Every now and then a user needs to edit the partitions on their hard drive. This could be to make room for a new operating system or to expand the 130GB partition that Microsoft Windows XP (Pre SP1) forced them to setup. Normally at that point users have two options for repartitioning their hard drives. These options are to format and reinstall their existing operating system with new drive partitions or pay the $69.95 for a copy of Norton Partition magic to resize the existing partitions on the drive. Now thanks to open source and Linux we are presented with a much nicer, and cheaper, solution.

That solution is the Gnome Partition Editor, GParted, that comes from the Gnome Linux desktop. GParted is an open source alternative to Norton Partition Magic. It allows users to create, delete, resize, move and even duplicate partitions. GParted is offered as a bootable LiveCD or LiveUSB (Flash Drive) media so users do not have to install Linux to use it.

Recently I used GParted to fix the 130GB partition on a co-workers drive who was replacing an old 80GB drive with a 250GB drive on a fresh install of windows. Unfortunately the user only owned a copy of Windows XP Pre SP1 so Microsoft only allowed for the creation of a 130GB partition. After Windows was installed I was able to download SP1 and use GParted to resize the partition to 250GB with no real effort or pain. Once again a Linux tool has saved us from the horrors that Microsoft has put into Windows.

Side Note: GParted does not work properly on Microsoft labeled dynamic drives. These are drives that are part of a Microsoft software based raid that is normally found in servers. Basic users should have no problem using GParted to resize their hard drive partition.

Download GParted and give it a try the next time you need a partition resized.

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