Extend the file system after resizing an Amazon EBS volume

After you increase the size of an EBS volume, you must extend the partition and file system to the new, larger size. You can do this as soon as the volume enters the optimizing state.

Before you begin

Create a snapshot of the volume, in case you need to roll back your changes. For more information, see Create Amazon EBS snapshots.
Confirm that the volume modification succeeded and that it is in theoptimizing or completed state. For more information, see Monitor the progress of Amazon EBS volume modifications.
Ensure that the volume is attached to the instance and that it is formatted and mounted. For more information, see Format and mount an attached volume.
(Linux instances only) If you are using logical volumes on the Amazon EBS volume, you must use Logical Volume Manager (LVM) to extend the logical volume. For instructions about how to do this, see the Extend the logical volume section in the How do I create an LVM logical volume on an entire EBS volume? AWS Knowledge Center article.

Note

The following instructions walk you through the process of extending XFS and Ext4 file systems for Linux. For information about extending a different file system, see its documentation.

Before you can extend a file system on Linux, you must extend the partition, if your volume has one.

Extend the file system of EBS volumes

Use the following procedure to extend the file system for a resized volume.

Note that device and partition naming differs for Xen instances and instances built on the Nitro System. To determine whether your instance is Xen-based or Nitro-based, use the describe-instance-types AWS CLI command as follows:


[ec2-user ~]$ aws ec2 describe-instance-types --instance-type instance_type --query "InstanceTypes[].Hypervisor"

nitro indicates that your instance is Nitro-based. xen indicates that your instance is Xen-based.

To extend the file system of EBS volumes

Connect to your instance.
Resize the partition, if needed. To do so:
1. Check whether the volume has a partition. Use the lsblk command.
  Nitro instance example
  In the following example output, the root volume (nvme0n1) has two partitions (nvme0n1p1 and nvme0n1p128), while the additional volume (nvme1n1) has no partitions.
  
  [ec2-user ~]$ sudo lsblk NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT nvme1n1 259:0 0 30G 0 disk /data nvme0n1 259:1 0 16G 0 disk └─nvme0n1p1 259:2 0 8G 0 part / └─nvme0n1p128 259:3 0 1M 0 part
  Xen instance example
  In the following example output, the root volume (xvda) has a partition (xvda1), while the additional volume (xvdf) has no partition.
  
  [ec2-user ~]$ sudo lsblk NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT xvda 202:0 0 16G 0 disk └─xvda1 202:1 0 8G 0 part / xvdf 202:80 0 24G 0 disk
  If the volume has a partition, continue the procedure from the following step (2b). If the volume has no partitions, skip steps 2b, 2c, and 2d, and continue the procedure from step 3.
  
  Troubleshooting tip
  If you do not see the volume in the command output, ensure that the volume is attached to the instance, and that it is formatted and mounted.
2. Check whether the partition needs to be extended. In the lsblk command output from the previous step, compare the partition size and the volume size.
  
  If the partition size is smaller than the volume size, continue to the next step. If the partition size is equal to the volume size, the partition can't be extended.
  
  Troubleshooting tip
  If the volume still reflects the original size, confirm that the volume modification succeeded.
3. Extend the partition. Use the growpart command and specify the device name and the partition number.
  Nitro instance example
  The partition number is the number after the p. For example, for nvme0n1p1, the partition number is 1. For nvme0n1p128, the partition number is 128.
  
  To extend a partition named nvme0n1p1, use the following command.
  
  Important
  Note the space between the device name (nvme0n1) and the partition number (1).
  
  [ec2-user ~]$ sudo growpart /dev/nvme0n1 1
  Xen instance example
  The partition number is the number after the device name. For example, for xvda1, the partition number is 1. For xvda128, the partition number is 128.
  
  To extend a partition named xvda1, use the following command.
  
  Important
  Note the space between the device name (xvda) and the partition number (1).
  
  [ec2-user ~]$ sudo growpart /dev/xvda 1
  Troubleshooting tips
  mkdir: cannot create directory ‘/tmp/growpart.31171’: No space left on device FAILED: failed to make temp dir: Indicates that there is not enough free disk space on the volume for growpart to create the temporary directory it needs to perform the resize. Free up some disk space and then try again.
  
  must supply partition-number: Indicates that you specified an incorrect partition. Use the lsblk command to confirm the partition name, and ensure that you enter a space between the device name and the partition number.
  
  NOCHANGE: partition 1 is size 16773087. it cannot be grown: Indicates that the partition already extends the entire volume and can't be extended. Confirm that the volume modification succeeded.
4. Verify that the partition has been extended. Use the lsblk command. The partition size should now be equal to the volume size.
  Nitro instance example
  The following example output shows that both the volume (nvme0n1) and the partition (nvme0n1p1) are the same size (16 GB).
  
  [ec2-user ~]$ sudo lsblk NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT nvme1n1 259:0 0 30G 0 disk /data nvme0n1 259:1 0 16G 0 disk └─nvme0n1p1 259:2 0 16G 0 part / └─nvme0n1p128 259:3 0 1M 0 part
  Xen instance example
  The following example output shows that both the volume (xvda) and the partition (xvda1) are the same size (16 GB).
  
  [ec2-user ~]$ sudo lsblk NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT xvda 202:0 0 16G 0 disk └─xvda1 202:1 0 16G 0 part / xvdf 202:80 0 24G 0 disk
Extend the file system.
1. Get the name, size, type, and mount point for the file system that you need to extend. Use the df -hT command.
  Nitro instance example
  The following example output shows that the /dev/nvme0n1p1 file system is 8 GB in size, its type is xfs, and its mount point is /.
  
  [ec2-user ~]$ df -hT Filesystem Type Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/nvme0n1p1 xfs 8.0G 1.6G 6.5G 20% / /dev/nvme1n1 xfs 8.0G 33M 8.0G 1% /data ...
  Xen instance example
  The following example output shows that the /dev/xvda1 file system is 8 GB in size, its type is ext4, and its mount point is /.
  
  [ec2-user ~]$ df -hT Filesystem Type Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/xvda1 ext4 8.0G 1.9G 6.2G 24% / /dev/xvdf1 xfs 24.0G 45M 8.0G 1% /data ...
2. The commands to extend the file system differ depending on the file system type. Choose the following correct command based on the file system type that you noted in the previous step.
  - [XFS file system] Use the xfs_growfs command and specify the mount point of the file system that you noted in the previous step.
    Nitro and Xen instance example
    
    For example, to extend a file system mounted on /, use the following command.
    
    [ec2-user ~]$ sudo xfs_growfs -d /
    Troubleshooting tips
    
    xfs_growfs: /data is not a mounted XFS filesystem: Indicates that you specified the incorrect mount point, or the file system is not XFS. To verify the mount point and file system type, use the df -hT command.
    
    data size unchanged, skipping: Indicates that the file system already extends the entire volume. If the volume has no partitions, confirm that the volume modification succeeded. If the volume has partitions, ensure that the partition was extended as described in step 2.
  - [Ext4 file system] Use the resize2fs command and specify the name of the file system that you noted in the previous step.
    Nitro instance example
    
    For example, to extend a file system mounted named /dev/nvme0n1p1, use the following command.
    
    [ec2-user ~]$ sudo resize2fs /dev/nvme0n1p1
    
    Xen instance example
    
    For example, to extend a file system mounted named /dev/xvda1, use the following command.
    
    [ec2-user ~]$ sudo resize2fs /dev/xvda1
    Troubleshooting tips
    
    resize2fs: Bad magic number in super-block while trying to open /dev/xvda1: Indicates that the file system is not Ext4. To verify file the system type, use the df -hT command.
    
    open: No such file or directory while opening /dev/xvdb1: Indicates that you specified an incorrect partition. To verify the partition, use the df -hT command.
    
    The filesystem is already 3932160 blocks long. Nothing to do!: Indicates that the file system already extends the entire volume. If the volume has no partitions, confirm that the volume modification succeeded. If the volume has partitions, ensure that the partition was extended, as described in step 2.
  - [Other file system] See the documentation for your file system for instructions.
3. Verify that the file system has been extended. Use the df -hT command and confirm that the file system size is equal to the volume size.

Use one of the following methods to extend the file system on a Windows instance.

Disk Management utility

To extend a file system using Disk Management

Before extending a file system that contains valuable data, it is a best practice to create a snapshot of the volume that contains it in case you need to roll back your changes. For more information, see Create Amazon EBS snapshots.
Log in to your Windows instance using Remote Desktop.
In the Run dialog, enter diskmgmt.msc and press Enter. The Disk Management utility opens.
On the Disk Management menu, choose Action, Rescan Disks.
Open the context (right-click) menu for the expanded drive and choose Extend Volume.
Note
Extend Volume might be disabled (grayed out) if:
- The unallocated space is not adjacent to the drive. The unallocated space must be adjacent to the right side of the drive you want to extend.
- The volume uses the Master Boot Record (MBR) partition style and it is already 2TB in size. Volumes that use MBR cannot exceed 2TB in size.
In the Extend Volume wizard, choose Next. For Select the amount of space in MB, enter the number of megabytes by which to extend the volume. Generally, you specify the maximum available space. The highlighted text under Selected is the amount of space that is added, not the final size the volume will have. Complete the wizard.
If you increase the size of an NVMe volume on an instance that does not have the AWS NVMe driver, you must reboot the instance to enable Windows to see the new volume size. For more information about installing the AWS NVMe driver, see AWS NVMe drivers for Windows instances.

PowerShell

Use the following procedure to extend a Windows file system using PowerShell.

To extend a file system using PowerShell

Before extending a file system that contains valuable data, it is a best practice to create a snapshot of the volume that contains it in case you need to roll back your changes. For more information, see Create Amazon EBS snapshots.
Log in to your Windows instance using Remote Desktop.
Run PowerShell as an administrator.
Run the Get-Partition command. PowerShell returns the corresponding partition number for each partition, the drive letter, offset, size, and type. Note the drive letter of the partition to extend.
Run the following command to rescan the disk.
```
"rescan" | diskpart
```
Run the following command, using the drive letter you noted in step 4 in place of <drive-letter>. PowerShell returns the minimum and maximum size of the partition allowed, in bytes.
```
Get-PartitionSupportedSize -DriveLetter <drive-letter>
```
To extend the partition to a specified amount, run the following command, entering the new size of the volume in place of <size>. You can enter the size in KB, MB, and GB; for example, 50GB.
```
Resize-Partition -DriveLetter <drive-letter> -Size <size>
```
To extend the partition to the maximum available size, run the following command.
```
Resize-Partition -DriveLetter <drive-letter> -Size $(Get-PartitionSupportedSize -DriveLetter <drive-letter>).SizeMax
```
The following PowerShell commands show the complete command and response flow for extending a file system to a specific size.

The following PowerShell commands show the complete command and response flow for extending a file system to the maximum available size.