Unable to resize personal storage

[Gnimmelf]

hi there
ive been trying to resize personal storage imppupsave-impish.4fs under menu, resize personal storage, because downloading says "disk full" - the problem is that it doenst work?

what to do?

kindly Gnimmelf

[bigpup]

What specific Puppy version???
Always give that information!!!!!

I am going to guess.

You have the save file on a fat32 formatted partition.

The save file is something around 4GB in size already.

If yes.

Fat32 format is limited to only max file size 4GB.

So it can not be made larger than 4GB.

You can move stuff outside of the save and get some free space back.
/mnt/home is a good place.
Move documents, videos, pictures, stored software downloads, etc....... Anything that is not a configuration, settings, or installed added software.

Also check the browser you are using to see if clearing out stuff it stores needs cleaning out.
Browsers will store all kinds of stuff and it just builds up if you do not clean it out.
Should be cleaning option in the browser settings/preferences.

[fredx181]

To add to bigpup's answer, I would recommend to do the resizing while the savefile is NOT in use (not mounted), otherwise it may fail.
EDIT: But anyone please correct me if I'm wrong, perhaps nowadays it's possible to resize a mounted savefile (earlier there were problems doing that)
You could possibly do it from booting another Puppy, or boot for once with pfix=ram (then no save is mounted) and do the resizing.

[mikeslr]

hi there
ive been trying to resize personal storage imppupsave-impish.4fs under menu, resize personal storage, because downloading says "disk full" - the problem is that it doenst work?

what to do?

kindly Gnimmelf

Ditto what bigpup wrote "Also check the browser you are using to see if clearing out stuff it stores needs cleaning out.
Browsers will store all kinds of stuff and it just builds up if you do not clean it out.
Should be cleaning option in the browser settings/preferences."

The "disk full" notice when downloading more often than not has to do with there being insufficient space left in RAM to hold the file sought to be downloaded. So, there's another technique which may help.

By default most web-browsers setup the location into which files will be downloaded as /home/Downloads. Under frugal Puppys THAT home read as /root/Downloads. 'Running in RAM' that /root is in RAM. Only folders 'hanging' from /mnt are NOT in RAM.

There are two ways to redirect the download location. You can go into your web-browsers settings and select a folder hanging from /mnt as the download location. Or you can manually restructure your setup:

Open 2 rox windows. One to /root where you'll see a folder named Downloads. Another to your Home partition. That's the one whose icon just above the taskbar has an 'x' at its top immediately on boot-up. The 'x' indicates that it is already mounted. Left-Click that icon to open a Window to its contents. Left-Press, Hold, then drag the Downloads folder from /root into that Window and select Move from the pop-up menu. Again Left-Press, Hold then drag the Downloads folder back into /root. But this time select Link(relative) from the pop-up menu.
Restart-X, then execute a Save. What you will have done is remove the Downloads folder and its contents from RAM during a Session and your SaveFile/Folder after a Save. It's now on 'Storage'.
It still pays to configure your web-browser to limit the build-up of Cache, and or delete it often. Can be done thru Settings or by using addons/extensions.

You didn't tell us which web-browser you are using or whether you are running it 'AS Spot'. The above methods of redirecting Downloads will not work if you are running-as-spot. We can tell you how to handle that situation. It is also possible to move web-cache out of RAM. But each web-browser stores 'cache' in its own folder within /root.

[Gnimmelf]

What specific Puppy version???
Always give that information!!!!!

I am going to guess.

You have the save file on a fat32 formatted partition.

The save file is something around 4GB in size already.

If yes.

Fat32 format is limited to only max file size 4GB.

So it can not be made larger than 4GB.

You can move stuff outside of the save and get some free space back.
/mnt/home is a good place.
Move documents, videos, pictures, stored software downloads, etc....... Anything that is not a configuration, settings, or installed added software.

Also check the browser you are using to see if clearing out stuff it stores needs cleaning out.
Browsers will store all kinds of stuff and it just builds up if you do not clean it out.
Should be cleaning option in the browser settings/preferences.

thanks for all the reply`s - im on imppupsave-impish viewtopic.php?t=4138 yes the save file is on fat 32 didnt know it could hold only 4GB i moved the download folder to /mnt as suggested below - i think i will do a clean install one day, and then move the download folder from the start - by the way im using brave - vivaldi - and google crome browser - brave as the primary.

