I’m currently running F41 on a dual boot with Windows, and I have voluntarily left some space for a 3rd partition where I initially intended to put files meant to be shared with both OS with a VeraCrypt encryption.
As of now, I’m quite happy with Fedora and spend 95% of my time on it. So I’m rather thinking about extending my Fedora partition that is currently LUKS-encrypted.
I’ve read several threads here and there talking about LVM, cryptsetup, etc., but haven’t found any 101 on the topic. (I’m not fluent yet in CLI and all, and those threads on StackExchange, Reddit or other Reddit have not given me full confidence in the process.)
So:
Is it possible?
Is there any GUI/easy way to do it?
If not, are there any clear and pedagogical CLI steps somewhere?
Many thanks ahead for your help!
P.S.: If it is not possible whatsoever, how can I save properly my current setup (Fedora config. and files) so that I delete my current partition and create a new one without needing to reset my extensions, workspace, etc.?
You should still make a full backup of all your filesystems and subvolumes. Assuming your filesystem is Btrfs, you can use the btrfs send ... command to send snapshots of your filesystems to an external device so you’ll have a backup in case something goes wrong. See the " Storing snapshots on a different Btrfs filesystem" section of this article: Working with Btrfs - Snapshots - Fedora Magazine
Hi @glb!
Thanks for your answer, and sorry for my late reply. I’ve left that topic aside for a while, but I’m back on track.
I’m actually having an ext4 setup, so the btrfs method does not work for me.
As for the link you provided, I don’t see any mention of LUKS setup. I have read on different threads that it can get tricky when encryption is on.
And I don’t feel savvy enough in CLI to do everything on my own without a GUI. I’ll see if I can find some help from a Linux-savvy person around. Unless there’s another way to do it!
You might even want to clone your entire HD to a secondary drive if you can.
Good luck.
P.S. These are exactly the reasons Fedora Linux switched to Btrfs by default – easier backups and easier space management (you can set quotas in Btrfs rather than having to deal with resizing partitions or volumes).
I regularly clone my dual-boot’ing system simply because I don’t want any grief from having both bitlocker-encrypted Windows and LUKS-encrypted Fedora partitions on my SSD. To do that, I attach the secondary drive, boot the latest Fedora Workstation live system, install ddrescue, and then use that to clone the drive to the external drive. If you do that, you’ll be bulletproof should you make a mistake in your process.
Also, you don’t say whether you’re using LVM on your system, so I can see how the Stack Exchange LVM-related link would have parts that make the process seem more complicated if you don’t currently have and LVM set up.
The one from Fedora Magazine was targeting adding a separate, new physical device to your LVM storage, so that one is irrelevant, I think.