I'm trying to resize my Ubuntu partition but there seems to be a problem. I'm trying to do it from a live USB. I have unallocated space but when I try to resize my Ubuntu partition, gparted just lets me shrink it and doesn't lets me expand it. It's like he doesn't detect there's space.

Any idea on how to do it?

Note: This answer represents the minimum effort to resolve the problem, based on the current available information. More effort can always be applied at a later time to modify specific partition sizes.

Make sure that you have a good backup of your important files in /dev/sda5, as this procedure can corrupt or loose data.

Keep these things in mind:

• always start the entire procedure with issuing a swapoff on any mounted swap partitions, and end the entire procedure with issuing a swapon on that same swap partition




• a move is done by pointing the mouse pointer at the center of a partition and dragging it left/right with the hand cursor




• a resize is done by dragging the left/right side of a partition to the left/right with the directional arrow cursor




• if any partition can't be moved/resized graphically, you may have to manually enter the specific required numeric data (don't do this unless I instruct you to)




• you begin any move/resize by right-clicking on the partition in the lower pane of the main window, and selecting the desired action from the popup menu, then finishing that action in the new move/resize window

Do the following...

Note: if the procedure doesn't work exactly as I outline, STOP immediately and DO NOT continue.

• boot into Windows are run a chkdsk on the C: drive (this will require a reboot into Windows to accomplish)


• boot to a Ubuntu Live DVD/USB


• start gparted
  


• 
  delete "New Partition #1", the ext3 partition # already done
  


• 
  move /dev/sda5 all the way to the right


• 
  move /dev/sda4 all the way to the right


• 
  move /dev/sda7 all the way to the right


• 
  resize /dev/sda6 to the right as far as you can


• click the Apply button


• reboot

Partitions are stored on the disk in a very specific order. You can't grow a partition to the "right" until there is free space directly to the right of it - you first have to move the other partitions to the right.

In this case it doesn't look like too much copying will be needed, but in some circumstances moving a few partitions a "small" amount can result in a long copy operation since all the data must be physically copied from one area of the disk to another.

You may also want to be aware that moving the partitions may change their ordered number. While Linux uses unique identifiers (UUID) most of the time, some operating systems (Windows, and some Linux systems) reference the disk using it's indexed number such as (hd0, 2) and moving the partitions around may change this number. In your case it doesn't appear it will happen, but you should take care not to change the order or introduce new partitions that disturb the ordering.