Noob Question Thread: Ask Any Questions About Linux!

Cyclohexane@lemmy.mlmod to Linux@lemmy.ml – 314 points –

I thought I'll make this thread for all of you out there who have questions but are afraid to ask them. This is your chance!

I'll try my best to answer any questions here, but I hope others in the community will contribute too!

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Short version: How do I install apps onto a different partition from the default in Pop_OS! (preferably from within the Pop Shop GUI)?

Long version: I have a dual boot with Windows and I shrunk my Win partition to install linux and eventually realized I wanted more space on the linux side so I shrunk my windows partition again. But Linux won't let me grow the existing partition since the free space isn't contiguous. Since I don't want to reinstall everything, I just created a data partition and have been using that for Steam installs. But I am still running low so yeah, looking to move some apps and realized it doesn't actually ask me where to install when I install. I saw this thread and figured I'd just ask.

You can move partitions so they are next to each other and then expand. The easiest way Ive found is to boot a love USB distro, since the partitions can't be mounted when you do it. Open parted and you can resize and move around.

Backup before you do it!

This is the way. There is a GParted distro that you can boot from a USB-drive that will allow you to move the partition and expand it to take up the free space Windows left.

You should first install GParted to familiarise yourself a little with how the GUI looks. It's relatively simple, definitely simpler than parted, but it doesn't hurt to have a look around before doing it live.

It's also good to note that everything you do in GParted needs to be applied before it's actually done. You "cannot" accidentally delete a whole partition without actually hitting an apply button.

I definitely meant gparted in my reply. That'll teach me to proofread better.

If they are LVM volumes, it would be possible. Otherwise, you can move the directories you want to the new partition and use symbolic links to point to the new places. Then again some things aren't correctly designed, so they may have problems with symbolic links and YMMV.