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I have an external HDD with one NTFS partition. I need to shrink that partition and add one which is formatted as ext4 for use with Dropbox. The format utility built into Ubuntu seems like it can format the entire drive, but not part of a drive. Can anyone recommend an app which will do what I need?

After installing and running Dropbox (Ubuntu 18.04), I tried to move the Dropbox directory from its default location in the home directory, but a message said that Dropbox must have an ext4 partition in order to work. So, that's how I arrived at the question above.

Ancient
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  • Did you create a new partition after shrinking the partition in the blank space? Without a partition the blank space cannot be formatted by the utility. – Terrance May 01 '20 at 18:07
  • While gparted can shrink a NTFS partition, it is better to use Windows tools. And if dual booting with Windows it may have set hibernation flag on with its fast start up. Then Linux cannot see the NTFS partition. Also after a resize, you need to run chkdsk which you only can do from Windows. http://askubuntu.com/questions/843153/ubuntu-16-showing-windows-10-partitions & https://askubuntu.com/questions/145902/unable-to-mount-windows-ntfs-filesystem-due-to-hibernation – oldfred May 01 '20 at 18:09
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    I have not created a new partition (yet), but this is a dual boot situation, so I could crank up Win10 and shrink the NTFS partition. However, the Ubuntu format utility still doesn't show an option to format just a section of the external HDD. That makes me nervous. – Ancient May 01 '20 at 18:20
  • You've got to have space on that external drive to make a new partition and format just a slice of that HDD. Specific steps are below in my answer. – K7AAY May 01 '20 at 18:24

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To avoid any possible problem caused by Windows hibernation, it's best to use Windows Disk Management, if you can, to shrink your existing Windows C: partition, before using gparted in Ubuntu to add an ext4 partition to your existing NTFS partition.

After making room in Windows with Disk Management, please click on the Windows icon and choose Shut Down while holding down the Shift key to make sure Windows shuts down completely.

Power back up with a Ubuntu LiveUSB in your PC and choose it to boot from.

Once the GRUB menu appears, start Ubuntu, then open a terminal window and run swapon off. This make sure, if there's a swap file in your system, it's closed and out of the way. Close or minimize the terminal window.

Now, you can open gparted from the Ubuntu Desktop. At upper right, there's a spin box which shows all drive devices; make sure to set that to the external drive. Once you have, you can make formatting changes to that external drive.

With gparted, you work in steps; specify the change, then commit it by clicking on the green checkmark below its Menu Bar. It's best to make only one change, then commit that change, before specifying another.

K7AAY
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    I'm doing this to an external HDD (G: when in Windows), not my main (C:) drive. Do I still need to boot from a live USB in order to complete this task? – Ancient May 01 '20 at 18:23
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    Or to ask differently, why do I need to boot from a Live USB in order to do this? – Ancient May 01 '20 at 18:25
  • It makes sure we've got a clean unmodified Ubuntu, and that we can turn off swapping since no other apps will be running. You could do it from the Ubuntu installed on the PC's internal drive, but I choose a belt-and-suspenders approach when doing computer surgery over the radio to folks out in the bush. I hope you appreciate the conservative approach to things which can cause data loss. It's only advice, and it's up to you how much of it you follow. – K7AAY May 01 '20 at 18:35
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    Yes - I definitely appreciate that approach. I just have to ask why. Will this thread "persist" on the site for a day or two, in case I have other questions? – Ancient May 01 '20 at 18:42
  • Years, it will persist for years. – K7AAY May 01 '20 at 18:45