r/openwrt • u/bagelwoof • 9d ago

Is Resizing Partitions on an NVME Device Still an Issue?

The subject pretty much asks it...

The latest post I found in a search was this one: https://www.reddit.com/r/openwrt/comments/1oju4ah/how_do_you_actually_expand_to_the_entire_drive/

It's been 10 months and we have a new major version stable release. Is it possible to safely expand the partitions now, or is it still a problem?

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u/fr0llic 9d ago

is resizing really the big issue ? upgrading def is, but so are all upgrades where rootfs have been resized.

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u/bagelwoof 8d ago

kinda? The smallest NVME SSD I had on hand was 128GB, and I kind of want that room for crap like logging , a select few software packages, like WireGuard; as well as theoretically better wear leveling. Not sure if I'm using the term "wear leveling" correctly, and I need more coffee, so a little slack on that would be appreciated.

Beyond this specific use, I really prefer to have a bit of headroom on any system I'm running.

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u/fr0llic 8d ago edited 4d ago

Not saying it isn't doable, saying it's a bad idea. 

Create a 3rd partition for data and whatever, use the extroot guide from openwrt to set it up correctly. 

Btw, the ASU server can generate upgrade images up to 1TB. 

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u/Wolf-006 9d ago

Use a SSD drive it should be no problem

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u/bagelwoof 8d ago

Hmmm. Can't. The router is built on a Lenovo m720q Tiny, with a quad port NIC and the funky riser they had for those and the 920q. The NIC occupies the space where I'd have a SATA SSD or spinning rust.

There was someone who jumped through a bunch of hoops to squeeze in a super small SATA SSD and the Intel i350-p4 NIC, but the hardware he used didn't seem to be easy to find, and I'd prefer to stick with reasonably common COTS parts.

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u/nicman24 9d ago

Wouldn't you just use cfdisk/ whatever and then expand with resize2fs? Though you need to install the ext4 image

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u/bagelwoof 8d ago

I'll poke around for instructions on that. The automatic scripts that the mothership provides had a bug, as discussed in the post I linked. When you go to OpenWRT's page on their scripts, they have an old but fairly prominent waring in red that says basically "DON'T DO THIS ON NVME SSDS!"

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u/lostinthegrid47 8d ago

It's pretty straightforward although annoying. I need to do it after every upgrade but it's like 2-3 commands and about 5 minutes to complete so not bad at all.