On a Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 2.1 system it is only possible to do this destructively (you
must back up your data first). You have two options depending on your system configuration.
If you have unpartitioned space or are prepared to delete another partition in order to merge the two, you can delete the existing partition and create a new partition using unpartitioned space or released space from another deleted partition. Use the
fdisk command to accomplish this.
Please note that partitions must be created using contiguous space on the disk. For example, if you have three partitions,
hda1,
hda2, and
hda3, then by deleting two and creating a new partition you will be able to merge either
hda1 and
hda2,
or hda2 and
hda3, but
not hda1 and
hda3. You would also be able to delete
hda3 and create a new larger partition using the space freed up from
hda3 and any previously unpartitioned space on the disk.
You must backup your data first and then copy it to the newly created partition.
The other option is to install another disk and create a new partition there, then copy the data across and edit
/etc/fstab to mount the new partition in place of the old one.
Although there are third party utilities, such as Partition Magic, which may be able to resize partitions non-destructively, Red Hat is unable to provide support for these.
Note: Resizing your root partition can have unknown consequences. Take the proper precautions like performing data backups and conducting system planning to create partition sizes for anticipated use of the system and the created partitions.
