NOTE: This can only be done on filesystems that can be unmounted. (i.e. You can’t do it on /root unless you boot from a rescue CD )
First unmount the file system
umount /big1
Next, convert ext3 –> ext2 filesystem by turning off journaling
tune2fs -O ^has_journal /dev/sdb1
e2fsck -v -f /dev/sdb1
In VSPHERE Client Edit settings on the VM and Increase the size of the.vmdk
Right Click on the VM in the tree
Select Edit Settings….
Select the Hard Disk you want to grow.
Enter New Size
Click OK
To get the RUNNING OS to recognize the new drive size.
REMOVE the hard drive ( but tell it to keep the data!)
Do this by clicking the remove button when the hard disk is selected.
RE-ADD the disk by clicking ADD – select Hard Drive. Select use existing VMDK file.
Browse to the Data Storage for the VMDK you just removed and add it back.
If you run dmesg on the OS it should show the Drive being removed and then re-added.
Now when you do fdisk you’ll see the larger size.
In FDISK you resize the partition by deleting it and recreating it to use all the cylinders.
fdsik /dev/sdb
p
d
n
Hit enter twice
w
Run resize2fs /dev/sdb1 to get the filesystem to recognize the larger partition size
resize2fs /dev/sdb1
Convert back to ext3
tune2fs -j /dev/hdax
e2fsck -v -f /dev/hdax
Mount the filesystem
mount /big1