[bigpup]

You never say what the size of the save is?

Fat32 format is the only format that has that max file size of 4GB limit.
Save file size is not effectively limited by ntfs, Linux ext formats, and others......

All browsers store stuff.
Options are offered in the browser setup or preferences.

About how it works.
Resize personal Storage, changes the save, when you do the next boot process, using the settings you made in the program.
Before the save gets loaded.
So it is not in use, when the size is being changed.
If it runs into the fat32 file size 4GB limit.
It does not give any error, except it just does not do the resizing.

[Gnimmelf]

the size of the safe is 4GB - and i just discovered that it is ext4 and not fat 32 (sorry bout that)
i deleted the cache in each browser that freed about half - so that did it for me

but stil not possible to rezise the save file?

tried to run impish from a usb - to rezise the savefile not in use.
could not do that - i said there were no save file.....

so what might be wrong? not being able to resize save file?

it seems it does what it`s supose to do the "resize personal space" under menu.

but it doesnt happen after reboot?

should i just stay with the 4GB and delete cahce once in a while?

kindly Gnimmelf

[bigpup]

Sorry, have to ask.
The ext4 partition, the save is on, has some free space, that can be used to make the save file bigger?

imppup / indripup 64bit ... alpha -> is not a final release version of this Puppy version.
Alpha indicates it is the first testing release to let people use it and help to find bugs and problems.
So it is not expected to work with no issues.

You may have to just be happy the save file can be no bigger than 4GB.

Really this issue needs to be reported on the topic for imppup / indripup 64bit ... alpha, so the developer can know about it.
With 666philb (developer) last post on Sun Mar 06, 2022 and no indication it is progressing to beta, release candidate, final release.
I am not sure if anything is still being done to fix bugs in it.

If the save is really on a partition formatted ext4.
When you first made the save, it should have offered to choose to make a save folder.
Save folders act like any folder. Size is only limited by free space available on the partition. It is not made a specific size.

First make a copy of the save file, if you have something in it you may not want to loose, if something goes wrong.

Try using this program to turn the save file into a save folder
savefile2dir
https://oldforum.puppylinux.com/downloa ... p?id=89079

[Gnimmelf]

thanks!

there should be enough space on the partition 16GB - 4GB used.
could it be a problem that the partition is fat32 and the save is ext4?

could not make the savefile2dir work - noting seemed to happen......

ho do i point 666philb to this issue the bedst way?

kindly Gnimmelf

[mikewalsh]

@Gnimmelf :-

The fact that the save-file is formatted to ext4 internally doesn't make a scrap of difference. There might be plenty of space, but Puppy can't use it for what you want because of the file-system in use. And PhilB will tell you exactly the same thing.

If the partition - that the save-file is ON - is formatted to FAT32, that is your problem, right there. Maximum file-size for ANY kind of file on FAT32 (document, video, image, save-file, the type is irrelevant) IS 4 GB. It simply cannot be made any bigger, because the FAT32 file-system standard will NOT allow it.

And FAT32 is also very easily corrupted, leading to data loss.....possibly of important files you cannot afford to lose.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allo ... able#FAT32

You'll need to move your save-file to a Linux-formatted partition/drive/USB stick/whatever. Because until you do, you are stuck where you are, and there is no simple 'workaround' for it. This is why I moved from save-files to save-folders several years ago, along with using ext3 throughout the kennels.

Although we're telling you the way to avoid this in future, it appears that you're still trying to "avoid" facing what needs to be done. Sometimes, ya just gotta "bite the bullet" and go for it....but if you won't take advice, we can't really help.

-------------------------------------------------------

FAT32 is fine for data-sharing between multiple, unrelated OSs. It's the one, common file-system they all understand. But for hassle-free Puppy operation, you really need to put the extra effort in to prepare/format drives properly BEFORE installing.

Sorry an' all that, but you need to know sooner rather than later. Many folks will just install Puppy straight to a bog-standard USB stick in the early days; Puppy will work with that, but it's not really a good "long-term" solution. Veteran Puppians have usually long since made the necessary changes for more reliable & flexible operation.

Anyone that has stuck with a save-file on FAT32 has almost always learnt the trick of locating all their large files & personal data on some kind of external drive, merely sym-linking folders/directories back into /root just to allow access. This lets you work with large quantities of data, and large individual files, while at the same time keeping Puppy itself small.

Mike.

