Can't grow ext4 partition with GParted running from USB

9 respuestas [Último envío]
strypey
Desconectado/a
se unió: 05/14/2015

I have been using GParted to try to resize the primary root partition (ext4) on Bishop (my 32-bit laptop), increasing it by about 2GB into free space to the right of it (as visualized by GParted). I've tried it with a Flidas live USB and with a Flidas system I installed to a USB. In both cases it failed.

Here is the full error message from GParted (from the installed system):

> begins

GParted 0.25.0 --enable-libparted-dmraid --enable-online-resize

Libparted 3.2
Grow /dev/sda1 from 13.97 GiB to 15.88 GiB 00:00:00 ( ERROR )

calibrate /dev/sda1 00:00:00 ( SUCCESS )

path: /dev/sda1 (partition)
start: 2048
end: 29296639
size: 29294592 (13.97 GiB)
check file system on /dev/sda1 for errors and (if possible) fix them 00:00:00 ( ERROR )

e2fsck -f -y -v -C 0 /dev/sda1 00:00:00 ( ERROR )

e2fsck 1.42.13 (17-May-2015)
/dev/sda1 has unsupported feature(s): metadata_csum
e2fsck: Get a newer version of e2fsck!

> ends

Any suggestions?

Magic Banana

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I am a translator!

Conectado
se unió: 07/24/2010

I guess the system that made the filesystem had a newer version of Linux (which includes the code for the filesystems) than Trisquel 8. Try from a live GNU/Linux system that is more recent (unfortunately, that cannot be Trisquel, until an ISO for Trisquel 9 is released).

Narcis Garcia
Desconectado/a
se unió: 04/15/2019

You have here a guide to remove unsupported feature (metadata_csum) from
a mounted partition, booting from affected OS:
https://wiki.openvz.org/Installation_on_Debian_9

After this, you'll can use Trisquel 8 for desired actions over this
modern Ext4 partition.

El 13/5/19 a les 13:25, name at domain ha escrit:
> I have been using GParted to try to resize the primary root partition
> (ext4) on Bishop (my 32-bit laptop), increasing it by about 2GB into
> free space to the right of it (as visualized by GParted). I've tried it
> with a Flidas live USB and with a Flidas system I installed to a USB. In
> both cases it failed.
>
> Here is the full error message from GParted (from the installed system):
>
>> begins
>
> GParted 0.25.0 --enable-libparted-dmraid --enable-online-resize
>
> Libparted 3.2
> Grow /dev/sda1 from 13.97 GiB to 15.88 GiB  00:00:00    ( ERROR )
>         
> calibrate /dev/sda1  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
>         
> path: /dev/sda1 (partition)
> start: 2048
> end: 29296639
> size: 29294592 (13.97 GiB)
> check file system on /dev/sda1 for errors and (if possible) fix them 
> 00:00:00    ( ERROR )
>         
> e2fsck -f -y -v -C 0 /dev/sda1  00:00:00    ( ERROR )
>         
> e2fsck 1.42.13 (17-May-2015)
> /dev/sda1 has unsupported feature(s): metadata_csum
> e2fsck: Get a newer version of e2fsck!
>
>> ends
>
> Any suggestions?

nadebula.1984
Desconectado/a
se unió: 05/01/2018

As suggested by the output: You need a newer version of e2fsck.

If you were using a Live media of Trisquel, try to download its deb package from Debian's main (libre) repository, either testing or unstable, and then use # dpkg -i to install it. Hopefully you don't need to update its dependencies first.

Unfortunately, most popular specialist distributions such as GParted Live and Parted Magic have non-free firmware, so I don't encourage you to use them, unless you could find a deblobbed (liberated) version.

strypey
Desconectado/a
se unió: 05/14/2015

Magic Banana:
> guess the system that made the filesystem had a newer version of Linux (which includes the code for the filesystems) than Trisquel 8.

Nope. The system that made the filesystem was either a Trisquel 8 boot USB, or maybe even a Trisquel 7 one.

