{ "mode": "man", "parameter": "NTFSRESIZE", "section": "8", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/NTFSRESIZE/8/json", "generated": "2026-10-06T11:05:48Z", "synopsis": "ntfsresize [OPTIONS] --info(-mb-only) DEVICE\nntfsresize [OPTIONS] [--size SIZE[k|M|G]] DEVICE", "sections": { "NAME": { "content": "ntfsresize - resize an NTFS filesystem without data loss\n", "subsections": [] }, "SYNOPSIS": { "content": "ntfsresize [OPTIONS] --info(-mb-only) DEVICE\nntfsresize [OPTIONS] [--size SIZE[k|M|G]] DEVICE\n", "subsections": [] }, "DESCRIPTION": { "content": "The ntfsresize program safely resizes Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000, Windows\nNT4 and Longhorn NTFS filesystems without data loss. All NTFS versions are supported, used by\n32-bit and 64-bit Windows. Defragmentation is NOT required prior to resizing because the\nprogram can relocate any data if needed, without risking data integrity.\n\nNtfsresize can be used to shrink or enlarge any NTFS filesystem located on an unmounted DE‐\nVICE (usually a disk partition). The new filesystem will fit in a DEVICE whose desired size\nis SIZE bytes. The SIZE parameter may have one of the optional modifiers k, M, G, which\nmeans the SIZE parameter is given in kilo-, mega- or gigabytes respectively. Ntfsresize con‐\nforms to the SI, ATA, IEEE standards and the disk manufacturers by using k=10^3, M=10^6 and\nG=10^9.\n\nIf both --info(-mb-only) and --size are omitted then the NTFS filesystem will be enlarged to\nmatch the underlying DEVICE size.\n\nTo resize a filesystem on a partition, you must resize BOTH the filesystem and the partition\nby editing the partition table on the disk. Similarly to other command line filesystem resiz‐\ners, ntfsresize doesn't manipulate the size of the partitions, hence to do that you must use\na disk partitioning tool as well, for example fdisk(8). Alternatively you could use one of\nthe many user friendly partitioners that uses ntfsresize internally, like Mandriva's\nDiskDrake, QTParted, SUSE/Novell's YaST Partitioner, IBM's EVMS, GParted or Debian/Ubuntu's\nPartman.\n\nIMPORTANT! It's a good practice making REGULAR BACKUPS of your valuable data, especially be‐\nfore using ANY partitioning tools. To do so for NTFS, you could use ntfsclone(8). Don't for‐\nget to save the partition table as well!\n", "subsections": [ { "name": "Shrinkage", "content": "If you wish to shrink an NTFS partition, first use ntfsresize to shrink the size of the\nfilesystem. Then you could use fdisk(8) to shrink the size of the partition by deleting the\npartition and recreating it with the smaller size. Do not make the partition smaller than\nthe new size of NTFS otherwise you won't be able to boot. If you did so notwithstanding then\njust recreate the partition to be as large as NTFS.\n" }, { "name": "Enlargement", "content": "To enlarge an NTFS filesystem, first you must enlarge the size of the underlying partition.\nThis can be done using fdisk(8) by deleting the partition and recreating it with a larger\nsize. Make sure it will not overlap with another existing partition. You may enlarge up‐\nwards (first sector unchanged) or downwards (last sector unchanged), but you may not enlarge\nat both ends in a single step. If you merge two NTFS partitions, only one of them can be ex‐\npanded to the merged partition. After you have enlarged the partition, you may use ntfsre‐\nsize to enlarge the size of the filesystem.\n" }, { "name": "Partitioning", "content": "When recreating the partition by a disk partitioning tool, make sure you create it at the\nsame starting sector and with the same partition type as before. Otherwise you won't be able\nto access your filesystem. Use the 'u' fdisk command to switch to the reliable sector unit\nfrom the default cylinder one.\n\nAlso make sure you set the bootable flag for the partition if it existed before. Failing to\ndo so you might not be able to boot your computer from the disk.\n" } ] }, "OPTIONS": { "content": "Below is a summary of all the options that ntfsresize accepts. Nearly all options have two\nequivalent names. The short name is preceded by - and the long name is preceded by --. Any\nsingle letter options, that don't take an argument, can be combined into a single command,\ne.g. -fv is equivalent to -f -v. Long named options can be abbreviated to any unique prefix\nof their name.\n", "subsections": [ { "name": "-c --check", "content": "By using this option ntfsresize will only check the device to ensure that it is ready\nto be resized. If not, it will print any errors detected. If the device is fine,\nnothing will be printed.