Figure out what you have [root@someserver k036273]# fdisk -l Disk /dev/sda: 64.4 GB, 64424509440 bytes 64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 61440 cylinders Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk identifier: 0x0005ccd9 Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 * 2 501 512000 83 Linux Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary. /dev/sda2 502 61440 62401536 8e Linux LVM -8e is Linux LVM Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary. Disk /dev/sdb: 483.2 GB, 483183820800 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 58743 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk identifier: 0xd7dfe55f Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdb1 1 11227 90177536 83 Linux /dev/sdb2 11227 19582 67108864 83 Linux /dev/sdb3 19582 58744 314571776 83 Linux - 83 is a standard Linux partition [root@someserver k036273]# df -T Filesystem Type 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on /dev/mapper/vg_someserver-lv_root ext4 33811292 5496432 26603744 18% / tmpfs tmpfs 8233992 0 8233992 0% /dev/shm /dev/sda1 ext4 495844 174341 295903 38% /boot /dev/mapper/vg_someserver-lv_home ext4 10232056 767476 8944800 8% /home /dev/sdb1 ext4 88762616 45073816 39179924 54% /u01 /dev/sdb2 ext4 66055932 2418768 60281724 4% /u02 /dev/sdb3 ext4 103211296 76075232 21893236 78% /u03 /dev/dm-12 ocfs2 314611712 92975104 221636608 30% /u04 2. Grow the drive in VMware 3. unmount the filesystem in question umount -l /u03 4. Use cfdisk to identify, delete and recreate the partition with larger size. No data will be lost, but a VMware level snapshot could be your insurance cfdisk /dev/sdb cfdisk (util-linux-ng 2.17.2) Disk Drive: /dev/sdb Size: 483183820800 bytes, 483.1 GB Heads: 255 Sectors per Track: 63 Cylinders: 58743 Name Flags Part Type FS Type [Label] Size (MB) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pri/Log Free Space 1.05 * sdb1 Primary Linux ext3 92341.80 * sdb2 Primary Linux ext3 68719.48 * sdb3 Primary Linux ext3 107373.14 * Pri/Log Free Space 214748.37 * [ Help ] [ New ] [ Print ] [ Quit ] [ Units ] [ Write ] 5. We are deleting sdb3 partition tables, but not the data cfdisk (util-linux-ng 2.17.2) Disk Drive: /dev/sdb Size: 483183820800 bytes, 483.1 GB Heads: 255 Sectors per Track: 63 Cylinders: 58743 Name Flags Part Type FS Type [Label] Size (MB) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pri/Log Free Space 1.05 * sdb1 Primary Linux ext3 92341.80 * sdb2 Primary Linux ext3 68719.48 * sdb3 Primary Linux ext3 107373.14 * Pri/Log Free Space 214748.37 * [ Bootable ] [ Delete ] [ Help ] [ Maximize ] [ Print ] [ Quit ] [ Type ] [ Units ] [ Write ] Delete the current partition 6. The partition is gone but the data is still there, we are recreating a new larger partition cfdisk (util-linux-ng 2.17.2) Disk Drive: /dev/sdb Size: 483183820800 bytes, 483.1 GB Heads: 255 Sectors per Track: 63 Cylinders: 58743 Name Flags Part Type FS Type [Label] Size (MB) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pri/Log Free Space 1.05 * sdb1 Primary Linux ext3 92341.80 * sdb2 Primary Linux ext3 68719.48 * Pri/Log Free Space 322121.50 * [ Help ] [ New ] [ Print ] [ Quit ] [ Units ] [ Write ] Create new partition from free space 7. We do not need to toggle the drive as the boot partition, this is our second vmdk cfdisk (util-linux-ng 2.17.2) Disk Drive: /dev/sdb Size: 483183820800 bytes, 483.1 GB Heads: 255 Sectors per Track: 63 Cylinders: 58743 Name Flags Part Type FS Type [Label] Size (MB) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pri/Log Free Space 1.05 * sdb1 Primary Linux ext3 92341.80 * sdb2 Primary Linux ext3 68719.48 * sdb3 Primary Linux 322121.50 * [ Bootable ] [ Delete ] [ Help ] [ Maximize ] [ Print ] [ Quit ] [ Type ] [ Units ] [ Write ] Toggle bootable flag of the current partition 8. Write the changes cfdisk (util-linux-ng 2.17.2) Disk Drive: /dev/sdb Size: 483183820800 bytes, 483.1 GB Heads: 255 Sectors per Track: 63 Cylinders: 58743 Name Flags Part Type FS Type [Label] Size (MB) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pri/Log Free Space 1.05 * sdb1 Primary Linux ext3 92341.80 * sdb2 Primary Linux ext3 68719.48 * sdb3 Primary Linux 322121.50 * [ Bootable ] [ Delete ] [ Help ] [ Maximize ] [ Print ] [ Quit ] [ Type ] [ Units ] [ Write ] Write partition table to disk (this might destroy data) 9. Quit cfdisk cfdisk (util-linux-ng 2.17.2) Disk Drive: /dev/sdb Size: 483183820800 bytes, 483.1 GB Heads: 255 Sectors per Track: 63 Cylinders: 58743 Name Flags Part Type FS Type [Label] Size (MB) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pri/Log Free Space 1.05 * sdb1 Primary Linux ext3 92341.80 * sdb2 Primary Linux ext3 68719.48 * sdb3 Primary Linux 322121.50 * [ Bootable ] [ Delete ] [ Help ] [ Maximize ] [ Print ] [ Quit ] [ Type ] [ Units ] [ Write ] Quit program without writing partition table 10. Reboot shutdown –r now 11. After reboot, the newly larger filesystem is loaded as it is specified in /etc/fstab [root@someserver k036273]# df -h Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/mapper/vg_someserver-lv_root 33G 5.3G 26G 18% / tmpfs 7.9G 633M 7.3G 8% /dev/shm /dev/sda1 485M 171M 289M 38% /boot /dev/mapper/vg_someserver-lv_home 9.8G 750M 8.6G 8% /home /dev/sdb1 85G 43G 38G 54% /u01 /dev/sdb2 63G 2.4G 58G 4% /u02 /dev/sdb3 296G 73G 208G 26% /u03 /dev/dm-10 301G 89G 212G 30% /u04