How do I resize a Linux filesystem data .bin file?

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I have a 2 MB file: root.bin, that is a Linux rev 1.0 ext2 filesystem, and I would like to expand it so that I can put more files in it, but it does not just resize like I thought it would. How do I resize it, preferably keeping the files on it, to a specific size?

edited Sep 2 at 8:54

Ravexina

27.3k146594

asked Sep 2 at 7:51

Noah Cain

333

Is your specific confusion that you have increased the size of the file, but the filesystem it contains doesn't seem to have changed to match?
â€“Â Carcer
Sep 2 at 14:22

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
6
down vote

favorite

edited Sep 2 at 8:54

Ravexina

27.3k146594

asked Sep 2 at 7:51

Noah Cain

333

Is your specific confusion that you have increased the size of the file, but the filesystem it contains doesn't seem to have changed to match?
â€“Â Carcer
Sep 2 at 14:22

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
6
down vote

favorite

edited Sep 2 at 8:54

Ravexina

27.3k146594

asked Sep 2 at 7:51

Noah Cain

333

edited Sep 2 at 8:54

Ravexina

27.3k146594

asked Sep 2 at 7:51

Noah Cain

333

edited Sep 2 at 8:54

Ravexina

27.3k146594

edited Sep 2 at 8:54

Ravexina

27.3k146594

edited Sep 2 at 8:54

Ravexina

27.3k146594

asked Sep 2 at 7:51

Noah Cain

333

asked Sep 2 at 7:51

Noah Cain

333

asked Sep 2 at 7:51

Noah Cain

333

Is your specific confusion that you have increased the size of the file, but the filesystem it contains doesn't seem to have changed to match?
â€“Â Carcer
Sep 2 at 14:22

add a commentÂ |Â

Is your specific confusion that you have increased the size of the file, but the filesystem it contains doesn't seem to have changed to match?
â€“Â Carcer
Sep 2 at 14:22

Is your specific confusion that you have increased the size of the file, but the filesystem it contains doesn't seem to have changed to match?
â€“Â Carcer
Sep 2 at 14:22

add a commentÂ |Â

1 Answer
1

active

oldest

votes

up vote
10
down vote

accepted

We will try to make your two MB root.bin file to a 12 MB to demonstrate the steps.

Create a copy of your file (just in case for backup purpose):

cp root.bin 12mb.bin

Run this command to add 10M to the file size:

dd if=/dev/zero of=12mb.bin bs=1MiB count=10 conv=notrunc oflag=append

Now 12mb.bin is not 2M any more, actually its size is 12M.

Run:

e2fsck -f 12mb.bin

to check the filesystem on the file, then run:

resize2fs 12mb.bin

Done. mount it somewhere:

sudo mount 12mb.bin /mnt

check the size:

df -h --output=size /mnt/
Size
 12M

And the existence of files:

ls /mnt

We can also use losetup to act with the file like a block device:

sudo losetup -f 12mb.bin

then:

sudo losetup -l | grep -i "12mb.bin" | awk 'print $1'
/dev/loop0

and we can resize /dev/loop0.

edited Sep 3 at 6:42

answered Sep 2 at 8:45

Ravexina

27.3k146594

The dd command doesn't overwrite the original contents
â€“Â George Udosen
Sep 2 at 8:57

1

@GeorgeUdosen No it does not. we are using notrunc and append. and it shouldn't right?
â€“Â Ravexina
Sep 2 at 8:57

Your right sorry I am accessing from mobile didn't see those options almost thought you were using some esoteric code. Always nice to follow your answer always a teaching moment for me
â€“Â George Udosen
Sep 2 at 9:01

Thanks, that's very nice of you :)
â€“Â Ravexina
Sep 2 at 9:19

1

Rather than using dd to expand the file, why not just use truncate?
â€“Â Carcer
Sep 2 at 14:19

Â |Â
show 3 more comments

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1 Answer
1

active

oldest

votes

1 Answer
1

active

oldest

votes

up vote
10
down vote

accepted

We will try to make your two MB root.bin file to a 12 MB to demonstrate the steps.