\n", "flag": "-c", "long": "--check" }, { "name": "-i --info", "content": "By using this option without --expand, ntfsresize will determine the theoretically\nsmallest shrunken filesystem size supported. Most of the time the result is the space\nalready used on the filesystem. Ntfsresize will refuse shrinking to a smaller size\nthan what you got by this option and depending on several factors it might be unable\nto shrink very close to this theoretical size. Although the integrity of your data\nshould be never in risk, it's still strongly recommended to make a test run by using\nthe --no-action option before real resizing.\n\nPractically the smallest shrunken size generally is at around \"used space\" + (20-200\nMB). Please also take into account that Windows might need about 50-100 MB free space\nleft to boot safely.\n\nIf used in association with option --expand, ntfsresize will determine the smallest\ndownwards expansion size and the possible increments to the size. These are exact byte\ncounts which must not be rounded. This option may be used after the partition has\nbeen expanded provided the upper bound has not been changed.\n\nThis option never causes any changes to the filesystem, the partition is opened\nread-only.\n", "flag": "-i", "long": "--info" }, { "name": "-m --info-mb-only", "content": "Like the info option, only print out the shrinkable size in MB. Print nothing if the\nshrink size is the same as the original size (in MB). This option cannot be used in\nassociation with option --expand.\n", "flag": "-m", "long": "--info-mb-only" }, { "name": "-s --size", "content": "Resize filesystem to fit in a partition whose size is SIZE[k|M|G] bytes by shifting\nits end and keeping its beginning unchanged. The filesystem size is set to be at least\none sector smaller than the partition. The optional modifiers k, M, G mean the SIZE\nparameter is given in kilo-, mega- or gigabytes respectively. Conforming to stan‐\ndards, k=10^3, M=10^6 and G=10^9. ki=2^10, Mi=2^20 and Gi=2^30 are also allowed. Use\nthis option with --no-action first.\n", "flag": "-s", "long": "--size" }, { "name": "-x --expand", "content": "Expand the filesystem to the current partition size, shifting down its beginning and\nkeeping its end unchanged. The metadata is recreated in the expanded space and no user\ndata is relocated. This is incompatible with option -s (or --size) and can only be\nmade if the expanded space is an exact multiple of the cluster size. It must also be\nlarge enough to hold the new metadata.\n\nIf the expansion is interrupted for some reason (power outage, etc), you may restart\nthe resizing, as the original data and metadata have been kept unchanged.\n\nNote : expanding a Windows system partition and filesystem downwards may lead to the\nregistry or some files not matching the new system layout, or to some important files\nbeing located too far from the beginning of the partition, thus making Windows not\nbootable.\n", "flag": "-x", "long": "--expand" }, { "name": "-f --force", "content": "Forces ntfsresize to proceed with the resize operation either without prompting for an\nexplicit acceptance, or if the filesystem is marked for consistency check. Double the\noption (-ff, --force --force) to avoid prompting even if the file system is marked for\ncheck.\n\nPlease note, ntfsresize always marks the filesystem for consistency check before a\nreal resize operation and it leaves that way for extra safety. Thus if NTFS was marked\nby ntfsresize then it's safe to use this option. If you need to resize several times\nwithout booting into Windows between each resizing steps then you must use this op‐\ntion.\n", "flag": "-f", "long": "--force" }, { "name": "-n, --no-action", "content": "Use this option to make a test run before doing the real resize operation. Volume\nwill be opened read-only and ntfsresize displays what it would do if it were to resize\nthe filesystem. Continue with the real resizing only if the test run passed.\n", "flag": "-n", "long": "--no-action" }, { "name": "-b --bad-sectors", "content": "Support disks having hardware errors, bad sectors with those ntfsresize would refuse\nto work by default.\n\nPrior using this option, it's strongly recommended to make a backup by ntfsclone(8)\nusing the --rescue option, then running 'chkdsk /f /r volume:' on Windows from the\ncommand line. If the disk guarantee is still valid then replace it. It's defected.\nPlease also note, that no software can repair these type of hardware errors. The most\nwhat they can do is to work around the permanent defects.\n\nThis option doesn't have any effect if the disk is flawless.\n", "flag": "-b", "long": "--bad-sectors" }, { "name": "-P --no-progress-bar", "content": "Don't show progress bars.\n", "flag": "-P", "long": "--no-progress-bar" }, { "name": "-v --verbose", "content": "More output.