Re: resize the partition with /

[Raj Kiran Grandhi <grajkiran@gmail.com>]

Manu Hack wrote:
> > >
> > If a couple of reboots is ok for you, the following method might work.
>
> Yes, and thanks a lot for the instruction.
>
> > You can use 'dd' to clone hda2 to hda1. Boot your system with
> > "init=/bin/bash". When you get to the bash prompt, do
> >
> > bash# dd if=/dev/hda2 of=/dev/hda1
> >
> > When that completes, you would have your installation available on both
> > the partitions. The 5GB hda1 would contain a filesystem that is only 1GB
> > large. Restart your system. You would boot normally with a 1GB root.
> >
> > Edit "/boot/grub/menu.lst" and add an entry for the linux on hda1.
> > set root to (hd0,0) and append root=/dev/hda1 for the kernel line of the
> > new entry.
> >
> > mkdir /tmp/newroot; mount /dev/hda1 /tmp/newroot
> >
> > Edit the file /tmp/newroot/boot/grub/menu.lst and replace (hd0,1) with
> > (hda0,0) and root=/dev/hda2 with root=/dev/hda1. Similarly fix the root
> > filesystem entry in /tmp/newroot/etc/fstab by changing /dev/hda2 to
> > /dev/hda1.
> >
> > Now you should be able to boot into either of your two partitions.
>
> So I got two grub/menu.lst, but how grub knows which one to read (one
> is hda1 and one is hda2)?

Grub will read the menu.lst from the partition that contained 
/boot/grub/menu.lst when "grub-install" was run.

> > Feel free to post any problems you may have and make sure you take a
> > backup of important files before proceeding.
>
> Finally I followed your instruction and now I got what I wanted.
> Really thanks a lot and hopefully this can help others too.  (not to
> mention I learned a lot!) :)

This is one important reason why I am in love with linux. :) A little 
curiosity and it lets you learn everything you care about hardware/software.