Version: 1.0.1 (using KDE 4.4.2) OS: Linux I wanted to resize the existing partition on a Sandisk USB flash drive. When I choose Partition > Resize/Move , leave Free space before at 0 MiB, and enter the new Size 2050 MiB, the Pending Operations shows "Move partition '/dev/sdb1' to the right by 7.83 MiB and shrink it from 3.74 GiB to 2.01 GiB". First, "Move right" is so confusing to be meaningless (the dialog doesn't say "Free space on the left/right", so don't introduce the concept here!). Second, I didn't intend to move anything and I didn't change the Free space before! Why are things moving? Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Insert stock SanDisk Cruzer 4GB 2. Right-click partition, choose Resize/Move 3. Leave Free space before at 0 MiB, change size from 3827 MiB to 2050 MiB. 4. Click OK. Actual Results: Even though I didn't request a move, I got one anyway! The log shows "Partition '/dev/sdb1' does not start at a cylinder boundary (first sector: 38, modulo 38)" Partition map before: /dev/sdb1 fat32 3.74 GiB unallocated unknown 7.84 MiB sdb1 properties before: First sector: 38 , Last sector: 7,839,719, # 7,839,682 After I change the size *without* changing "Free space before", Pending Operation shows "Move partition '/dev/sdb1' to the right by 7.83 MiB and shrink it from 3.74 GiB to 2.01 GiB". sdb1 properties afterward: First sector: 16,065 , Last sector: 4,225, # 4,209,030 Expected Results: 1. Don't say "Move to the right", say "Move start of partition '/dev/sdb1' closer/further from the beginning of the device by 7.83 MiB." 2. If KDE Partition Manager has to move a partition for some internal reason , maybe to put it on a cylinder boundary, *say so*, don't make me wonder what I'm doing wrong. E.g. append "[to start on the first cylinder boundary]" to the pending operation if that's the reason. If this starting sector shuffling is a common operation, it would be useful to draw it graphically on the partition map, e.g. have an asterisk at the beginning with a tooltip that says "Partition does not start on cylinder boundary". And maybe the resize dialog could indicate free space before always includes 1 cylinder. I don't know if it's a coincidence that the size of the move to the right (7.83 MiB, I think 1 cylinder) that KDE Partition Manager introduced is nearly the same as the unallocated 7.84 MiB before I started. (If this unused cylinder is some Sandisk DRM or U3 crap, I apologize for wasting your time.) That new starting sector is sector 63 * 255, maybe that's the second cylinder. It's not even clear that it's a good idea to align partitions on flash drives on archaic "cylinder" boundaries that aren't a multiple of 4kiB, see http://wikis.sun.com/display/Performance/Aligning+Flash+Modules+for+Optimal+Performance . Perhaps that's a parted issue. Some minor bugs I noticed, I'll file these separately if I have the energy. * You can't select and copy the text in Pending Operations or Log Output. * You can undo pending operations (very cool!), but can't redo. * "Recreate existing file system" is poorly named. Yes, I want to keep what's already there; no, that sounds more destructive. Now I'm anxious. * There's no "What's This" tooltip help for confusing dialog options like "Recreate existing file system" and Primary/Extended Partition type. * I realize units are hard and confusing, but saying "Maximum size: 3.75 GiB while only allowing me to enter in MiB is not useful. There's room to instead say "Maximum size: 3835 MiB (3.75 GiB)" * The menu has Help > KDE Partition Manager handbook, but the Kubuntu package doesn't seem to have this handbook.
Thank you for taking the time to file this elaborate and detailed bug report. I agree the wording "move left" or "move right" for moving partitions is not perfect, but I cannot come up with a better solution right now. I'm not convinced "move the start of the partition further away from the beginning of the device" is that much of an improvement. The mysterious move you encountered in your use case is indeed due to the application making sure the partition table follows the MS-DOS cylinder boundary conventions. See http://blog.volker-lanz.de/2010/05/30/new-in-kde-partition-manager-1-1-iii- support-for-4096-byte-sectors/ for some background reading, information on how this is going to be improved in the next feature release and links to articles with even more in-depth information on the topic. I'm closing this report as "fixed" because what you describe is not occuring anymore in this same way with the SVN version (i.e. the upcoming 1.1). Regarding the minor bugs you mention: > You can't select and copy the text in Pending Operations or Log Output. You can save the log output in 1.1. > You can undo pending operations (very cool!), but can't redo. File a separate bug report please. > "Recreate existing file system" is poorly named. Yes, I want to keep > what's already there; no, that sounds more destructive. Now > I'm anxious. I don't get your meaning. Recreate _will_ delete data. > There's no "What's This" tooltip help for confusing dialog options > like "Recreate existing file system" and Primary/Extended Partition > type. File a separate bug report please. > I realize units are hard and confusing, but saying "Maximum size: > 3.75 GiB while only allowing me to enter in MiB is not useful. > There's room to instead say "Maximum size: 3835 MiB (3.75 GiB)" The reason for the current behaviour is that the former is always using a "suitable" unit to make the number easily readable (it will use 3.75 TiB if the disk is large enough), but the latter will always use MiB to make data entry easier for the user. I acknowledge this might seem confusing at first. File a separate bug report if you don't like the way it is. > The menu has Help > KDE Partition Manager handbook, but the Kubuntu > package doesn't seem to have this handbook. A packaging problem that you would have to report to Kubuntu.
Thanks for responding! I wound up using parted to ensure 1 MiB alignment based on Ted Ts'o blog about SSD 128 kiB block sizes. Your 1.1 Sector alignment feature is exactly what I want in a graphical program. However, I'm not sure that the 1.1 feature you describe will fix this bug report. The use case is someone naive resizes a partition on some piece of hardware. The weird 38 sector offset of the partition on my SanDisk Cruzer didn't match either the crazy "cylinder" (255 heads?!) alignment or 4k sector alignment. So KDE Partition Manager 1.1 may still move the partition to match the alignment, report this as part of the pending operation, and mystify the user. Some users will want the realignment, some won't. I would give as much info as possible. As well as the text I suggested for the operation, you could inform the user in the resize dialog: "Note the partition start does not match the {cylinder|NNNN-byte sector} alignment that {you specified|KDE Partition Manager inferred}." and give the user the choice (or help them make the change) to move the start or not.