Expanding E drive partition

[kristein]

Hi,

One of my partiton ''drive is only 20GB and needs to expanded upto 50GB for my project work, i don't want to remove the E partition and create a new 50GB partition, since i have Oracle client installed on that partiton.

Any suggestions will be helpful for increaing the partition

[danpalacios]

What OS?

You should be able to shut the guest down and edit the properties to expand the disk size. You can then use diskpart in the os or a tool like gparted to extend the partition. In 2008 you can do it with disk manager.

[kristein]

Iam running Windows XP 2003 Server Ent ed, let me know the exact steps which will be more helpfull

[danpalacios]

XP or 2003? One .vmdk partitioned by the OS or two seperate .vmdks (like tow seperate hard drives)?

Either way, the steps should be the same, it is just a little easier if they are seperate disks.

[danpalacios]

1. shut down the guest

2. right click on the guest and select "edit settings"

3. on the hardware tab, select the hard drive you want to expand and then change the size on the uper right side of the window

4. power up the guest and use diskpart or gparted to expand the e: drive. (instructions on using diskpart are on the web, as are tools like gparted)

[kristein]

2003 and they are two seperate vmdk's

[kristein]

OK thankyou, from the above link i found that he is referring to some second Windows 2003 Virtual Machine, do i need to ave one more additional VM, kindly let me know.

http://vmprofessional.com/index.php?content=2k3resize

[danpalacios · Accepted solution]

There are two issues with that post:

1. That process was applicable to the esx3.0 environment. 3.5 brings the ability to resize the disk through VC - meaning no command line required.

2. It required a second 2003 system because they were extending the system partition (c: drive). You indicated you are extending the E: drive, so no need for another windows system.

The actual process for the diskpart is accurate, though. Try for clearer instructions.

[Dynamax]

edit the vm hard disk size using the vi client and make it 50GB.

Log onto the vm and use Dell extpart to extend the partition. It doesnt need to be powered off or rebooted. Obviously backup the drive before use as a safety measure.

Extpart is downloadable from the dell site. It has a text file on how to use it. Very easy.

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&releaseid=R64398&forma...

any probs let me know