28
submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by someoneFromInternet@lemmy.ml to c/linux@lemmy.ml

Hello! I have a /home partition that is almost full, and there is another partition nearby with a lot of free space. I would like to reduce the size of this neighboring partition and add the freed space to /home. I would like to do this safely, without using a Live USB or bootable flash drive. Is this possible?

upd: gparted just worked(through a live usb stick)! Sometimes I try to use symlinks, but not this time :) Thanks everyone!

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] twack@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago

I think this might be the right solution for OP, especially since they don't seem to have had the "experience" I'm sure many of us have had with this "simple" operation. If you are going to do it, them it should be done using a live OS and a full offline system backup, otherwise its very easy to lose a lot of data this way.

However, symlinks like that can make things confusing really quickly. I would encourage anyone using them in this way to establish some easily checked rules and abide by them. For example, maybe you only use symlinks like this in a specific folder such as /home/expanded. You can still have multiple links there like /home/expanded/on5TBdrive or /home/expanded/onPrimarySSD, but it makes it easier to remember, find, and check those locations later.

When you need to know exactly where something is stored, verify a backup, or find data without the symlink, then you will appreciate a set of rules that helps you.

this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2025
28 points (96.7% liked)

Linux

57274 readers
558 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS