---
title: Increasing the size of a partition
description: Learn how to increase the size of a partition within a Block Storage volume
tags: volume block-storage block resize growpart increase size
dates:
  validation: 2025-10-13
  posted: 2019-11-29
---
import Requirements from '@macros/iam/requirements.mdx'

The `growpart` utility allows you to resize partitions. If you have increased the size of the partition's underlying volume, for example, you can increase the size of the partition to make use of the additional space.

<Requirements />

- A Scaleway account logged into the [console](https://console.scaleway.com)
- [Owner](/iam/concepts/#owner) status or [IAM permissions](/iam/concepts/#permission) allowing you to perform actions in the intended Organization
- An [Instance](/instances/concepts/#instance)
- [Attached](/block-storage/how-to/attach-a-volume/) an additional Block Storage volume to your Instance

<Message type="important">
  - Make sure to make a backup of your data using the [snapshot](/block-storage/how-to/create-a-snapshot/) feature beforehand to avoid any potential data loss
  - You must have partitioned your volume to follow the procedure below
  - If the partition you want to resize is mounted, you must [unmount it](/block-storage/how-to/unmount-a-volume/) beforehand
</Message>

1. Connect to your Instance using [SSH](/instances/how-to/connect-to-instance/).

2. Use the `lsblk` command to identify your volume partition. Ensure that the partition is **not mounted before you resize it**. In the following example, we are resizing `sdb1`:

    ```
    root@scw-festive-agnesi:~# lsblk
    NAME    MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
    sda       8:0    0  23.3G  0 disk
    ├─sda1    8:1    0  23.2G  0 part /
    ├─sda14   8:14   0     4M  0 part
    └─sda15   8:15   0   106M  0 part /boot/efi
    sdb       8:16   0 38.6G  0 disk
    └─sdb1    8:17   0 18.6G  0 part
    ```

3. Use `growpart` to increase the partition size of your Block Storage volume (here `sdb1`):

    ```
    # Replace /dev/sdX 1 with the name of your partition
    growpart /dev/sdX 1
    ```

    An output similar to the following displays:

    ```
    CHANGED: partition=1 start=0 old: size=39061504 end=39061504 new: size=58490880 end=58490880
    ```

4. Use `lsblk` to check that the partition was correctly resized. In the following output, you can see that our partition `sbd1` went from `18.6G` (step 2) to `27.9G`.
    ```
    root@scw-festive-agnesi:~# lsblk
    NAME    MAJ:MIN RM  SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
    sda       8:0    0 18.6G  0 disk
    ├─sda1    8:1    0 18.5G  0 part /
    ├─sda14   8:14   0    4M  0 part
    └─sda15   8:15   0  106M  0 part /boot/efi
    sdb       8:16   0 27.9G  0 disk
    └─sdb1    8:17   0 27.9G  0 part