> Try from a live GNU/Linux system that is more recent

I suppose this is as good a reason as any to do a test run of the newly released Trisquel 9 beta ;)

Narcis Garcia:
> You have here a guide to remove unsupported feature (metadata_csum) from
a mounted partition

Thanks for the link, but what is "metadata_csum" and if I remove it, what are the potential consequences for my ext4 file system?

nadebula.1984:
> As suggested by the output: You need a newer version of e2fsck.

I've tried it from an installed system I installed to a USB instead of hard drive as an experiment. I ran apt-get update and apt-get dist-upgrade on it and made sure it was fully up-to-date before I tried resizing with GParted.

So a) if a newer version of e2fsck is required it's not yet in the Trisquel 8 repos and b) why would such a new version be required to resize a partition made with a Trisquel 8 boot USB? It seems like there is something else going on here and that output is just guessing.

Narcis Garcia
Desconectado/a
se unió: 04/15/2019

El 15/5/19 a les 9:04, name at domain ha escrit:
> Narcis Garcia:
>> You have here a guide to remove unsupported feature (metadata_csum) from
> a mounted partition
>
> Thanks for the link, but what is "metadata_csum" and if I remove it,
> what are the potential consequences for my ext4 file system?

"metadata_csum" is a new Ext4 feature (optional but enabled by default
when formatting in Ext4) to record a checksum for inodes metadata.
Consequence of metadata_csum removal is only to not be used: same as all
previous Ext4 volumes.
If you format in Ext4 with Trisquel 8, you will not have metadata_csum.

Procedure I linked is to be able to solve your problem without
installing/uninstalling/upgrading any software: Just with stuff and
situation you already have.

strypey
Desconectado/a
se unió: 05/14/2015

Narcis Garcia:
> If you format in Ext4 with Trisquel 8, you will not have metadata_csum.

But format in Ext4 with Trisquel 8 (or 7) is exactly what I did! Is it possible this was added somehow when I deleted the swap partition or created the swap file on that partition? How can I test whether there is a metadata_csum on an ext4 partition?

Magic Banana

I am a member!

I am a translator!

Conectado
se unió: 07/24/2010

I believe the following command (where /dev/sda1 may have to be changed: it must be the partition you want to resize) would tell, among "Filesystem features":
$ sudo tune2fs -l /dev/sda1

'tune2s' should also allow you to remove the metadata_csum feature:
$ sudo tune2fs -O ^metadata_csum /dev/sda1

Source: https://ext4.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Ext4_Metadata_Checksums

Narcis Garcia
Desconectado/a
se unió: 04/15/2019

El 16/5/19 a les 18:20, name at domain ha escrit:
> Narcis Garcia:
>> If you format in Ext4 with Trisquel 8, you will not have metadata_csum.
>
> But format in Ext4 with Trisquel 8 (or 7) is exactly what I did! Is it
> possible this was added somehow when I deleted the swap partition or
> created the swap file on that partition? How can I test whether there is
> a metadata_csum on an ext4 partition?

If Trisquel 8 does not support completely the extra metadata_csum
feature, I'm really curious why you didn't disable it yet.
It seems to be the only way to proceed with 100% Libre software or
without unsinstalling/installing anything else.

(I assume that Ext4 partition has OS boot)

nadebula.1984
Desconectado/a
se unió: 05/01/2018

Don't forget that Trisquel 8 is based on Ubuntu 16.04 so its packages are, to some extent, outdated. Whereas many improvements to the e2fsck can have happened within the recent 3 years.

By contrast, the GParted Live is built on Debian sid (unstable) so it's packages are very new. However, it comes with no shortage of non-free firmware and has Debian's non-free repository enabled by default. This is why I don't encourage you to use it. But you can just try to "customize" your own free/libre specialist distribution installation for disk management. A good starting point can be the official (blob-less) Debian Installer (testing). First, install a minimal copy to a portable storage media, and then optionally add components by running "tasksel" (as root) after customizing the apt repositories (I routinely use "sid", or unstable). Avoid adding "contrib" or "non-free" and you'll have a free/libre installation which is always up to date.