Gparted - "Unable to satisfy all constraints on the partition"

Question

Ok, so I'm kind of new to linux, but I know computers very well so I can take commands.

My problem is when I tried to expand my extended partition that houses my ubuntu partition I get an error saying "Unable to satisfy all constrains on the partition"

It is important that I get the problem fixed ASAP. I don't know what exactly you need to know to fix my problem, but here are a few things and don't be afraid to ask for more of what you need.

Tried to partition with GParted in an Ubuntu Live USB (Ubuntu Live 13.04 x64).

My partition map looks like this:

Partition:                                 Size:

/dev/sda1 | TOSHIBA System Volume | 1.46 GiB

/dev/sda2 | Windows 7 | 104.08 GiB

unallocated | The space I want to add | 99.21 GiB

ᐁ /dev/sda3 | The extended partition | 81.06 GiB

      /dev/sda5 | My ubuntu partition | 81.06 GiB

unallocated | extra space added in ubuntu installation | 2.00 MiB

/dev/sda4 | HDDRECOVERY | 12.27 GiB

OUTPUT FROM sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xcd9fd9b7

   Device | Boot | Start | End | Blocks | Id | System

/dev/sda1 | * | 2048 | 3074047 | 1536000 | 27 | Hidden NTFS WinRE

/dev/sda2 | | 9893888 | 221351935 | 105729024 | 7 | HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

/dev/sda3 | | 429400062 | 599398399 | 84999169 | f | W95 Ext'd (LBA)

/dev/sda4 | | 599402496 | 625141759 | 12869632 | 17 | Hidden HPFS/NTFS

/dev/sda5 | | 429400064 | 599398399 | 84999168 | 83 | Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 32.0 GB, 32015679488 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 3892 cylinders, total 62530624 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk identifier: 0x00093c4b

   Device | Boot | Start | End | Blocks | Id | System

/dev/sdb1 | * | 32 | 62527487 | 31263728 | c | W95 FAT32 (LBA)

THE ERROR I AM GETTING IN GPARTED

GParted 0.12.1 --enable-libparted-dmraid

Libparted 2.3
Move /dev/sda3 to the left and grow it from 81.06 GiB to 82.20 GiB  00:00:02    ( ERROR )

calibrate /dev/sda3  00:00:02    ( SUCCESS )

path: /dev/sda3

start: 429,400,062

end: 599,398,399

size: 169,998,338 (81.06 GiB)

move partition to the left and grow it from 81.06 GiB to 82.20 GiB  00:00:00    ( ERROR )

old start: 429,400,062

old end: 599,398,399

old size: 169,998,338 (81.06 GiB)

requested start: 427,008,000

requested end: 599,396,351

requested size: 172,388,352 (82.20 GiB)

libparted messages    ( INFO )

Unable to satisfy all constraints on the partition.

========================================

Again if there is any other info you need just ask, it is important that I can fix the problem. I am working on making my own Linux distro to learn more about Linux, and who doesn't want their own OS? I mean come on. I will try with the windows partition manager but I expect no better.

Thank you!

Please file a bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gparted/+filebug — psusi, Sep 15 '13 at 01:47

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 15 '13 at 06:54

4

When I come across this error, I try again, but make sure that that the option "Align to" is set to "none" (it seems to use MiB by default). This usually works for me, although sometimes I have to try it two or three times before it works. This might not be the best solution, but it might work for you.

answered Sep 15 '13 at 06:54

Anomitee

156
1
3

Taking the resize all the way to the end of the disk got it to align for me. – TMB Dec 03 '22 at 06:28
I guess that it was probably something that I did wrong, but just in case someone else finds this useful, I'll share that after not being able to fix it with GParted, I tried the KDE Partition Manager and it worked with alignment turned off. (It might pass different parameters to libparted?) – Isti115 Jan 13 '24 at 21:39

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 16 '13 at 16:33

Many partition constraint problems have been fixed in GParted since version 0.12.1 was released. You might try using the latest version of GParted (currently 0.16.1). One way to do this is to boot from media containing GParted Live.

If that does not help, then the problem might be that logical partition sda5 starts just 2 sectors after the start of extended partition sda3. After ensuring you have a good backup of your data, you might try shrinking sda5 by 1 MB from the left edge. When this is successful you could try resizing the extended partition sda3.

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

0

This seems to have worked for some people

Somehow "unable to satisfy all constraints on the partition" problem disappeared after a left 1Mb of free space before the first partition

also

When the extended partition got a little bit of space at the start, I could grow it to the right and carry on with what I was trying to do.

Links-

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1478324&page=2

http://gparted-forum.surf4.info/viewtopic.php?id=14448

Edit-

Read more on this topic, and it could be a partition table issue also. You would need to fix the partition tables.

You can do this with Fixparts, http://www.rodsbooks.com/fixparts/, read about it thouroughly, and use it with caution, according to the steps given on its website.

Gparted - "Unable to satisfy all constraints on the partition"

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