RESIZE2FS(8)                         System Manager's Manual                         RESIZE2FS(8)



NAME
       resize2fs - ext2/ext3/ext4 file system resizer

SYNOPSIS
       resize2fs [ -fFpPM ] [ -d debug-flags ] [ -S RAID-stride ] device [ size ]

DESCRIPTION
       The  resize2fs  program  will  resize ext2, ext3, or ext4 file systems.  It can be used to
       enlarge or shrink an unmounted file system  located  on  device.   If  the  filesystem  is
       mounted,  it can be used to expand the size of the mounted filesystem, assuming the kernel
       and the file system supports on-line resizing.  (Modern Linux 2.6 kernels will support on-
       line  resize  for file systems mounted using ext3 and ext4; ext3 file systems will require
       the use of file systems with the resize_inode feature enabled.)

       The size parameter specifies the requested new size of the filesystem.  If  no  units  are
       specified,  the  units  of  the  size  parameter  shall be the filesystem blocksize of the
       filesystem.  Optionally, the size parameter may be suffixed by one of  the  following  the
       units  designators:  's', 'K', 'M', or 'G', for 512 byte sectors, kilobytes, megabytes, or
       gigabytes, respectively.  The size of the filesystem may never be larger than the size  of
       the  partition.   If  size  parameter is not specified, it will default to the size of the
       partition.

       Note: when kilobytes is used above, I mean real, power-of-2 kilobytes, (i.e., 1024 bytes),
       which  some  politically correct folks insist should be the stupid-sounding ``kibibytes''.
       The same holds true for megabytes, also sometimes known as ``mebibytes'', or gigabytes, as
       the amazingly silly ``gibibytes''.  Makes you want to gibber, doesn't it?

       The  resize2fs program does not manipulate the size of partitions.  If you wish to enlarge
       a filesystem, you must make sure you can expand  the  size  of  the  underlying  partition
       first.  This can be done using fdisk(8) by deleting the partition and recreating it with a
       larger size or using lvextend(8), if you're using the logical volume manager lvm(8).  When
       recreating  the partition, make sure you create it with the same starting disk cylinder as
       before!  Otherwise, the resize operation will certainly not work, and you  may  lose  your
       entire filesystem.  After running fdisk(8), run resize2fs to resize the ext2 filesystem to
       use all of the space in the newly enlarged partition.

       If you wish to shrink an ext2 partition,  first  use  resize2fs  to  shrink  the  size  of
       filesystem.   Then you may use fdisk(8) to shrink the size of the partition.  When shrink‐
       ing the size of the partition, make sure you do not make it smaller than the new  size  of
       the ext2 filesystem!

OPTIONS
       -d debug-flags
              Turns  on various resize2fs debugging features, if they have been compiled into the
              binary.  debug-flags should be computed by adding the numbers of the  desired  fea‐
              tures from the following list:
                   2    - Debug block relocations
                   4    - Debug inode relocations
                   8    - Debug moving the inode table
                   16   - Print timing information
                   32   - Debug minimum filesystem size (-M) calculation

       -f     Forces  resize2fs  to proceed with the filesystem resize operation, overriding some
              safety checks which resize2fs normally enforces.

       -F     Flush the filesystem device's buffer caches before beginning.  Only  really  useful
              for doing resize2fs time trials.

       -M     Shrink the filesystem to the minimum size.

       -p     Prints out a percentage completion bars for each resize2fs operation during an off‐
              line resize, so that the user can keep track of what the program is doing.

       -P     Print the minimum size of the filesystem and exit.

       -S RAID-stride
              The resize2fs program will heuristically determine the RAID stride that was  speci‐
              fied  when  the  filesystem was created.  This option allows the user to explicitly
              specify a RAID stride setting to be used by resize2fs instead.

KNOWN BUGS
       The minimum size of the filesystem as estimated by resize2fs may be incorrect,  especially
       for filesystems with 1k and 2k blocksizes.

AUTHOR
       resize2fs was written by Theodore Ts'o <tytso AT mit.edu>.

COPYRIGHT
       Resize2fs  is  Copyright  1998 by Theodore Ts'o and PowerQuest, Inc.  All rights reserved.
       As of April, 2000 Resize2fs may be redistributed under the terms of the GPL.

SEE ALSO
       fdisk(8), e2fsck(8), mke2fs(8), lvm(8), lvextend(8)



E2fsprogs version 1.42.12                  August 2014                               RESIZE2FS(8)