Create a copy of your file (just in case for backup purpose):

cp root.bin 12mb.bin

Run this command to add 10M to the file size:

dd if=/dev/zero of=12mb.bin bs=1MiB count=10 conv=notrunc oflag=append

Now 12mb.bin is not 2M any more, actually its size is 12M.

Run:

e2fsck -f 12mb.bin

to check the filesystem on the file, then run:

resize2fs 12mb.bin

Done. mount it somewhere:

sudo mount 12mb.bin /mnt

check the size:

df -h --output=size /mnt/
Size
 12M

And the existence of files:

ls /mnt

We can also use losetup to act with the file like a block device:

sudo losetup -f 12mb.bin

then:

sudo losetup -l | grep -i "12mb.bin" | awk 'print $1'
/dev/loop0

and we can resize /dev/loop0.

edited Sep 3 at 6:42

answered Sep 2 at 8:45

Ravexina

27.3k146594

The dd command doesn't overwrite the original contents
â€“Â George Udosen
Sep 2 at 8:57

1

@GeorgeUdosen No it does not. we are using notrunc and append. and it shouldn't right?
â€“Â Ravexina
Sep 2 at 8:57

Your right sorry I am accessing from mobile didn't see those options almost thought you were using some esoteric code. Always nice to follow your answer always a teaching moment for me
â€“Â George Udosen
Sep 2 at 9:01

Thanks, that's very nice of you :)
â€“Â Ravexina
Sep 2 at 9:19

1

Rather than using dd to expand the file, why not just use truncate?
â€“Â Carcer
Sep 2 at 14:19

Â |Â
show 3 more comments

up vote
10
down vote

accepted

We will try to make your two MB root.bin file to a 12 MB to demonstrate the steps.

Create a copy of your file (just in case for backup purpose):

cp root.bin 12mb.bin

Run this command to add 10M to the file size:

dd if=/dev/zero of=12mb.bin bs=1MiB count=10 conv=notrunc oflag=append

Now 12mb.bin is not 2M any more, actually its size is 12M.

Run:

e2fsck -f 12mb.bin

to check the filesystem on the file, then run:

resize2fs 12mb.bin

Done. mount it somewhere:

sudo mount 12mb.bin /mnt

check the size:

df -h --output=size /mnt/
Size
 12M

And the existence of files:

ls /mnt

We can also use losetup to act with the file like a block device:

sudo losetup -f 12mb.bin

then:

sudo losetup -l | grep -i "12mb.bin" | awk 'print $1'
/dev/loop0

and we can resize /dev/loop0.

edited Sep 3 at 6:42

answered Sep 2 at 8:45

Ravexina

27.3k146594

The dd command doesn't overwrite the original contents
â€“Â George Udosen
Sep 2 at 8:57

1

@GeorgeUdosen No it does not. we are using notrunc and append. and it shouldn't right?
â€“Â Ravexina
Sep 2 at 8:57

Your right sorry I am accessing from mobile didn't see those options almost thought you were using some esoteric code. Always nice to follow your answer always a teaching moment for me
â€“Â George Udosen
Sep 2 at 9:01

Thanks, that's very nice of you :)
â€“Â Ravexina
Sep 2 at 9:19

1

Rather than using dd to expand the file, why not just use truncate?
â€“Â Carcer
Sep 2 at 14:19

Â |Â
show 3 more comments

up vote
10
down vote

accepted

We will try to make your two MB root.bin file to a 12 MB to demonstrate the steps.

Create a copy of your file (just in case for backup purpose):

cp root.bin 12mb.bin

Run this command to add 10M to the file size:

dd if=/dev/zero of=12mb.bin bs=1MiB count=10 conv=notrunc oflag=append

Now 12mb.bin is not 2M any more, actually its size is 12M.

