{"id":486,"date":"2016-05-01T16:57:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-01T08:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techcoil.com\/blog\/?p=486"},"modified":"2018-09-05T23:24:27","modified_gmt":"2018-09-05T15:24:27","slug":"how-i-resized-the-file-system-of-my-ubuntu-server-15-10-3-image-to-utilize-the-entire-microsd-card-space-on-my-raspberry-pi-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.techcoil.com\/blog\/how-i-resized-the-file-system-of-my-ubuntu-server-15-10-3-image-to-utilize-the-entire-microsd-card-space-on-my-raspberry-pi-3\/","title":{"rendered":"How I resized the file system of my Ubuntu Server 15.10.3 image to utilize the entire microSD card space on my Raspberry Pi 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

After setting up a LEMP web server on Raspberry Pi 3 with an Ubuntu Server 15.10.3 image to host my new WordPress website<\/a>, I decided to create some swap space to complement the 1GB ram on my Raspberry Pi 3 in running more services. <\/p>\n

When I tried to create a 4GB swap file, the fallocate command complained that there was no space left on my Raspberry Pi 3:<\/p>\n

\r\nsudo fallocate -l 4G \/swapfile\r\nfallocate: fallocate failed: No space left on device\r\n<\/pre>\n
To ensure that I wouldn't crash my Raspbery Pi 3, I quickly remove \/swapfile<\/code>. <\/p>\n
To understand why there was no space to create a 4GB swap file on a Raspberry Pi 3 with a 32GB microSD card, I ran:<\/p>\n
\r\ndf -h\r\n<\/pre>\n
and got the following output: <\/p>\n
\r\nFilesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on\r\n\/dev\/root       3.5G  1.5G  2.0G  43% \/\r\ndevtmpfs        459M     0  459M   0% \/dev\r\ntmpfs           463M     0  463M   0% \/dev\/shm\r\ntmpfs           463M  6.2M  457M   2% \/run\r\ntmpfs           5.0M     0  5.0M   0% \/run\/lock\r\ntmpfs           463M     0  463M   0% \/sys\/fs\/cgroup\r\n\/dev\/mmcblk0p1   64M   20M   45M  32% \/boot\r\n<\/pre>\n
This told me that my Ubuntu Server 15.10.3 image did not utilize the entire microSD card space from the SanDisk Ultra 32GB microSDHC card<\/a> on my Raspberry Pi 3 motherboard<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Using GNU parted to resize the file system of my Ubuntu Server 15.10.3 image to utilize the entire microSD card space<\/h3>\n
It wouldn't make economical sense when my Raspberry Pi 3 was not using the whole of my 32GB microSD card. Since my Ubuntu Server 15.10.3 image had GNU parted installed, I turned to GNU parted to resize the file system of my Ubuntu Server 15.10.3 image to utilize the entire microSD card space:<\/p>\n
\r\nsudo parted\r\n<\/pre>\n
Executing the command presented me the following environment, which allowed me to interact with GNU parted.<\/p>\n
\r\nGNU Parted 3.2\r\nUsing \/dev\/mmcblk0\r\nWelcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.\r\n(parted) help                                                             \r\n  align-check TYPE N                        check partition N for TYPE(min|opt)\r\n        alignment\r\n  help [COMMAND]                           print general help, or help on\r\n        COMMAND\r\n  mklabel,mktable LABEL-TYPE               create a new disklabel (partition\r\n        table)\r\n  mkpart PART-TYPE [FS-TYPE] START END     make a partition\r\n  name NUMBER NAME                         name partition NUMBER as NAME\r\n  print [devices|free|list,all|NUMBER]     display the partition table,\r\n        available devices, free space, all found partitions, or a particular\r\n        partition\r\n  quit                                     exit program\r\n  rescue START END                         rescue a lost partition near START\r\n        and END\r\n  resizepart NUMBER END                    resize partition NUMBER\r\n  rm NUMBER                                delete partition NUMBER\r\n  select DEVICE                            choose the device to edit\r\n  disk_set FLAG STATE                      change the FLAG on selected device\r\n  disk_toggle [FLAG]                       toggle the state of FLAG on selected\r\n        device\r\n  set NUMBER FLAG STATE                    change the FLAG on partition NUMBER\r\n  toggle [NUMBER [FLAG]]                   toggle the state of FLAG on partition\r\n        NUMBER\r\n  unit UNIT                                set the default unit to UNIT\r\n  version                                  display the version number and\r\n        copyright information of GNU Parted\r\n<\/pre>\n