\n", "flag": "-v", "long": "--verbose" }, { "name": "-V --version", "content": "Print the version number of ntfsresize and exit.\n", "flag": "-V", "long": "--version" }, { "name": "-h --help", "content": "Display help and exit.\n", "flag": "-h", "long": "--help" } ] }, "EXIT CODES": { "content": "The exit code is 0 on success, non-zero otherwise.\n", "subsections": [] }, "KNOWN ISSUES": { "content": "No reliability problem is known. If you find a bug please send an email describing the prob‐\nlem to the development team at:\nntfs-3g-devel@lists.sf.net\n\nThere are a few very rarely met restrictions at present: filesystems having unknown bad sec‐\ntors, relocation of the first MFT extent and resizing into the middle of a $MFTMirr extent\naren't supported yet. These cases are detected and resizing is restricted to a safe size or\nthe closest safe size is displayed.\n\nNtfsresize schedules an NTFS consistency check and after the first boot into Windows you must\nsee chkdsk running on a blue background. This is intentional and no need to worry about it.\nWindows may force a quick reboot after the consistency check. Moreover after repartitioning\nyour disk and depending on the hardware configuration, the Windows message System Settings\nChange may also appear. Just acknowledge it and reboot again.\n\nThe disk geometry handling semantic (HDIOGETGEO ioctl) has changed in an incompatible way in\nLinux 2.6 kernels and this triggered multitudinous partition table corruptions resulting in\nunbootable Windows systems, even if NTFS was consistent, if parted(8) was involved in some\nway. This problem was often attributed to ntfsresize but in fact it's completely independent\nof NTFS thus ntfsresize. Moreover ntfsresize never touches the partition table at all. By\nchanging the 'Disk Access Mode' to LBA in the BIOS makes booting work again, most of the\ntime. You can find more information about this issue in the Troubleshooting section of the\nbelow referred Ntfsresize FAQ.\n", "subsections": [] }, "AUTHORS": { "content": "ntfsresize was written by Szabolcs Szakacsits, with contributions from Anton Altaparmakov and\nRichard Russon. It was ported to ntfs-3g by Erik Larsson and Jean-Pierre Andre.\n", "subsections": [] }, "ACKNOWLEDGEMENT": { "content": "Many thanks to Anton Altaparmakov and Richard Russon for libntfs, the excellent documentation\nand comments, to Gergely Madarasz, Dewey M. Sasser and Miguel Lastra and his colleagues at\nthe University of Granada for their continuous and highly valuable help, furthermore to Erik\nMeade, Martin Fick, Sandro Hawke, Dave Croal, Lorrin Nelson, Geert Hendrickx, Robert Bjorkman\nand Richard Burdick for beta testing the relocation support, to Florian Eyben, Fritz\nOppliger, Richard Ebling, Sid-Ahmed Touati, Jan Kiszka, Benjamin Redelings, Christopher\nHaney, Ryan Durk, Ralf Beyer, Scott Hansen, Alan Evans for the valued contributions and to\nTheodore Ts'o whose resize2fs(8) man page originally formed the basis of this page.\n", "subsections": [] }, "AVAILABILITY": { "content": "ntfsresize is part of the ntfs-3g package and is available from:\nhttps://github.com/tuxera/ntfs-3g/wiki/\n", "subsections": [] }, "SEE ALSO": { "content": "fdisk(8), cfdisk(8), sfdisk(8), parted(8), evms(8), ntfsclone(8), mkntfs(8), ntfsprogs(8)\n\nntfs-3g 2022.10.3 July 2013 NTFSRESIZE(8)", "subsections": [] } }, "summary": "ntfsresize - resize an NTFS filesystem without data loss", "flags": [ { "flag": "-c", "long": "--check", "arg": null, "description": "By using this option ntfsresize will only check the device to ensure that it is ready to be resized. If not, it will print any errors detected. If the device is fine, nothing will be printed." }, { "flag": "-i", "long": "--info", "arg": null, "description": "By using this option without --expand, ntfsresize will determine the theoretically smallest shrunken filesystem size supported. Most of the time the result is the space already used on the filesystem. Ntfsresize will refuse shrinking to a smaller size than what you got by this option and depending on several factors it might be unable to shrink very close to this theoretical size. Although the integrity of your data should be never in risk, it's still strongly recommended to make a test run by using the --no-action option before real resizing. Practically the smallest shrunken size generally is at around \"used space\" + (20-200 MB). Please also take into account that Windows might need about 50-100 MB free space left to boot safely. If used in association with option --expand, ntfsresize will determine the smallest downwards expansion size and the possible increments to the size. These are exact byte counts which must not be rounded. This option may be used after the partition