Change a Partition from ext3 to ext4

Since the last openSUSE Version we have the Option to make Partitions in ext4. In my case i have made the Rootpartition in ext4 and other Partitions in ext3. No i have found an HowTo for changing the other Partitions to ext4. I have changed the original Informations to the openSUSE needs.

First of all, please change your Runlevel, through typing “init 3” into the Konsole. Then we have a clean Konsole. After logging in with “root“, we have the full Access to the Partitions.

If you type “mount“, you get the Partitions List. In the follwowing Paragraphs  we describe the Situation if “/dev/sda2″ is your Partiton, you need to change.

Then we go through “cd /” into our Root. If we try to unmount our “/dev/sda2″ the Kernel says us, that he can’t unmount, because the Partition is in use. Now we have to type “fuser -km /dev/sda2” and then we can unmount with “umount /dev/sda2“.

After Unmounting we type “tune2fs -O extents,uninit_bg,dir_index /dev/sda2“. Keep in mind, that the “O” isn’t an digit, just an “dash on”.

Now we can type “fsck /dev/sda2“. FSCK says us, the some Points are changed, and if we say “Yes“, fsck repairs all needed things.

If that all runs without Errors, we finally type “mount -t ext4 /dev/sda2 /home (or what is needed)“.

To finishing your settings you have to go to “/etc/fstab“, and change your Entry /dev/sda2 from ext3 to ext4.

After rebooting, you’re working on ext4. Have a lot of fun

Thanks a lot to Distrowatch for claryfining this Point.