Failed to reduce size of NTFS partition

[Anton Eliasson]

Binary package hint: gparted

Tried to reduce the size of an NTFS partition from ~230 to ~220 GB on a USB-connected HDD.

ntfsresize -P --force /dev/sdh1 -s 234552052223 --no-action says:
[snip]
Relocating needed data ...
ERROR: Extended record needed (1032 > 1024), not yet supported!
Please try to free less space.

I just ran chkdsk /f on it in Windows 7 so it wouldn't surprise me if it messed up the filesystem somehow. Full Gparted-log here:
http://www.nastalektion.se/dump/gparted_details.htm

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: gparted 0.7.0-1ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic 2.6.38.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-8-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Architecture: amd64
CheckboxSubmission: c43a19076448baad41c3944df9d92f15
CheckboxSystem: 533a8038ef5a55601694b49142442fa7
Date: Sun May 29 22:09:25 2011
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release amd64 (20101007)
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=sv_SE:en
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=sv_SE.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: gparted
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-04-28 (31 days ago)

[Curtis Gedak (gedakc)]

Have you looked at the GParted FAQ to learn what you can do to improve your success with resizing NTFS file systems?
http://gparted.org/faq.php#faq-17

[Anton Eliasson (eliasson)]

Yes, I have. The file system wasn't very fragmented or filled up, had no protected files and chkdsk /r /f didn't help. But after removing almost 100 GB worth of unnecessary files it shrunk without problems. There were quite a lot of files in System Volume Information so I'm guessing the file system has been pretty badly damaged at some point.

[Curtis Gedak (gedakc)]

Thanks for reporting back with how you were able to resolve the problem.

[Anton Eliasson (eliasson)]

No problem. Does this make the bug invalid or should it be converted to a question? It's still a problem however that it's fairly difficult to resize NTFS partitions using ntfsprogs.

[Curtis Gedak (gedakc)]

The problem arises using the ntfsresize command from the ntfsprogs package. Unfortunately the ntfsprogs package does not appear to be actively maintained so I do not have much hope that a fix will be forthcoming for this problem anytime soon.

Fortunately there are ways to work around this problem though as you have discovered.

[Jean-Pierre (jean-pierre-andre)]

The ntfsprogs package has been taken over by ntfs-3g, and the "extended record need" has been implemented in ntfs-3g advanced versions. See http://www.tuxera.com/community/ntfs-3g-advanced/

[Anton Eliasson (eliasson)]

Thanks for letting me know. I'll update this bug when I get to try it out, which probably won't happen anytime soon I'm afraid.

[Phillip Susi (psusi)]

Reassigning to ntfs-3g since Ubuntu now uses that package for ntfsresize, not ntfsprogs.

[James Broadhead (jamesbroadhead)]

Confirmed for ntfs-3g_ntfsprogs-2011.4.12 , fixed in ntfs-3g_ntfsprogs-2011.10.9-RC .