Viewing the partition table on my microSD card<\/h3>\n
I first checked the entries inside the partition table on my microSD card:<\/p>\n
\r\n(parted) print   \r\n<\/pre>\n
Through the 'print' command, I was presented with the following output:<\/p>\n
\r\nModel: SD SL32G (sd\/mmc)\r\nDisk \/dev\/mmcblk0: 31.1GB\r\nSector size (logical\/physical): 512B\/512B\r\nPartition Table: msdos\r\nDisk Flags: \r\n\r\nNumber  Start   End     Size    Type     File system  Flags\r\n 1      1049kB  68.2MB  67.1MB  primary  fat16        boot, lba\r\n 2      68.2MB  3932MB  3864MB  primary  ext4\r\n<\/pre>\n
This output told me that I was only utilizing 3864MB of my microSD card for my Ubuntu Server 15.10.3. <\/p>\n
Resizing the ext4 partition<\/h3>\n
Since the ext4 partition contains the Ubuntu Server 15.10.3 image, resizing that partition will allow my Ubuntu Server 15.10.3 to utilize the entire microSD card disk space.<\/p>\n
To do so, I supplied the following input:<\/p>\n
\r\n(parted) resizepart 2                                                     \r\nEnd?  [3932MB]? 31.1GB\r\n<\/pre>\n
I first supplied the command 'resizepart 2' to tell GNU parted that I wished to resize the ext4 partition. It then replied me with 'End?  [3932MB]?' which I followed up with the string '31.1GB' to indicate that I want it to use the rest of the unallocated space on my microSD card.<\/p>\n
Verifying that my Ubuntu Server 15.10.3 was able to utilize the rest of the unallocated space on my microSD card<\/h3>\n
To verify that the ext4 partition had successfully resized, I ran the 'print' command again:<\/p>\n
\r\n(parted) print\r\n<\/pre>\n
which gave me the following output: <\/p>\n
\r\nModel: SD SL32G (sd\/mmc)\r\nDisk \/dev\/mmcblk0: 31.1GB\r\nSector size (logical\/physical): 512B\/512B\r\nPartition Table: msdos\r\nDisk Flags: \r\n\r\nNumber  Start   End     Size    Type     File system  Flags\r\n 1      1049kB  68.2MB  67.1MB  primary  fat16        boot, lba\r\n 2      68.2MB  31.1GB  31.0GB  primary  ext4\r\n<\/pre>\n
Once I saw that the partition had taken more space, I exited the interaction screen with the parted program by typing 'quit'.<\/p>\n
Getting the Ubuntu Server 15.10.3 file system to recognize the partition resize<\/h3>\n
Once I am out of the parted interaction screen, I ran the following to see if my root directory contains more space:<\/p>\n
\r\ndf -h\r\n<\/pre>\n
To my dismay, I still saw the same output as before:<\/p>\n
\r\nFilesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on\r\n\/dev\/root       3.5G  1.5G  2.0G  43% \/\r\ndevtmpfs        459M     0  459M   0% \/dev\r\ntmpfs           463M     0  463M   0% \/dev\/shm\r\ntmpfs           463M  6.2M  457M   2% \/run\r\ntmpfs           5.0M     0  5.0M   0% \/run\/lock\r\ntmpfs           463M     0  463M   0% \/sys\/fs\/cgroup\r\n\/dev\/mmcblk0p1   64M   20M   45M  32% \/boot\r\n<\/pre>\n
This told me that GNU parted had not resized the file system to take the additional partition space that had been created. <\/p>\n
To get the file system to take the additional partition space that had been created, I ran the following:<\/p>\n
\r\nsudo resize2fs \/dev\/mmcblk0p2\r\n<\/pre>\n
After the command had completed, I ran <\/p>\n
\r\ndf -h\r\n<\/pre>\n
and got the following output:<\/p>\n
\r\nFilesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on\r\n\/dev\/root        29G  1.5G   27G   6% \/\r\ndevtmpfs        459M     0  459M   0% \/dev\r\ntmpfs           463M     0  463M   0% \/dev\/shm\r\ntmpfs           463M  6.2M  457M   2% \/run\r\ntmpfs           5.0M     0  5.0M   0% \/run\/lock\r\ntmpfs           463M     0  463M   0% \/sys\/fs\/cgroup\r\n\/dev\/mmcblk0p1   64M   20M   45M  32% \/boot\r\n<\/pre>\n
With that, I was able to continue with the creation of the swapfile to complement the 1GB ram on my Raspberry Pi 3.<\/p>\n\n