Some users might need to resize Ext4 partition in Windows environment. However, Windows doesn’t support this file system, to meet your needs, you can try method in this guide.
The Ext4 file system, often known as the fourth extended file system, is a journaling file system for Linux that was created as the successor to Ext3.
The Ext3 file system can only support a maximum of 32TB file system and 2TB files. Depending on the specific architecture and system settings used, the actual capacity limit may be lower than this number, that is, it can only accommodate 2TB file systems and 16GB files. The file system capacity of Ext4 reaches 1EB, while the file capacity reaches 16TB.
The Ext4 file system has made many improvements on the basis of Ext3 and introduced a large number of new functions, but it can still achieve backward and forward compatibility with Ext3, which also makes it win the love of many Linux system users.
If you have dual operating systems, Windows and Linux, on the same machine, you will notice that Windows doesn't recognize the Ext4 file system. And also, you will be unable to access any files on the Ext4 partition and unable to resize Ext4 partition under the Windows environment.
Although Linux has compatibility with Windows NTFS partitions, Windows cannot read Linux partitions without the use of third-party software. As a result, you cannot perform regular management such as creating, formatting, and copying Ext4 partitions with Disk Management or Diskpart.
Since you can’t even format EXT4 partition via Windows tools as we mentioned above, here, we recommend you a disk and partition manager, AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. This tool can recognize NTFS, FAT32, Ext2, Ext3, Ext4, and exFAT file systems and allows users to format their partitions between these file systems. And after the formatting, you can resize the partition also with this helpful tool.
Part 1. Format Ext4 partition
Step 1. Install and run AOMEI Partition Assistant. Right-click the Ext3 partition of the disk and select “Format Partition”.
Step 2. Choose NTFS in the File System list and click “OK”.
Step 3. Click “Apply” and then “Proceed” to start the formatting process.
Part 2. Resize partition
When the format is over, you’ll back to the main interface of this tool. Then, let’s do the resize.
Step 1. Right-click the target partition, and choose the feature “Resize/Move Partition".
Step 2. You can drag to shrink the partition. If you drag from right to left, the unallocated space will be on the right of the selected partition. If you drag from left to right, the space will be on the left of the selected partition.
Step 3. Then, click “Apply” to confirm the operation.
Then you can use the unallocated space to create a new partition or merge it into one of the partitions on the same disk.
Although Windows doesn’t support Ext4, AOMEI Partition Assistant allows you to create/clone Ext4 partition on a Windows PC. And when you boot into the Linux system, your system will show the newly created partition and the cloned partition. You can store data or manage them in your Linux straightly.
Use the “Create Partition” feature, and you can create an Ext4 partition on unallocated space.
Step 1. Right-click the unallocated space, and select “Create Partition”.
Step 2. In the subsequent window, you can set the partition size, and drive letter, and choose the Ex4 file system for the new partition.
Step 3. Click “Apply” to confirm.
To resize Ext4 partition in Windows, you need to use a reliable third-party tool. AOMEI Partition Assistant is a versatile tool as we’ve shown in this guide. Besides the functions we’ve introduced, you can convert to GPT/MBR partition scheme, move installed programs to another drive, migrate OS to another disk, and so on.
And if you’re using Windows Server, you can choose the Server Edition to manage your devices conveniently.