TheBackShed.com

Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : LINUX: Upgrade from ext2 to ext4....

Author

Message

Grogster

Admin Group

Joined: 31/12/2012
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 9610

Posted: 05:35am 01 Mar 2021

Copy link to clipboard

Print this post

Hi all.

Is there any way to convert an ext2 volume to ext4 WITHOUT wiping the drive?
I have four HDD's that were setup originally in NASlite2 that used ext2.
I now use Puppy Linux for pretty much all my SAMBA servers, and choose ext4 by default when setting up a new NAS.

The old ext2 drives from the NASlite2 setup work just fine inside of Puppy Linux, but I would prefer to change the filesystem to ext4 now, as ext2 is getting on a bit, and has those nightmarish fsck checks that take HOURS to complete, whereas ext4 does not.

If this is simply not possible without reformatting and rebuilding, fine.
But I know that Linux has many tricks up its OS sleeve for all sorts of things, and I am kinda hoping that a non-destructive FS upgrade is something you can do.

Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops!

LeoNicolas

Guru

Joined: 07/10/2020
Location: Canada
Posts: 504

Posted: 05:43am 01 Mar 2021

Copy link to clipboard

Print this post

Yes, there is a way to do it.

Please backup all your data before starting the process.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/ext4#Migrating_from_ext2/ext3_to_ext4

HellbentHorse
Regular Member

Joined: 08/07/2020
Location: Australia
Posts: 55

Posted: 05:48am 01 Mar 2021

Copy link to clipboard

Print this post

You can do this, you just can't convert it while the drive is mounted.

This is a pretty good guide.

https://www.howtoforge.com/tutorial/migrate-ext2-ext3-filesystem-to-ext4/

Grogster

Admin Group

Joined: 31/12/2012
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 9610

Posted: 07:32am 01 Mar 2021

Copy link to clipboard

Print this post

Lovely, thanks chums - I will read those links.

Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops!

Volhout
Guru

Joined: 05/03/2018
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 5091

Posted: 08:16am 01 Mar 2021

Copy link to clipboard

Print this post

LeoNicolas said Yes, there is a way to do it.

Please backup all your data before starting the process.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/ext4#Migrating_from_ext2/ext3_to_ext4

If you back up all your data, please do the backup on an EXT4 drive.

That solves your problem.

Volhout

PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS

SimpleSafeName

Guru

Joined: 28/07/2019
Location: United States
Posts: 351

Posted: 12:28pm 01 Mar 2021

Copy link to clipboard

Print this post

Volhout said

If you back up all your data, please do the backup on an EXT4 drive.

That solves your problem.

Volhout

Exactly what I was thinking. :)

I still have some drives that pre-date ReiserFS holding all of my important stuff. You know, like my Netscape email from the 90's. On my Iomega Zip drive...

Print this page

To reply to this topic, you need to log in.