Run:

e2fsck -f 12mb.bin

to check the filesystem on the file, then run:

resize2fs 12mb.bin

Done. mount it somewhere:

sudo mount 12mb.bin /mnt

check the size:

df -h --output=size /mnt/
Size
 12M

And the existence of files:

ls /mnt

We can also use losetup to act with the file like a block device:

sudo losetup -f 12mb.bin

then:

sudo losetup -l | grep -i "12mb.bin" | awk 'print $1'
/dev/loop0

and we can resize /dev/loop0.

edited Sep 3 at 6:42

answered Sep 2 at 8:45

Ravexina

27.3k146594

We will try to make your two MB root.bin file to a 12 MB to demonstrate the steps.

Create a copy of your file (just in case for backup purpose):

cp root.bin 12mb.bin

Run this command to add 10M to the file size:

dd if=/dev/zero of=12mb.bin bs=1MiB count=10 conv=notrunc oflag=append

Now 12mb.bin is not 2M any more, actually its size is 12M.

Run:

e2fsck -f 12mb.bin

to check the filesystem on the file, then run:

resize2fs 12mb.bin

Done. mount it somewhere:

sudo mount 12mb.bin /mnt

check the size:

df -h --output=size /mnt/
Size
 12M

And the existence of files:

ls /mnt

We can also use losetup to act with the file like a block device:

sudo losetup -f 12mb.bin

then:

sudo losetup -l | grep -i "12mb.bin" | awk 'print $1'
/dev/loop0

and we can resize /dev/loop0.

edited Sep 3 at 6:42

answered Sep 2 at 8:45

Ravexina

27.3k146594

edited Sep 3 at 6:42

answered Sep 2 at 8:45

Ravexina

27.3k146594

answered Sep 2 at 8:45

Ravexina

27.3k146594

answered Sep 2 at 8:45

Ravexina

27.3k146594

The dd command doesn't overwrite the original contents
â€“Â George Udosen
Sep 2 at 8:57

1

@GeorgeUdosen No it does not. we are using notrunc and append. and it shouldn't right?
â€“Â Ravexina
Sep 2 at 8:57

Your right sorry I am accessing from mobile didn't see those options almost thought you were using some esoteric code. Always nice to follow your answer always a teaching moment for me
â€“Â George Udosen
Sep 2 at 9:01

Thanks, that's very nice of you :)
â€“Â Ravexina
Sep 2 at 9:19

1

Rather than using dd to expand the file, why not just use truncate?
â€“Â Carcer
Sep 2 at 14:19

Â |Â
show 3 more comments

The dd command doesn't overwrite the original contents
â€“Â George Udosen
Sep 2 at 8:57

1

@GeorgeUdosen No it does not. we are using notrunc and append. and it shouldn't right?
â€“Â Ravexina
Sep 2 at 8:57

Your right sorry I am accessing from mobile didn't see those options almost thought you were using some esoteric code. Always nice to follow your answer always a teaching moment for me
â€“Â George Udosen
Sep 2 at 9:01

Thanks, that's very nice of you :)
â€“Â Ravexina
Sep 2 at 9:19

1

Rather than using dd to expand the file, why not just use truncate?
â€“Â Carcer
Sep 2 at 14:19

The dd command doesn't overwrite the original contents
â€“Â George Udosen
Sep 2 at 8:57

@GeorgeUdosen No it does not. we are using notrunc and append. and it shouldn't right?
â€“Â Ravexina
Sep 2 at 8:57

Your right sorry I am accessing from mobile didn't see those options almost thought you were using some esoteric code. Always nice to follow your answer always a teaching moment for me
â€“Â George Udosen
Sep 2 at 9:01

Thanks, that's very nice of you :)
â€“Â Ravexina
Sep 2 at 9:19

Rather than using dd to expand the file, why not just use truncate?
â€“Â Carcer
Sep 2 at 14:19

Â |Â
show 3 more comments

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