[fredx181]

the size of the safe is 4GB - and i just discovered that it is ext4 and not fat 32 (sorry bout that)

and you said:

could it be a problem that the partition is fat32 and the save is ext4?

Need to be absolutely clear, is the partition (where the savefile is located) FAT32 ? If so, then you cannot resize the savefile to more than 4GB.
EDIT: I see just now that Mike commented similar about it at the same time.

[mikeslr]

I agree with what's been previously written. It would be better to locate your SaveFile on any Linux formatted partition. BUT if you can't or don't want to do that, you might consider following the instructions in this post, viewtopic.php?p=43296&sid=5a67c361b56d3 ... 505#p43296. Following the recipe, Sam Hobbs was able to run Fossapup64 when he only had 55Mbs available for a SaveFile.

Note I have not tested nicOS-Utility-Suite's Save2SFS module under Impup/indripup. But it has worked well under every puppy I have tried including the very similar Fossapup64 and several newer Puppys (e.g. Quickpup, Voidpup) which are very different.

[fredx181]

It would be better to locate your SaveFile on any Linux formatted partition.

Even better IMO (as earlier suggested) is to use a savefolder on a Linux formatted partition.

[Gnimmelf]

Although we're telling you the way to avoid this in future, it appears that you're still trying to "avoid" facing what needs to be done. Sometimes, ya just gotta "bite the bullet" and go for it....but if you won't take advice, we can't really help.

not quite shure what you ment by that? im here to understand an to get help - but i cannot take advise, if i dont understand what to do....?

maybe im to beginner for the beginners section.....?

the reason i used fat32 for the partition is, i coulndt make the grub2 bootloader work - maybe i dont know enough, and that seems to bring me into trouble, as i understand you....

well as they say - if it aint broken dont fix it

i will stick with what i have until a new version comes up, then i might be able to do it differently.

thanks for trying to help though!!!!

kindly gnimmelf

[fredx181]

Hi Gnimmelf , the parts in your previous post that should be a quote are showing empty for me.

the reason i used fat32 for the partition is, i coulndt make the grub2 bootloader work - maybe i dont know enough, and that seems to bring me into trouble, as i understand you....

Yes understandable, grub2 on fat32, for savefile larger than 4GB or save-folder you may want to add a ext* (Linux) partition for that to support it.

[bigpup]

The way you did the install is OK using fat32 format.
Fat32 format is generic to all computers and some will not see the drive as boot-able, if it does not see the boot loader stuff on a fat32 formatted partition.
One single partition, formatted fat32.
But it does limit to only being able to use a save file and max size of it to 4GB.

I do USB installs using the installer programs that are in Puppy Linux.

With these programs you can install for how Puppy works.

The best one to use is Frugalpup Installer.
viewtopic.php?t=337

I use it this way:
viewtopic.php?p=1887#p1887

This gives the fat32 formatted partition for the boot loader to be on.
Linux ext formatted partition for using a save folder to be on.

Plus with this method.
Puppy is a frugal install.
You can have different Puppy versions on it, all in their own frugal installs.
With a boot loader menu entry for each one.

[mikewalsh]

@Gnimmelf :-

Hey, no worries. Don't take offence at my tone earlier on; I was just having a crap day of it.....made my reply unnecessarily 'sharp'!

GRUB2 is not MY favourite.....anything BUT. And despite that a Linux-formatted partition is best for your Puppy, as bigpup says, many distros will boot from nothing else BUT FAT32. It gets confusing, for sure.

Some of us are just better at figuring 'tech' stuff out than others. That's no reflection on you, that's just the way Mother nature puts us all together. Everybody has their strong suits; you're probably way better at something that I can't do..!

C'est la vie, as the French would say; "that's life".

Anyways, you're hardly a beginner; you've been with us around 5½ years, so you should be thoroughly 'seasoned' by now!

Mike.

[Gnimmelf]

no worries - thanks for all reply`s i will try the install process suggested.
i see that my problem is that my save is in the same patition as the bootloader.

might have been here for 5 and a half - im still only on the surface of things

Kindly Gnimmelf

[Gnimmelf]

Heureka! i did it - fresh install with bootloader on separat fat32 partition and save on ext4 partition

Thanks for the backup help!

kindly Gnimmelf

[xdv]

My personal storage file is much bigger than the FAT32 limit.

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Puppy boots from an NTFS partition.

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