has been expanded provided the upper bound has not been changed. This option never causes any changes to the filesystem, the partition is opened read-only." }, { "flag": "-m", "long": "--info-mb-only", "arg": null, "description": "Like the info option, only print out the shrinkable size in MB. Print nothing if the shrink size is the same as the original size (in MB). This option cannot be used in association with option --expand." }, { "flag": "-s", "long": "--size", "arg": null, "description": "Resize filesystem to fit in a partition whose size is SIZE[k|M|G] bytes by shifting its end and keeping its beginning unchanged. The filesystem size is set to be at least one sector smaller than the partition. The optional modifiers k, M, G mean the SIZE parameter is given in kilo-, mega- or gigabytes respectively. Conforming to stan‐ dards, k=10^3, M=10^6 and G=10^9. ki=2^10, Mi=2^20 and Gi=2^30 are also allowed. Use this option with --no-action first." }, { "flag": "-x", "long": "--expand", "arg": null, "description": "Expand the filesystem to the current partition size, shifting down its beginning and keeping its end unchanged. The metadata is recreated in the expanded space and no user data is relocated. This is incompatible with option -s (or --size) and can only be made if the expanded space is an exact multiple of the cluster size. It must also be large enough to hold the new metadata. If the expansion is interrupted for some reason (power outage, etc), you may restart the resizing, as the original data and metadata have been kept unchanged. Note : expanding a Windows system partition and filesystem downwards may lead to the registry or some files not matching the new system layout, or to some important files being located too far from the beginning of the partition, thus making Windows not bootable." }, { "flag": "-f", "long": "--force", "arg": null, "description": "Forces ntfsresize to proceed with the resize operation either without prompting for an explicit acceptance, or if the filesystem is marked for consistency check. Double the option (-ff, --force --force) to avoid prompting even if the file system is marked for check. Please note, ntfsresize always marks the filesystem for consistency check before a real resize operation and it leaves that way for extra safety. Thus if NTFS was marked by ntfsresize then it's safe to use this option. If you need to resize several times without booting into Windows between each resizing steps then you must use this op‐ tion." }, { "flag": "-n", "long": "--no-action", "arg": null, "description": "Use this option to make a test run before doing the real resize operation. Volume will be opened read-only and ntfsresize displays what it would do if it were to resize the filesystem. Continue with the real resizing only if the test run passed." }, { "flag": "-b", "long": "--bad-sectors", "arg": null, "description": "Support disks having hardware errors, bad sectors with those ntfsresize would refuse to work by default. Prior using this option, it's strongly recommended to make a backup by ntfsclone(8) using the --rescue option, then running 'chkdsk /f /r volume:' on Windows from the command line. If the disk guarantee is still valid then replace it. It's defected. Please also note, that no software can repair these type of hardware errors. The most what they can do is to work around the permanent defects. This option doesn't have any effect if the disk is flawless." }, { "flag": "-P", "long": "--no-progress-bar", "arg": null, "description": "Don't show progress bars." }, { "flag": "-v", "long": "--verbose", "arg": null, "description": "More output." }, { "flag": "-V", "long": "--version", "arg": null, "description": "Print the version number of ntfsresize and exit." }, { "flag": "-h", "long": "--help", "arg": null, "description": "Display help and exit." } ], "examples": [], "see_also": [ { "name": "fdisk", "section": "8", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/fdisk/8/json" }, { "name": "cfdisk", "section": "8", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/cfdisk/8/json" }, { "name": "sfdisk", "section": "8", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/sfdisk/8/json" }, { "name": "parted", "section": "8", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/parted/8/json" }, { "name": "evms", "section": "8", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/evms/8/json" }, { "name": "ntfsclone", "section": "8", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/ntfsclone/8/json" }, { "name": "mkntfs", "section": "8", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mkntfs/8/json" }, { "name": "ntfsprogs", "section": "8", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/ntfsprogs/8/json" } ] }