /home? Why does root need 60+ GB? Lastly, what would be your recommended way of ordering the partitions?

[337harvey]

Root is where the applications are installed as well as leaving room for upgrades of the os and apps. home is where the configuration files and some applications are installed, so this should be as large if not larger than your system directory. Home stores all your documents and videos, music and settings....with a data partition for storage it reduces the need of a large home partition.

If done all in one, you will be looking up how to extend your system partition unless you use the entire 1TB. By separating them, you have an easier time upgrading or repairing/reinstalling os's.

order: EFI | SYS | ?SWAP? | HOME | ?DATA? | ?BACKUP?

The ones surrounded with question marks are optional (as is home but highly recommended).

[Swat]

Just to verify, my current setup is:

500 mb fat32 efi
700000 mb root
17408 mb swap (I have 16 gb ram)
282300 mb /home + 1 tb of my hdd

I would guess having a data partition would help with separation, but I am not quite sure how to go about that. Backups are simply not needed in my case. Overall, does that setup seem alright? I have not installed yet, its just a draft

[337harvey]

My recommendation:

500mb fat32 | EFI
300000mb ext4 | ROOT
32000mb ext4 | SWAP (should be double your RAM)
300000mb ext4 | HOME

400000mb ntfs | DATA

You should not span your home partition across devices. The Data partition on the same drive would give the best performance since the others are SSD and this is NVMe. This setup allows for all that you could throw at it on a regular. Unless you get a hobby or career in programming, media or gaming, this setup is more than adequate.

My own machine is setup as a dual boot.

SYS | ROOT | HOME | DATA

is my partitioning. I have another drive with:

EFI | WIN | BACKUP

It shares my efi partition for both os's
The data and backup are nice. I share between os's and have no problem with long term storage now.

Setting a data partition would be simple. Create the size you want, format as NTFS, and mount on /mnt/data during installation. I call mine vault, but it's whatever you decide to name it. I can not make it any more simpler. If you don't want to mount it on boot, don't worry about including it in the partitioning of installation. You can access it by file browser -> others. You will have to mount it every time you want to use it though.

[Swat]

My hobbies are making mods for videogames, making videos and I have a carreer in programming I could definitely use the extra disk space, Is moving your files to a seperate ntsf partition just like moving files to the D: drive in windows?

[337harvey]

yes. Just copy and pasting. I program also. I also game...that's the only reason I have windows. Here is my partitioning: